TheCable

The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), University of Ibadan, has announced a one-month extension to the submission of entries for its inaugural ‘Fisayo Soyombo Inter-university Essay Contest.

The contest, which is endowed by Soyombo, a former president of the organisation who now edits TheCable, requires applicants to answer, in no more than 1,000 words, the question: ‘Will Four Years of Muhhamadu Buhari Lead Nigeria to Socio-economic Prosperity?’

Entries are to be submitted to [email protected] not later than August 15, 2015.

According to Tawakalit Kareem, current president of the organisation, the competition, originally scheduled to close on July 15, was extended to encourage the participation of more students from other parts of the country.

“Since launching the contest in June, we have received emails and phone calls from a few students outside the south-west geopolitical zone who complained that notice of the contest hadn’t reached their universities,” Kareem said.

“That is why we have decided on a one-week window for more applications. We want to give this contest a truly national – rather than UI or southwestern – feel. The response has already outgrown our expectations, but we still want more undergraduates of Nigerian universities to be able to apply.”

Incidentally, an inter-university contest for UCJ was first launched in 2007 by the executive council presided over by Soyombo, who is sponsor of the current edition. In the seven years that followed, the contest held only once. And he is happy to resuscitate it.

“It’s an honour to be the one to revive this contest and take it on as an annual pet project. But my joy is not full because I won’t be giving out the kind of prize I would have wanted,” he said.

“Back in 2007, with the help of the likes of Obianuju Okafor and Chinyere Chimodo-Okeh, we ran a contest that gave out a total prize money of N340,000 — N100,000 for the first-prize winner, N80,000 for the second, N60,000 for the third, and N20,000 each for five other finalists.

“Yes, the least I could do is revert to the 2007 template, but I wanted to start something that I hope will grow on a year-by-year basis. And, if at the end of this year’s contest, we are able to unearth one fantastic writer as winner, we would have achieved the most important objective.”