By Chris Njoku
The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC Demonstration Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River State, has won the maiden Connected Development, CODE quiz and debate competition.
The competition which was part of the third phase of CODE’s ongoing “Power of Voices and Fair for All” project supported by Oxfam was held on Tuesday, 12 March 2024, at the West African People’s Institute, WAPI, Calabar
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that apart from the NYSC Demonstration Secondary School, other schools involved in the competition were Government Girls Secondary School Big Qua and WAPI, all in Calabar.
Speaking to NAN in an interview, the Founder of CODE, Mr Hamzat Lawal, said as part of the project, they had established Civic Clubs in some secondary schools in the state to help instil the virtues of integrity, transparency and accountability among the children.
Lawal who was represented by Etim Effanga, CODE’s Support Officer in Cross River said the whole initiative was important because they needed to catch them young if the future of the nation must be secured.
“In the next 10 to 15 years, these children will be the leaders of tomorrow and we all wish to see good leadership that is why we think it is imperative to start building the children now.
“This is just the first competition among the many that will come up, these Civic Clubs and competitions will help prepare these young ones for a better tomorrow.
“For us, we are working to have our integrity clubs in all secondary schools not just in Cross River but in all states of the Federation,” he said.
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Similarly, Miss Blessing Anama, a student of the NYSC Demonstration Secondary School said she felt very happy that her school won the maiden quiz and debate competition.
Anama who said she would like the competition to be regular to build accountability among students appealed to the code to ensure that many more civic clubs were established in other secondary schools in the state.
On her part, Udo Iboro from Government Girls Secondary School, Big Qua Town Calabar, noted that the competition was impactful adding that it was not easy gathering students from different schools to exchange ideas.
While appealing for the project to be expanded among schools, she said CODE could also improve on the gifts to motivate students to participate more.
NAN also reports that the Power of Voices and Fair for All Project is currently on in six states: Imo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) and Cross River. (NAN)