No winner or finalist has emerged in the 2022 PositiveNaija Essay Competition, themed: The Listening Nigerian Leader!
The 2022 PositiveNaija Essay Competition (July 1 – October 1, 2022) is purposed towards informing the world on the ways the Nigerian President genuinely listens to the Nigerian people towards achieving the principles of good governance today.
The 2022 PositiveNaija Essay Competition aims to promote: the relevant communication mechanisms between the Nigerian President and the Nigerian People; the social contract of good governance; responsive leadership; Nigerian patriotism; impactful scholarship as well as serve as a platform for excellence!
According to the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of PositiveNaija, Mr. Toju Micheal Ogbe:
“We thank God Almighty as always as we are once again pleased with another realization and success of the PositiveNaija annual essay competition (now in its sixth edition) – however with no finalist or winner.
The number and quality of entries received could/can be better but we are confident that the culture of reading, valuable research and interest in the positive progress and excellence as well as hope by Nigerians is increasing as evident in some of the entries received.
The theme of this year’s essay competition is a critical and important one at this time of the national development of Nigeria – particularly in establishing and maintaining the social contract of good governance between the Nigerian leader (President) and the Nigerian people.
A number of factors can be attributed to why no winner or finalist emerged in this year’s edition of the competition from the entries received and reviewed and they were largely lacking in the following ways including:
– defined open communication method/approach/mechanisms, which means lack of proper information on the relevant communication mechanisms between the Nigerian President and the Nigerian People with consideration that such communication is a two-way channel;
– what are the people saying and how consistent are their demands with the definition of good governance (principles/ social contract), which according to the United Nations includes: participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and follows the rule of law. This is important because afterall it is on such basis the public is aware of who the President is actually listening to and the rationalisation of their demands for the good of all;
– the verifiable or genuine impact/results of the responsiveness/actions of the President to the demands of the Nigerian people;
– others include logical and narrative inconsistency; instances of lack of reliable/relevant references by participating writers; spelling and grammatical errors; false information; genuine value of the essay objective not profound with little or no linkage to the reality on ground today as most essays largely appeared to be – off-topic, descriptive, lamentational, historical or suggestive; late submission; etc.
Overall, perhaps the most difficult aspect may have also been in the linkage and consistency to the reality on ground today (current happenings).
Still, certain salient successes were unveiled through some of these essays, which should be further scrutinized and amplified accordingly.
As we have always communicated and done even for every edition of the essay competition, when requested only by the participants, we would provide feedback to all who did not make it as a finalist or winner – the specific reason(s) why as pertaining to their essays (which may include some of the reasons stated above).
Our essay competition is a long-term vision towards becoming the most rewarding essay competition in Nigeria – not just financially but most importantly, upholding the values of purposeful insight, critical-thinking, transparency and accountability.
We appreciate the writers of the essays we received this year (15 in total – 15 Nigerians). We appreciate their courage, trust and hope in a greater Nigeria, their intellectual brilliance as well as their confidence in our execution.
Once again, we thank profoundly every advisory judge since the commencement of this annual competition for their valuable support. For this year’s edition, we had hoped to contact relevant advisory judges once finalists emerged.
We also express our heartfelt gratitude to our team, sponsors for this year’s essay competition – Wole Joshua and Co. [competition process auditor], Cliff Agba Art Studio [art piece for the winner] as well as contributors/advisors, family and many others for their kind contributions; a testament of their belief in our vision and mission.
We also appreciate every person and institution genuinely committed to the principles of good governance in Nigeria in their own little way.
We look forward to more remarkable editions in the future and further improvement in every aspect. Thank you.”
For more information on the competition, including the names of the participants, profile of the advisory judges, sponsorship contributions received, etc., see the official competition page.
The 2021 edition of the PositiveNaija Essay Competition, themed “The Power of the Nigerian People!” had no finalist and winner – with 21 entries received.
The 2020 edition, themed “The Purpose of Nigeria!” was won by Femi-Lawal Victor – with 153 entries received.
The 2019 edition of the PositiveNaija Essay Competition, themed “The Value of the Life of a Nigerian!” had no finalist and winner – with 57 entries received.
The 2018 edition, themed “The Love of a Nigerian!” was won by Miss Akunna James-Ibe – with 77 entries received.
The 2017 edition, which was the first edition, themed “How Great Is Nigeria!” was won by Mr. Olawale Lekan Christopher – with 46 entries received.
PositiveNaija is a multimedia institution; committed to good news, positive and constructive journalism on the progress and excellence culture of Nigeria and Nigerians globally.
With the vision of inspiring hope and pride in every Nigerian, it is a platform dedicated to informing the world on the truly impactful, positive, valuable, inspiring, educative and worthy updates associated with Nigeria and Nigerians globally based on consistent objectivity and excellence. The aim is to positively – inspire, educate and redefine the standards of Nigeria’s values based system.
As a human-centered enterprise, the mission of PositiveNaija is to continuously strive towards creating a good, well-informed and empathetic society for Nigeria and Nigerians through news management and impactful initiatives.
