FCT Spelling BEE competition ends in grand style

The FCT Spelling Bee Competition, organised by Decipher Solutions and supported by Youthhubafrica, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Praxis and Fanta, has come and ended up with indelible smiles in faces of many student winners.
The competition, which held at the Nigerian Society of Engineer Building in Abuja, was an opportunity for students all across Nigeria’s Federal Capital territory to slug it out in a serious spelling competition.

This year’s edition, which was the 4th, received over 160 entries and 100 participants were shortlisted from all the area councils in Abuja.
The 1st place winner was Snow George from Starville School, Gwarinpa. She won a cash prize of N50,000 and a tablet.
2nd place was Joshua Onoja from Deeper Life High School, Kado Estate Phase 2, Abuja. He won a cash prize of N30,000 and a tablet.
3rd place winner was Tasnim Ahmed from Glisten International Academy, Jahi Abuja. She won a cash prize of N20,000 and a tablet.
Other gift items for all 3 included medals, plaques, certificates and a book on entrepreneurship authored by Marita Ogunaka
Speaking to newsmen after the event, the founder of Decipher Solutions, Zainab Haruna expressed happiness over seeing what she began as a personal community development service project during her NYSC year now growing in size and annual reach.

Zainab, who is a project manager and a community development advocate, revealed that she started hosting the competition because she was alarmed at the massive failures in National Examinations of students most especially in English Language, adding that the competition is one of her humble ways of combating this ugly trend.
“We believe that a love for words will boost reading culture and also help young people in other aspects of English Language study including Oral pronunciations, comprehension, essay writing and summary and we are positive that a better performance in English Language will translate to  corresponding increased performance in other subjects as English remains the language of instruction in our schools,” she noted.

A representative of Praxis Magazine, Africa’s online magazine for arts and literature, Tee Jay Dan, who spoke to Blueprint, said:  “It was a beautiful experience for all of us and we hope to keep creating impact through the many initiatives of Decipher Solutions.
“As organisers, we are very pleased with the support from Fanta and people like Cyril Stober and Oby Ezekwesili for sparing time to support our goal. It was a beautiful event, both Judges and participants made memorable,” he noted.
Earlier, Oby Ezekwesili delivered a very powerful opening remark and the children enjoyed every bit of the event, from seeing Cyril Stober and Ezekwesili – people they are used to seeing on TV – to competing to become the Spelling Champions.