A 14-YEAR-OLD student of Lafiaji Senior High School, Ajala Gloria, has emerged as 2018 Lagos State One-Day Governor, after becoming the overall winner of this year’s Spelling Bee competition held in Alausa, Lagos.

Applause for her win comes as Indomie noodles, a major sponsor of the competition, has promised to continue to support quality education of the Nigerian child. The Spelling Bee is aimed at encouraging academic excellence among students in the state especially in the area of the spoken word, spelling, pronunciation and diction.

During this year’s event, Ikhariale Grace of Tin Can Island Senior High School placed second while Akinbodewa Oluwatosin of Iworo Ajido Senior Secondary School came third. In the junior category, Sheidu Abdulhafeez came first, while Shared Ismail and Adekunle Victor came second and third. All the winners were handsomely rewarded with cash prizes, a trophy, school bags, dictionaries and other educational materials.

Ajala, whose father is a commercial bus driver and mother is a petty trader said she believed she could win and thanked her teachers and parents for believing and supporting her. Fighting back tears, she said: “I prepared for several months with the help of my teachers and school. I was afraid initially, seeing hundreds of brilliant students from other schools but when I got to the final stage, even though I was a bit afraid, I tried to keep calm and remain hopeful.”

Speaking at the event, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Idiat Oluranti Adebule, commended all the winners of the competition. Adebule expressed satisfaction for the brilliance displayed by the participants, adding that the competition has boosted reading habits among young students in the state. The competition had 57 preliminary winners from the six educational districts in the state.

In his address, the Group Public Relations and Events Manager of Dufil Prima Foods, Tope Ashiwaju, said they decided to sponsor the competition to enhance learning outcome for students in the state. “We have a keen interest in education development for the Nigerian child and we are unwavering in our support of the Spelling Bee project in Lagos State. As a company, we are committed to the child’s whole development. We know that Spelling Bee does not only build phonetics, but also boosts memory and confidence in students,” he said.

The Spelling Bee is an annual competition for public primary and secondary schools in Lagos, which has so far produced 17 One-Day Governors in the state.