PositiveNaija

Towunmi Coker Literary Initiative – a non-governmental organisation (NGO) has awarded winners of the 2017 Teecoks Writing Competition.

Teecoks Writing Competition is organised by the NGO for secondary school students in Lagos State. The competition had as theme ‘Flipping the Scripts: An Unemployment Story,’ with entries submitted either in poetry or fictional form.

Winners Of The 2017 Teecoks Writing Competition

Poetry category:

Omotayo Tomiwa of Maryland Comprehensive School, Ikeja, Lagos, went home with the first position and beat Atanda Akpezi Blessing of Diary Farm Secondary School, while Ezeokeh Chelsea of Holy Child College emerged the third winner.

Fiction category:

Osumah Katherine of Maryland Comprehensive School emerged winner, while Oluwapemi Adesanya of Oke-Oso Senior High School and Obidi Eunice Onyeaka of ISL settled for the second and third prizes respectively.

There was, however, consolation prizes for the fourth to 10th place winners. The winners were given certificates of recognition and some prize items, while the top three winners for each category were given some money. In addition, they will be sponsored in a writing workshop later this year.

The event, which made its debut in 2013, has according to the founder, Dr. Towunmi Coker, created an avenue for creative writers among secondary schools students to showcase their prowess and get necessary recognition.

According to her:

“I am very glad that my initiative is helping to nurture the raw talent of students. My aim of establishing this initiative was to see that the students cultivate the habit of reading and writing good books.

I am glad that our efforts have not been in vain as the students are now eager to participate fully in the competition and the schools’ authorities are also doing us a favour by registering their students en masse for the competition. And I can say that it has gone a long way to improving the reading and writing culture among the students.”

While speaking at the event, the chairman, Prof. Tunde Babawale, advised the students to always seek knowledge through books because one could only become wise only by what he or she had experienced.

Bambi Odunrombi and Emmanuel Makinde, both master’s students of Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) have emerged the winning team of the 2018 Design Genre Architecture competition.

Bambi Odunrombi and Emmanuel Makinde, both received a cash prize of ₦100,000; the second position went to Timileyin Adeniran, Tolulope Babalola and Kunlere Adetunji, all 300 level students of the same institution with a cash prize of ₦70,000; while Andrew Adejumo, Phillips Soetan and Adeola Oderinde also 300 level students of OAU emerged third position, getting a cash prize of ₦50,000.

On their winning strategy, Odunrombi and Makinde said:

“It was team work, keeping it simple in conception and building on existing frameworks. These were factors we think may have helped us to impress the judges and win the competition.”

The grand finale of the 2018 Design Genre Architecture competition, held at the OAU’s Architecture Department, witnessed 11 shortlisted groups making presentations on a project brief titled ‘Sustainable Design of a Mixed Use Complex in Downtown Lagos’. The contestants were asked to come up with ingenious building design that will combine residential, commercial and office structures using sustainable and environment friendly materials, among others.

The Managing Director, Design Genre Consultants, organiser of the competition, Mr. Anthony Okoye affirms his organisation’s desire to deepen the talent base of students by exposing them to real life architectural projects.

In his words:

“Our aim of supporting the design competition is to make sustainable design second nature to architects in Nigeria and also contribute to students’ education by deepening their knowledge and allowing these emerging architects the opportunity to gain exposure on real world projects which will in turn enhance the continuous sustainable improvement of the architecture profession.

We are happy first at the number of entries. We had well over 20 entries. We also observed the progress made by the contestants in their power point, 3D presentations and their sustained interest in the competition. This no doubt goes to confirm that our commitment to adding value to the practice of architecture in Nigeria is yielding positive results.”

The Business Development Manager, Mr. Dayo Oduleye stated on the Design Genre Architecture competition:

“We are sponsoring the contest to give back to the institution OAU because it is the alma mater of our Managing Director, Anthony Okoye and in the process we hope to observe and identify the natural talent of students just beginning their journey into architecture and get their fresh perspective on form and design. We hope to also make the competition more interesting next year by including as part of the price, a visit to some interesting architectural sites in Dubai, Europe and South Africa.”

Design Genre Consultants is an architectural consulting and construction firm established in 2008 with the aim of creating contemporary designs that suits the lifestyle of their clients. The company’s mission is to achieve excellence in all areas of endeavour while recreating a functional and aesthetically pleasant environment with designs ranging from residential building designs to public building designs.

Professor Aderemi Raji-Oyelade of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, has emerged the recipient of the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Staff Mobility for Teaching Award.

The Erasmus+ programme is a funding scheme to support activities in the fields of Education, Training, Youth and Sport. Between February 20 and 22, 2018, Professor Aderemi Raji-Oyelade was awarded the prestigious 2017 Humboldt Alumni award and Humboldt Conference Award, which the scholar convened at University of Ibadan Conference Centre.

According to a statement by the Dean, Faculty of Arts, UI, Professor Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva, the Nigeria’s premier University is the only African country listed on the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Grant (Project 2017-1-HR01-KA107-035107), referring to cooperation with higher education institutions, alongside other non-EU countries including Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Montenegro, and Russian Federation.

In the words of Professor Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva:

“Under the Key Action 1 Activity granted to Nigeria, among five non-EU countries, Raji-Oyelade will be Visiting Professor to Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia where he will teach African literature and cultural studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of UNIOS.”

The Erasmus+ programme awards financial supports to individual incoming and outgoing teaching and non-teaching staff mobilities, which objective is teaching or training at a selected partner higher education institution (HEI) in selected partner countries, for the purpose of studying or teaching at the University of Osijek, Croatia. The visiting scholarship will be utilized in May, 2018

The Vice Chancellor of UI, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka while expressing his felicity on behalf of UI and its members, stated:

“Raji-Oyelade is a blessing to our university. He has brought many medals to our university. He is a good ambassador of the university. Raji-Oyelade is one out of the many reputable scholars we have in this university. I am always very proud of the Department of English Language of the University of Ibadan, which has produced international scholars like Professor Niyi Osundare, Professor Chinua Achebe, Professor Wole Soyinka, and Professor J.P. Clark.”

Olayinka added that another scholar that has brought glory to University of Ibadan, is Dr. Esther Eyiuche of the Department of Agronomy, who just won the 2018 Young Award by the Society for In Vitro Biology, SIVB, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, in recognition of her contributions and achievements in the Vitro sciences.

Ezinne Favour Ogwuegbu has graduated from the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.0 and earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations.

According to Chinecherem Jay Harry Jnr. – a colleague of Ezinne:

“Ezinne Favour Ogwuegbu, Nigerian Student of Eastern Mediterranean University, graduates top of her class with a 4.0/4.0 CGPA, earning herself bachelor’s degree in International Relations.

Favour has been very active in student politics, serving in the capacities of vice president of the Nigerian Student Society, Eastern Mediterranean University, and executive official II of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Turkish Zone, and in senatorial positions of these respective bodies.

She graduated top of her class in high school from Dayspring Academy, as Senior Prefect with straight A’s and 8 distinctions and 1 credit in WASSCE. She has also won several football awards in Cyprus and is an avid writer.

She hopes to contribute to achieving a fair and just society, and to enable the resuscitation of Nigeria’s diplomacy and position, internationally.”