By Adeyinka Aderibigbe
Winners emerged yesterday at both the Primary and Secondary School categories in the 2019 Spelling Bee Competition in Ifako-Ijaiye local Government Area. The competition is exclusively targeted at public schools, with the intent to improving their English Language, especially spelling and pronunciation.
At the event which held at the Council’s Multipurpose Event Centre at Iju, Lagos, Miss kate Otu, of Coker Memorial Primary School, ifako-Ijaiye beat 39 others to come first, in the primary school category, while Esther Fawole of First African Church Primary School, and Miss Precious Akinota came Second and Third respectively.
All the 16 public primary schools in the local government area fielded contestants in the keenly contested competition.
In the Secondary School category, Master Oluola Abiji, of lju Senior High School, came first, Master Adekunle Adeola, of Ifako ljaiye Senior High School, came second while third position went to Master Ojule Daramola, of lju Obawole Junior Grammar School. Ten secondary schools competed in the competition.
All winners at the preliminary stages are expected to compete at the Zonal level, while winners in that category would compete at the final stage, with winner becoming the One Day Governor of the state.
At the event, the council chairman Apostle Oloruntoba Oke, who expressed commitment to ensuring that the council breaks the jinx of failing at the zonal competition, promised more grants to all public schools in the area in order to ensure that the sector witnessed excellent improvement.
The chairman who was represented by his wife, pastor (Mrs) Modupe Oke, commended the teachers for grilling their wards for the exercise, adding that the sterling performance of all the students at the competition that the council will soon cause a major stir in the competition in the future.
Mrs Oke, admonished the pupils to be well behaved at all times just as she counselled them to take their academic work seriously, in order to excel in their exams and become good ambassadors of their parents, the local government and Lagos State.
The Supervisor for Education, Hon. Babajide Atala, while welcoming guests to
the event, advised the children to cultivate the habit of always reading their
books instead of engaging in unwholesome activities that would deny them of
excelling in their academic pursuits.
High point of the competition was the presentation of prizes to the winners.
Among dignitaries at the event are: the Secretary to the Local Government, Mr Ayo Jeje, Hon.Maruf Ojugbele, LGEA Executive Secretary, Hon. Olalekan Jongbon, Council Manager, Mr Adewunmi Ogunbambi, HOD Education, Mr Olutayo, Supervisor Works & Infrastructure, Chief Shola Ajibose , Human Resources Officer, Mr Dauodu and other top management officers of the local government as well as teachers and other community stakeholders.