Ikom (Cross River) – Government Secondary School, Akim on Tuesday won the Cross River leg of the 5th National Quiz Competition on the Capital Market.
With the victory, the five-member team has qualified to represent the state at the zonal finals in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The team garnered 30 points to defeat its closest rivals, the Girls Secondary School, Ugep, which scored 25 points in the competition organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Igoli Girls High School, Ogoja, defeated Federal Government College, Ikom, which hosted the competition, for the third slot.
The teams from Ogoja and Ikom had earlier tied on points and needed a sudden death to decide the third-place winner.
Bendi Technical College, Obanliku and Navy Secondary School, Akpabuyo, were notable absentees in the competition intended to get students at secondary schools level to be conversant with issues in the capital market.
The first three winners at the state level went home with a plaque each.
Speaking earlier, the Zonal Head of SEC for the South-South, Mr Ismaila Villie, who supervised the event, said plans were underway to include capital market studies in Nigeria’s secondary schools curricula,
He also told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the competition came under SEC’s catch-them-young programme.
“We want young people to begin to appreciate and understand the Nigerian capital market operations. It is not about winning or losing. It is about learning.
“This quiz is held in all the states of the federation excepting those facing security challenges or under siege like those in the North East. It is a yearly event.
“At the end of this competition, our boys and girls must have learnt a lot about the capital market,’’ Villie said.
He said the competition would be closely followed by the establishment of capital market clubs and societies in the secondary schools.
He said the capital market being a vast area offered opportunities for young people and interested Nigerians to pick capital market studies as a profession and career.
“We met with the Federal Ministry of Education to infuse capital market studies in Nigerian schools’ curricula,’’ he said.
The competition was declared open by Dame Akon Ndonwofit, the Principal of Federal Government College, Ikom.
Mr Idrah Modey, the Coordinator of Government Secondary School, Akim, said the competition was challenging, adding that winning was interesting and sweet.
“I assembled 15 of our best students and administered an examination where I picked our team for this completion,’’ he said.
He said his wards had also qualified to represent Cross River at the zonal elimination of the Etisalat U-15 Football Competition. (NAN)
