Voice of Nigeria holds Annual Secondary School French Drama Competition
Voice of Nigeria held it’s Annual Secondary School National French Drama Competition in Abuja.
The competition which held on the 29th of June, 2021 took place at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja.
The event kicked off with the introduction of dignitaries and schools present followed by a stellar opening performance by students of Cor Mariae Boys Secondary School.
Mr Osita Okechukwu, the Director- General, Voice of Nigeria in his opening speech thanked everyone who made it to the event noting that the Covid-19 pandemic was the reason it couldn’t hold last year.
He applauded the pioneers of the event and encouraged the students.
“Our goal is to champion the speaking of French in Nigeria and expand the linguistic frontiers of our students because the more flexible they are, they better for us Nigerians because the world is now a global village” he said.
“Knowledge is one of the fulcrum of any advancement any country hopes to achieve” he added.
There were goodwill messages from the representatives of the French and Burkinabe embassies.
The French Embassy representative, Mr Benoit Billy who spoke in French and later English language said he was impressed with the organisers of the event. “I hope next year we can work together to organise this in our facility, in our french institute” he added
The representative of the Burkina Faso Embassy, Mrs Guba Adele admonished the students and encouraged them to put more effort to learn the French language.
After a beautiful performance by a cultural group, the competing schools were introduced; Anglican Comprehensive Secondary School, Ambassadors College, Nakam Memorial School, Cor Mariae Boys College, and Ecwa Secondary school- the defending champions.
The schools present were judged on criteria of introduction, comportment, Diction, Costume/appearance.
The schools performed well and at the end, Ecwa Secondary School emerged winners of the competition. They were awarded a trophy and the grand prize
Other schools who came in second and third places were also awarded prizes.
In an interview with the Ecwa Secondary School Teacher, Samuel Douglas Joseph, he expressed excitement over the victory saying it was an honour to be the winner twice in a row.
Speaking on grooming the next group of students, he said “Grooming the next set of champions will not be difficult because the team is a mixture of junior and senior class students so we would still have students to work with and build the team”
The head of Media, Voice of Nigeria, Mr Bartholomew Ikiebe said the closing remarks. He thanked all who helped and contributed to the success of the program.
In honour of the students, a celebration and cultural night will be held at the same venue at 5pm.
Stephanie Simon
