Nigeria is to host this year’s edition of African Spelling Bee competition before the end of year.
The competition will involve secondary school pupils from 27 African member-nations who are national champions.
Spellers from the various countries are expected to showcase their spelling ability at the continental event.
As a run-up to the event, country spelling bee organisations expected to arrange competition for their students and eventual winners will represent their countries at the annual African meet.
The Nigeria Spelling Bee is organised yearly by Bee Spelling Competition Initiative (BSCI), a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with the National Senior Secondary Schools Commission.
The competition is run at state and national levels from which winners represent the country.
Nigeria has won in the African Championships since its inception in 2016: Esere Minabowa of Deeper Life High School, Port Harcourt, won last year’s edition which took place in Kampala, Uganda.
This year’s winner will get $10,000 in scholarships for any university across the globe.
National Coordinator of Nigeria Spelling Bee, Abdulsalam Ibrahim said one of the major constraints of the organisation was lack of support from government, corporate organisations, and individuals.
He wondered why government has not been doing enough for the education sector, stressing that the children involved in the competition are the future leaders of the nation.
According to him, no amount invested in this category of Nigerians could be too much.
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