Udi LG Mayor, Hon. Ifeanyi Pascal Agu, sets the pace: encourages student scholarly efforts with essay writing competition

Udi LG Mayor, Hon. Ifeanyi Pascal Agu, sets the pace: encourages student scholarly efforts with essay writing competition.

UDI LGA chairman; Hon. Paschal Agu

Lack of reading culture has been a general societal issue for many decades. The digitization of many activities which turned the world into

a global village has come with its own side effects: distraction and lack of interest in scholarship to the extent that school has been proclaimed 'a scam' by the very people who should put all their time reading for the best results in other to be better individuals in the future.

Worse of all, the pandemic Covid-19 period which put school activities to a temporal stop in other to contain the spread has helped make students abandon their books for some other non-academic activities. Sequel to this, the workaholic, Student-friendly Mayor of Udi Local Government Area, Hon. Ifeanyi Pascal Agu in a bid to ensure that the reading culture of the students spread across the local government is kept alive, introduces Udi Naganiru Essay Writing Competition for both the secondary school students and undergraduate students from Udi Local Government. 

UDI LG; Essay Writing Competition

This new breath of hope for the students which is the very first of its kind aims at encouraging research, reading and writing in the local government even as the students keep safe at home. 

Udi Naganiru Essay Writing Competition, having included both the secondary school students and the higher institution students at a time, breaks a record in history as students are encouraged to research and as well know the different historic facts and traditional practices in Udi which they will be tested on.

 The essay writing aims at encouraging scholarly efforts by gifting winners from both categories with cash prizes as well as certificates of excellence from the local government. 

Education, as G.K. Chesterton once said, is the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. A government that invests on the education of her youths has given life to them. Hon. Ifeanyi Pascal Agu is no doubt the Messiah Udi people have all waited for.

Below is the guideline for Udi Naganiru Essay Writing Competition:

Udi Naganiru Essay Writing Competition is sponsored by Udi Local Government Council to promote academic excellence and to encourage research among young students. 

UDI LGA Essay Topics

ESSAY TOPICS:

1. Effects of Covid-19 pandemic on Secondary Education (for Junior Category).

2. The usefulness of Palm wine to a typical Udi family (for Senior Category).

Competition Rules:

1. This contest is open to all Senior Secondary students of Udi Local Government Area and higher institutions located within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

2. The senior category comprises of undergraduates in higher institutions and the junior category comprises of Senior Secondary Students (SS1 to SS3).

3. Entrants for both categories are required to submit copies of their local government identification letters. In addition, entrants for senior category are required to submit their admission letters.

4. All essays must be original works specifically written for the competition. 

5. Co-authorship of essays is not permitted and entrants are to submit only one entry.

6. Completed essays and accompanying documents must be submitted to udinaganiruessaycompetition@gmail.com on or before 19th September, 2020. Late submissions will not be considered. Hard copy submissions will not be accepted. 

7. All essays must be typed with a maximum of 750 words for the junior category, and a maximum of 1,500 words for the senior category and sent as a Microsoft Word document.

8. Current contact information of each entrant including phone number and email address must accompany the submission.

9. All essays will be judged on the basis of originality, grammar, points, evidence of argument, and creativeness to contest theme 

10.  All essays will be subjected to plagiarism check to determine originality. No plagiarism, in whole or part, will be acceptable.

11.   Shortlisted entrants will be contacted for the physical interactive assessment to defend their submitted essays on the 3rd of October, 2020. 

12.  Cash prizes will be awarded as follows: N100, 000 for 1st Place, N70, 000 for 2nd place and N50, 000 for 3rd place for the senior category, and N50, 000 for 1st place, N30, 000 for 2nd place and N20, 000 for 3rd place for the junior category. 

13. The remaining shortlisted entrants from both categories will be compensated at the end of the physical interactive assessment. 

14. All shortlisted entrants from both Senior and Junior Categories will be presented with an award of excellence at the end of the physical interactive assessment. 

15. The winning essays will be published on different online platforms.