Abuja – Three states, Kwara, Benue and Niger have emerged as North-Central champions in the ongoing 2017 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Quiz Competition.
They emerged winners out of seven after an hour competition at the Government Science and Technical College in Abuja on Friday.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after the event, Michael Paul, who represented Benue, thanked God and expressed hope of becoming the overall best at the National competition.
“I would like to be a doctor when I grow up because I want to impact the lives of others.
“I also want to thank the NNPC for this platform to showcase talents and for the grants given to us,’’ he said.
The representative of Kwara, Favour Moshood, also told NAN “I feel honoured to have won and I thank the NNPC. I urge other companies to invest in events like this to encourage students and promote education’’.
One of the overall winners of 2016, Ameh Emmanuel, said the NNPC scholarship to sponsor winners through tertiary began this year.
“ We were three that won for the FCT and we were given N250,000 each. I just finished my secondary school and I intend to go further to Federal University of Technology, Minna.
“The competition is competitive and of high standard and I advise all students to put in effort and join such competitions in order to become better citizens,’’ Emmanuel said.
The leaders of the table, Benue, Niger and Kwara, had a tie with 65 points each; Kogi came fourth with 60 marks, FCT with 55 marks, Plateau with 50 marks and Nasarawa had 35 marks.
The event ends the zonal competitions and the winners would meet winners from other geo-political zones for the national competition in three weeks.
The winner at the national level would be awarded with an annual grant of N300,000 to study in any university of choice.
Also, the second and third place winners would get annual grants of N250,000 and N200,000 respectively to cover their tertiary education while a one-off N100,000 grant is given to state winners.
The NNPC annual quiz competition began in 2000 but became a national exercise in 2001. (NAN)