by Rachel Ogbu

Ufua Memorial Group of Schools, Uromi, has emerged winner of the inaugural SEPLAT PEARLs Quiz competition earing them a new school bus and N1.3 million cash.

Three female students; Chinyere Abbattam, Khafayat Ogundeko and Rahmat Usidebhofo represented their school to take the price in Sapele on Friday December 14, 2012.

Ogundeko said “it feels great to win,” she thanked SEPLAT for the PEARLs quiz competition. “This SEPLAT PEARLs quiz competition will encourage us to work harder and become the best,” she noted.

An elated representative of the winning school, Physics teacher, Akinmodun Matthew, thanked SEPLAT for the initiative while praising his students for a hard fought battle. According to him ” I knew we would win because we came prepared, and the first thing I did this morning was take a picture of the bus.”

The runners up were University Preparatory School, Benin; Gbenoba Grammar School, Agbor; Bethel International Secondary School, Agbor; Lumen Christi, Uromi and St. Anastasia Heights secondary school, Effurun.

Speaking during the awards ceremony,  Chioma Nwachuku, GM, Corporate Affairs & New Business Development who stood in for Austin Avuru, MD/CEO of SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company, operators of the NPDC/SEPLAT JV assets, OML 4, 38 &41,  congratulated the winning schools and runners up for their consistency and gamesmanship while noting that SEPLAT inaugurated the quiz competition as a means of  promoting academic excellence in secondary schools in Edo and Delta States  ‘because young people represent the future of any community, and indeed the nation. He said they need to be encouraged to embrace the spirit of scholarship and supported to understand and appreciate the fact that there is good reward for scholastic excellence.”

Nwachuku promised that SEPLAT will sustain the initiative beyond the inaugural one.

The competition kicked off with qualifying tests on October 23, 2012 with the aim of stimulating healthy competition among schools in Edo and Delta states, encourage learning and reward outstanding academic performance and was implemented in collaboration with the Ministries of Education in the respective states.

SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Limited, the operator of the SEPLAT/NPDC Joint Venture, is Nigeria’s leading Exploration and Production independent.