The Federal Government Girls College, Abuloma, Port Harcourt, has won the 2024 Education Champions League competition and received N10 million.

The ECL competition aims to promote literacy among Nigerian youths and reward literary efforts.

Media reports that 16 schools across the state participated in the first round in September 2024, eight schools progressed to the second round, and four schools emerged as finalists.

FGGC defeated Seacrest Preparatory School, which came second and got N5 million, and Aladumo International Schools, which came third and got N2.5 million, while Enitonna High School came fourth and received N1.5 million.

The sponsor of the competition and governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, harped on the need to educate the next generation.

Lulu-Briggs, also the Chairman of Platform Petroleum Ltd, applauded the competing schools, expressing optimism that the future of Nigeria is assured, and urged the organisers to involve more schools in the local communities in the next edition.

He regretted that the gap between the rich and the poor has continued to widen.

“In the past, children of the rich and children of the poor attended the same schools and had access to the same quality education, but today, for you to get a quality education for your children, you have to pay heavily in private schools,” said Lulu-Briggs.

On his part, the organiser of the competition and members of ECL, Mr. Wenenda Wali, explained that 50 per cent of the award money would be given directly to the students who represented their schools, 25 per cent to the school management, and 25 per cent would be used to buy books for the schools.

Wali announced that the publication for the next edition of the competition will be out by the first quarter of 2025 and urged public schools to register for the competition, as enrollment is free. 

“We are determined to ensure this becomes part of our state and even the region if resources allow. We are determined to make the prize attractive, and we want to make it better and bigger,” Wali explained. “But we would like to encourage people to be part of this kind of effort. We can’t rely on the government for everything. In some places, these things are private sector driven projects.”

Ebere Oroma Lee, who spoke on behalf of FGGC Abuloma, urged the organisers to make the competition an annual project.

Lee advised the younger generation to keep putting more effort into their academics, debunking the notion that education is a scam, as peddled by some disgruntled youths on social media.

“We are very excited about the fact that we won,” said Lee. “We are grateful to God for bringing us this far. We are excited to have made our parents, schools, and teachers proud.”

Lulu-Briggs presented the awards to the winning schools, celebrating their academic achievements while encouraging all participants to continue their pursuit of knowledge