Presentation National High School, Benin, Edo State, last Friday emerged the star prize winner of N7 million in the Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc 2018 Pearls Quiz Competition.
The grand finale of the competition which took place in Asaba, Delta State capital also saw Lawrence Prentice Academy, Asaba, that emerged second, going home with the prize money of N3 million.
The University Preparatory Secondary School, Benin, that took the third place, went home with N1 million.
It was reported that Seplat has made it an annual event for schools in Edo and Delta States to participate in the quiz competition.
The Delta Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, represented by the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Chiedu Ebie, thanked Seplat for the initiative which had continued to bring students together in healthy competitions.
Okowa noted that there were many such competitions sponsored by various organisations which the students could explore to enhance their educational pursuit.
He said that government was committed to ensuring that public schools in the state participated actively in all the competitions.
Seplat Chief Executive Officer, Mr Austin Avuru said that the quiz competition had positively impacted on students in the two states.
“Seplat is committed to running the Pearls quiz annually to promote academic excellence and healthy competition, while motivating and encouraging the spirit of teamwork.
“Since the inception, 51 students have been awarded scholarship, 15 schools had been beneficiaries of projects and four schools that had won the competition were given brand new 16-Seaters Toyota Hiace buses.
“Consolation prizes have also been awarded to all participating schools, “Avuru said.
Also, General Manager External and Communication, Seplat Petroleum Company Plc, Dr Chioma Nwachukwu said that the company had touched lives in various ways as part of its corporate social responsibilities.
According to her, Seplat, for seven years now, has brought together hundreds of secondary schools from Edo and Delta States to participate in the quiz competitions.
“Seplat believes in share value; we are committed in making sure that the communities and the whole country where we work are positively impacted through our corporate social responsibility.
“The star prize of N7 million will be used by the school that won it to execute a project in the school.
“The three students that won the first prize also will go home with N100,000 each.
“The second place school won N3 million for a project while each of the three students will get N75,000.
“For the third place, the N1 million is for the school project while the three students get N50,000 each,” she said.
She said that this year’s competition which started six months ago had 854 secondary schools that participated in the competition with more than 24,504 students benefiting from it.