By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Weeks after the grand finale of NNPC National Quiz Competition drew to a close, its echoes have reverberated east of the Niger as Enugu State Executive Council hosted the overall winner of the 16th Edition of the Competition, Master Tony Kabilan Okeke, who hails from the State.
Okeke, representing the South-East Zone, had beaten 17 contestants from five other geo-political zones to clinch the coveted position at a Grand Finale which held 10 October, 2018 in Abuja.
Receiving the winner of the competition in Enugu, the State Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had described Okeke as an ambassador of the state, even as he showered praises on Science Wizkid who is a student of Spring of Life International School, Enugu.
Okeke had, in the early stages of the contest, emerged best in the local government, state and zonal levels of the competition, before crowing it atop in the Grand Finale in Abuja.
A release by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, today in Abuja said NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, expressed delight on the recognition accorded this year’s overall winner of the competition by his state governor, saying the acknowledgement of the Mr. Okeke would motivate others to emulate him.
The 2018 contest of the NNPC National Science Quiz Competition commenced early in the year with the kick-off of the contest at local government level where 15,480 participants took part and which later produced 37 state champions, including one from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The 37 state winners competed at the zonal level, leaving 18 of them which locked horns for the final and grand finale at the NNPC Amphitheatre in Abuja on the 9th and 10th October 2018.
The grand finale of the quiz competition, which is the Corporation’s most significant Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, was graced by two former Heads of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who applauded the corporation for fostering educational development and national unity through the competition.
