Winners emerge in Lagos essay competition

Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Adebule has expressed optimism that literary giants in the class of Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and world-renowned Chinua Achebe would emerge from pupils in the state.

Adebule who spoke at the grand finale of the 2017 Lagos State Secondary Schools Essay Competition held at Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in the secretariat complex noted that ‘literary giants’ started like students that were being celebrated in the state and encouraged them to put in more efforts to attain greater heights in life.

She explained that the competition was to discover and promote the gift of deep thought and articulate writing skills in students. This she said would help to convey ideas, communicate philosophy, recall occurrences and peep into the future, which is needed in literary works.

She said: “I am particularly impressed by their sense of record of the past, their accurate grasp on the current development of the state by the governor and their own vision of what future Lagos State they expect in relation to the vision and mission of this administration.

“I urge those whose essays were not shortlisted not to feel bad or lose hope but see it as a challenge to further sharpen their thoughts and read wider to help them have a better grasp of the use of language and practice more the art of writing.