By Amos Aar
TWO Students of Government Secondary School (GSS), Gboko are to represent Benue State in the zonal Quiz competition on Legislature and Democracy for Secondary Schools in Nigeria come 2nd November, 2023 at the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The participating students of the school, Isaac Sule, son of the publisher of The Real Newsline Newspaper, Makurdi, and Joseph Tyona who emerged state champions at the state qualifiers held at Government Girls College, Makurdi on 12th October, 2023 promised to make Benue proud at the National competition.
The state qualifiers sponsored by National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), in collaboration with Benue State Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management featured eight Secondary Schools in Benue State with Princess Adeja International College and Wesley High School as 1st and 2nd runner up respectively.
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Declaring the event open, Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Rev. Frederick Ikyaan PhD, stated commitment of the state government to grooming youths to actively participate in democracy and impact positively on the Democratic process in the future.
Rev. Dr. Ikyaan announced that the Ministry would evolve strategies to accommodate more schools in the state to participate in the preliminary stages of the competition in the next edition of the annual quiz.
The Commissioner encouraged participating schools to consider the competition as a learning platform to perfect in their educational pursuit.
Director General of NILDS, Professor Abubakar Suleiman, represented by Edward Iorwase, said the competition was to educate students on the process of legislation in the country and advised teachers to avoid interference so as to achieve the desired result.
Director, Education Support Services at the State Ministry of Education, Mr. Titus Anho, stated that in any activity, there must be knowledge gained by those involved and expressed hope that the winner that would emerge would also emerge the best at the national competition.
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Speaking with the students’ coach, Mr. Charles Mngerem, who was in high spirits shortly before their departure to Abuja, expressed optimism that the two state champions are going to win at the zonal level as well as at the finals and urged the students to remain focused.
He solicited cooperation and prayers from relevant stakeholders to enable the state emerge victorious, adding that with God, they will make the state proud.
