Esther Taiwo
The entries for the 16th Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary School Students in Nigeria is now open from March 18th to June 7th, 2019.
The topic for this year’s competition is “Justice as an Instrument of Enduring Peace in Nation Building”.
For participation in the 16th Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary School Students, the entry requirements include: Essay of maximum of 2000 words, a Passport Photograph of the Student, Full Name, Address, Contact Telephone Number, Class, School and Name and Telephone contact of the Principal.
Essay could be submitted through email to essay@trem.org or by post to The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) International Headquarters, Obanikoro/ Anthony Oke Bus Lagos.
Like previous years, the star winner school gets three set of desktop computers and a printer, while the student goes home with a trophy, Laptop, N100, 000.00 cash and a plaque.
The first runner up school gets two set of desktop computers and a printer and the student goes home with a cash prize of N75, 000.00 with a plaque. The second runner up school gets a desktop computer, while the student gets N50, 000.00 cash prize and a plaque.
The competition is one of Dr. Mike Okonkwo’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities aimed at raising the standard in the educational sector in the country
and at the same time sensitize the students by making them analytically minded so as to excel in their world by developing their ability to think through issues.
Also, as part of the activities lined up to mark the 74th Birthday of Dr. Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM).
Over the years, the competition has been very successful in reshaping the thought pattern of the students to develop problem-solving skills.
The Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition spans over a decade of developing and rewarding the writing skills of Nigerian youths towards national development.
The prizes for this year’s competition will be presented to the winners at the 20th Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture, which has been scheduled for Thursday, September 5th, 2019 at the Muson Centre (Shell Hall) by 10.00 am prompt.
Dr. Mike Okonkwo is the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), a.k.a. Power in the Word, with over 200 branches in Nigeria and across the globe.
He is a man driven by the passion to show the love of God to humanity in every way the Lord enables him.
This passion gave birth to the Empowerment for the Less Privileged Foundation, a non-governmental organisation committed to alleviating the plight of the less-privileged in the society through donations to hospitals,
establishment of free vocational training centres, running free preparatory schools for students in the secondary schools, and facilitating regular public enlightenment campaigns on health issues amongst others.
He also pioneers a scholarship fund for talented students. .
To contribute his quota to national development, he started the Mike Okonkwo Annual Lecture in 2000 and the lecture has grown to become a major contributor to government policies as it brings together seasoned men and women to discuss burning national issues.
Also to encourage the writing skills of children in secondary school and also to help them become solution providers to the nation, the Mike Okonkwo Essay Competition was born. Today, the topic for the essay is also the topic for the annual lecture.
