The closing ceremony of the 6th edition of the annual MTN Foundation's 21 days of investment in education, tagged: "21 days of Y'ello Care," held recently with the emergence of the son of a housemaid, Nlemogu Nnaemeka Prince as the winner of a quiz competition. MOJEED ALABI reports Prince's success story and the company's determination to make quality education accessible to all.
Nlemogu Nnaemeka is an SS 2 student of Government Senior College, Ikoyi, and a child of a housemaid, who has his eyes on the future. He is determined to turn the table of poverty to that of excellence, especially for his family, which has had to cope with hard times since his father's demise some years ago.
Nnaemeka's hope was recently fired up when he took his school to glory by emerging first in a quiz competition organised by MTN's corporate social responsibility's vehicle – the MTN Foundation, as part of activities to mark the closing ceremony of its three weeks of dedicated investment in education, which is tagged: 21 days of Y'ello Care.
When declared winner, having beaten his opponents from Lanre Awolokun High School, Gbagada and Eko Akete Grammar School, Lagos Island, which came second and third respectively, Nnaemeka was overwhelmed with joy and became dumbfounded. He could only mutter; "Glory be to God almighty."
The young lad, who scored 22 as against his opponents' 20 and 18 scores, when pressed further for interview, simply disclosed; "I am short of words because when I consider my background I feel very surprised. My mother is a steward and my father is late but mother has always been there to support my dream to become somebody in life."
He said he is committed to his academic work to ensure that she does not labour in vain, even though, he was very economical with further details about him and his family, saying the end will surely justifies the means. He thanked his teachers for investing in him and other students and commended MTN for offering such opportunities to public school students.
The winner went home with Netbook with MTN education bundle, a commemorative trophy and classroom furniture, which the school's Vice-Principal, Mrs. Dupe Adelakun, stated would go a long way to inspire the students and the school to excel. Nnaemeka's success story, according to the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Brett Goschen, has confirmed the company's target of ensuring a level playing ground for every Nigerian child in terms of access to quality education.
He said the annual programme, initiated by MTN Group in 2007, encourages the company's staff in all its 21 operating countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to volunteer their resources, time and skills to assist others and the communities where they live and work.
"The theme for this year; Investing in Education for All, is in consonance with the global movement to make education accessible and compulsory for all and sundry across the world. Thus this year's initiative was organized under three broad themes of; Empowering Teachers, Empowering Learning and Digital Content for Education.
Specific activities included the hosting of ICT seminars for teachers, actual classroom teaching, ICT awareness workshops, and the establishment of digital libraries in select primary and secondary schools across the country to promote a healthy, voluntary study habit among students,"
He said it would be sad if the likes of Nnaemeka are not encouraged to further their education, adding that, such mindset informed the idea of taking some of its staff to select classrooms nationwide to serve as models to the students.
"Apart from classroom appearance of our staff 81 schools, 12 digital libraries were set up in primary and secondary schools across the six geo-political zones while teacher empowerment seminars held in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and thousands of books and other educational materials distributed in schools across the country," he added. Speaking at the event, the Chief Education Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Okikiola Adegoke, commended the communication company for its bias for education development in the country.
