Port Harcourt — Students from various Secondary schools in Rivers State will in September engage in quiz competition for N17.5 million awards.
The competition, designed to encourage reading habits among secondary school students, is organised by the Education Champions League (ECL).
The competition, according to ECL, will test for traits developed through reading, including comprehension, analytical skills, general knowledge, reading fluency, as well as oral and written expressions.
While the first winner will go home with N10 million, the second and third positions will receive N5 million and N2.5 million respectively, including trophies, prizes and institutional support.
According to organiser, 25% of the prize for each position will be applied to procure books for the school; 25% will be made available to the school as institutional support and 50% will go to the students on the school's team, payable into an account nominated by the student's parents.
The Chairman of the Governing Board of ECL, Prof Eme Ekekwe, said the books slated for the 2024 competition were Simon Kolawole's 'Fellow Nigerians, It's All Politics', Waziri Adio's 'The Arc Of The Possible', and Bolaji Abdullah's 'On A Platter Of Gold'.
Ekekwe said, "We want to begin to build the core Nigerians who are interested in leadership and being good citizen. And we believe that if we begin at the secondary school level it will help over a period of time for that crop of Nigerians to come up and take responsibility in the society and run those positions transparently, honestly and in a way that meet some of the things we think are lacking now, in terms of leadership our country.
"One specific tool we want to use and help that process is to get young people to begin to read. And when they read, they are aware of their environment and can understand the issues affecting them.
"I think there is a decline in reading culture. People do a lot of social media instead of reading. A book leads you through a process which is invaluable, whereas most of what is social media is not material for leadership or good citizenship. Whether you read online or hardcopy, please read."
He added that the competition will be organised in three stages: two elimination contests and finale.
