Meet winners of StudyIn Nigeria maiden essay competition

The maiden edition of the StudyIn Nigeria Essay Competition for secondary school students has produced its first set of winners, celebrating intellectual curiosity and the power of young Nigerians to articulate ideas that can shape the nation’s future.

The competition provided a platform for emerging voices to showcase their writing skills, critical thinking, and perspectives on issues that matter, underscoring the importance of nurturing young talent and promoting educational excellence in Nigeria.

Sienu Okoye, a Senior Secondary School three (SS3) student of Lagoon Secondary School, emerged as the overall best in the Future Ready Essay Competition.

Sienu was announced the winner of the essay competition at the StudyIn Global Study Conference held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Her essay was adjust the best out of 100 other students who wrote on the essay topic: “How would studying at an international university help you prepare for a career in a world increasingly shaped by AI?”

Okoye got a MacBook, iPad, and other gifts for her remarkable feat. for her win.

Tamilore Macaulay of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, emerged as the first runner-up and was rewarded with an iPad, while James Soorefunmi, from Lagoon Secondary School, was announced as the second runner-up and got a Tablet.

For the schools categories, Lagoon Secondary School, that produced two students in the top three, emerged as the overall best school, while Dowen College, and Riverbank Secondary School emerged as the first and second runners-up, respectively.

Other schools whose students featured among the top 15 finalists were Honeyland, Atlantic Hall, Silversands Hall, and Meadow Hall, all in Lagos.

The annual conference featured sessions and presentations on how Nigeria’s education sector can embrace Artificial Intelligence and help students become future-ready.

Mary Agbu, the country director of StudyIn Nigeria, in her speech emphasised the need for schools to be intentional and balanced in their adoption of AI with ethical considerations and the values of education.

Agbu urged education stakeholders to strive to align with evolving global education and career landscapes and help students make informed decisions about their studies and future careers.

She said discussions on AI should involve parents, schools, and other stakeholders to ensure that students understand the opportunities and challenges associated with the technology.

“Education should continue to promote values and ethics as AI becomes more widely adopted. One of the things that we really push out in the college is values.

“The integration of AI into education should be balanced with an understanding of the value system and the ethics of education,” she said.

Adiba Ofungwu, the chief of staff and director at StudyIn Nigeria, said that there was a significant gap between the realities of education in Nigeria and the demands of the changing global learning environment.

Ofungwu said students needed adequate preparation to compete with their counterparts abroad, many of whom were already familiar with AI-driven learning environments.

“StudyIn was seeking to bridge the gap by providing students with the information and guidance needed to navigate global higher education opportunities and prepare for changing educational demands.

“Students needed to understand their academic options, available scholarships, and the relationship between their chosen courses and future career goals,” she said.

Lola Olukuewu, a chief artificial intelligence officer, in her keynote address, said Africans, especially Nigerian students, should be equipped to be future- ready, especially because of the AI evolution.

“AI has come to stay, from the realities we are seeing, especially since we’ve seen it happen before, through the advent of the Internet. We’re having a sort of repeat of the Y2K advent, with AI.

“The educational system is being revamped as well, and so we need to let our learners know how to be future-ready, so that the changes in the world and career space don’t meet them unprepared,” she said.

Olukuewu emphasised that Nigeria must begin early to introduce artificial intelligence in its curriculum to avoid being reactive.

“As it is now, we’re being reactive because most of the educational systems globally are changing very fast. In fact, China recently revamped thousands of its courses and expunged them from its curricula because they have now become obsolete.

“We have to begin to catch them young by letting them know on time that the world out there has changed, and help them to reposition themselves in such a way that they are future-ready for the realities they are going to meet,” she said.