Two pupils from Lagos State, Kehinde Lawal and Idowu Ayomikun of St. Augustine Primary School, Somolu, and Diary Farm Primary School, Agege, have emerged winners of the 2018 edition of the Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition (LANLC), winning N500,000 cash prize and scholarships to complete their secondary school education.
At the competition’s 5th grand finale in Lagos, the winners defeated 10 others from Nasarawa, Kano, Rivers, Ebonyi and Gombe States who earned second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions
Presenting prizes to the winners, the Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Africa, Michel Puchercos applauded all the participants acknowledging all the students who participated at every stage of the competition.
“Apart from the cash prizes received, those who take part in this competition go away with skills indispensable for building a sustainable future. The Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition builds capacity and contributes to developing this much needed skill in public primary school students across Nigeria,” Puchercos said.
The competition was launched in 2014 as a flagship Corporate Social Responsibility intervention by Lafarge Africa and has since grown to become a national initiative impacting children and teachers across the country.
The Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka who was among the Special Guests commended Lafarge for taking up the initiative to urgently bridge the country’s widening literacy gap.
“It shows that the battle against illiteracy is not lost, it can be won,” Soyinka said.
The winners expressed gratitude to Lafarge Africa, Ovie Brume Foundation, Oando Foundation and others involved in making the literacy competition a success. The organisers said over 500,000 pupils in 886 schools across 544 local government areas have benefited from the competition.
