A female participant at the 2019 edition of the NNPC North East Zonal Science Quiz Competition last Friday in Bauchi State stole the show for exhibiting brilliance and making it to the grand-finale.
The SSS2 student of Iqra Science Academy, Jalingo in Taraba, Wazifa Salihu, scored 45 points to clinch the second position in an affair dominated by her male counterparts.
Elated by such a development, Mr Ahmed Habu, who represented Ndu Ughamadu, General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, announced that she would be the first female to battle with males at the grand-finale of the competition.
“Wazifa, apart from being the only female student who had participated in the final of the zonal competition, will equally be the first female student to fight it out at the grand finale.
“Wazifa will be competing with 17 all male students at the grand finale, to be held this year in Abuja, and I know she will excel, considering her performance here in Bauchi.
“NNPC is so impressed with her talent and I cannot hide my feeling than to donate this money to her as a gesture,” Habu said.
Our source reports that immediately he concluded eulogising the student, some dignitaries attending the event followed suit, making various cash gifts, just as students and teachers at the venue of the competition started chanting songs praising the girl.
In his remarks earlier before the commencement of the zonal competition, Habu had observed that representatives of states from the North East had never won any award at the national level since the introduction of the competition 19 years ago.
“The north east zone had never won any award since the introduction of the competition in 2000, and I urge the winners to breast up for the final of the competition,” he said.
He, therefore urged the winners of the zonal competition to study hard and prepare for the national edition coming up later in the year in Abuja.
Yusuf Ibrahim of Sunshine Academy, Bauchi; Wazifa Salihu of Iqra Science Academy, Jalingo and Abdulrahman Da’ud of Elkanemi College, Maiduguri, came first, second and third respectively.
They are to represent the zone at the grand-finale of the competition coming up this year in Abuja.