Victors have emerged from the recently concluded annual National Travel Essay Competition (NTEC 2023) in the persons of Miss Oyedeji Moyinoluwa (Secondary Schools category) from Princeton College, and Miss Merciful Nwafor of the University of Nigeria Nsuka (Tertiary Institutions category).
The competition’s Grand Finale which took place on Saturday May 27, 2023 to mark this year’s Children’s Day festivities had aviation professionals in attendance such as Mr. Basil Agboarumi, Managing Director (MD), Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc.; Mrs. Victoria Adegbe, MD, Aviatrix Hub; Prof. Effiom Uku of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) amongst others.
The winners of the competition had earlier been shortlisted together with other students for the final round, following a vigorous selection process. They were finally declared winners after a heated defense session of their essays on this year’s topics as follows: “Implications and Threats of Unruly Passengers to Safe and Secure Air Travel” (for the Secondary Schools category) and “Curbing the Trafficking of Illicit Drugs in Nigeria” (for the Tertiary Institutions category).
Speaking on the choice of topics for this year’s competition, the Founder and Coordinator of this illustrious project, Mr. Ewos Iroro, had this to say:
“The topics for this year’s competition were carefully chosen following recent developments and repeat occurrences in the sector regarding incidences of unruly passengers and the increasing trend of the trafficking of illicit drugs through the airports”, a situation which he said poses serious safety and security threats to the aviation sector and to the entire nation.
Tertiary Institutions 1st Prize winner, Merciful Nwafor, took home a cash prize of N150,000 and a free ticket to South Africa courtesy of South African Airways (SAA); while Oyedeji Moyinoluwa, Secondary Schools Category 1st Prize winner won a cash prize of N100,000 and two free tickets for herself and a family member to Accra, Ghana, courtesy of Africa World Airlines (AWA).
The second and third prizes for the Secondary Schools Category, N60,000 and N40,000 respectively, were bagged by Oshimade Abisola of Abiolu College, Igando – Lagos and Ademigbaji Favour of Sunshine Diamond College – Ibadan.
In the same vein, the second and third prizes for the Tertiary Institutions Category went to Miss Daikpor Anthonia (N100,000) and Miss Olatunji Deborah (N50,000) – both students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
NTEC 2023 was proudly sponsored by SAHCO, Peak Milk, Sabre West Africa as well as Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB); Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA); Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and OCP International.
