The Award-Winning Nigerian Pupil

I'm sure you'd enjoy reading through this as much as i did,. . . . . . It's all about the young Henry!


The image of Nigeria was again boosted in the international arena recently when a young secondary school boy, Master Henry Akahara, from a Lagos public school, beat other students in a world debate competition. Henry, a Senior Secondary School (SSS II) student of Government Secondary School, Surulere, emerged the best among 200 students in a world debate competition, which took place at the House of Commons in London. The young chap spoke on the effects of modern slavery in Nigeria. The 200 students who participated in the competition came from 60 countries of the world.

We celebrate this young achiever and congratulate Lagos State, nay, Nigeria for this feat. No doubt, this is a promotion in the image rating of the country and it is just as well that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has awarded him a scholarship, which extends to the university. Fashola was quite profound in his statement as he announced the scholarship award. The governor said: “We do not appreciate our endowments as we should or place appropriate value on our abilities.” For some strange reasons, he added, we prefer to advertise the negative things about ourselves.

His achievement has other significance besides what Fashola identified. This is a young Nigerian who could easily have resorted to going the way of many his age, who have been drawing odium for Nigeria both within and outside the country. Many in his age bracket are today drug pushers, fraudsters and armed robbers. But he has remained focused and today, he has brought glory to the country and recognition to himself.

It is also important to note that Henry is coming from a public school. This may be suggesting to us that in spite of the decay, despondency and seeming abandonment, all is not yet lost. It is only a pointer to the authorities that if these schools were to be in their best condition, there would probably be no limit to what they can achieve in terms of producing many more world-beaters like Henry. This is obviously not talking from the void. Nigerian public schools were at a time in our recent history, centres of academic excellence, not only within continental standard but also within world reckoning.

Once again, Henry’s case should serve as an impetus to our governments, both federal and states, to look again at their education policy with a view to bringing it to that level where it would begin to perform its role as the engine of civilization and advancement. We believe that if our educational system is right, we will achieve more as a country. There is also the place of hard work, merit and consistency in Henry’s case.

To beat other contestants – many of them from more educationally advanced and sophisticated countries – is not a small feat. It will therefore serve as motivation to other young men and women not only in our secondary schools, but also in our tertiary institutions. It shows that merit can be recognized where it matters and such can arouse the genius in many of our youths who today feel disgruntled by what the system has been offering.

This is all the more reason why the scholarship awarded to him is commendable It will definitely ginger other young ones to embrace decent, commendable activities and higher goals. We, therefore, commend the Lagos State government for this. We also commend the governor for not monetizing the award, a thing some other impressed authorities could have done. Monetizing awards has never helped our youths; instead, it further perverts our values, giving the false impression that money and material possession are what makes the man. Scholarship is a life investment on any young man. And it is an investment for higher ideals.

We call on the authorities – schools and government – to again refocus their attention on the delivery of quality education to our youths. Let the education sector have the required funding. Extra-curricular activities as of old – schools’ debates, quizzes, sports, essay competitions and the like – should be restored in our schools.

If Henry went to London to defeat other world contestants in a debating contest, it only suggests that he must have been involved in debating. Extra-curricular undertakings or youth programmes have value for youth development. If anything, they are training in leadership and the total man. So, while Nigeria celebrates this glory brought to her by Henry Akahara, let the authorities reflect on what the country will gain by producing more “Henries” by providing the required environment and incentives.

By Sun News Publishing
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Editorial Index
www.sunnewsonline.com