27 essay contestants rejected over plagiarism
The 2017 Mike Okwonkwo National Essay Competition organisers have said a total of 27 applicants have been rejected for plagiarism in their essays.
Chief Examiner, Professor Hope Eghagha, in a statement, said 796 entries were received for this year’s edition of the contest.
“After applying standard criteria in the assessment, we concluded that 27 entries were not original; in other words, they were plagiarised.
“This was after crosschecking each entry carefully with internet sources to determine their originality. This is one of the problems confronting us in the education sector. Some students simply downloaded materials from the internet and submitted same as their original work,” Eghagha said.
The statement further said Miss Alexandra Nwigwe of Vivian Fowler Memorial College, Lagos, emerged as winner after scoring 90 per cent in the first and 80 per cent in the second rounds of the competition.
Similarly, Ipinmoye of Jesudunta Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State, who scored 80 per cent in the first and 72 per cent in the second rounds was adjudged first runner up, while Akingbade Gbenga of Emerald High School, Lagos, emerged second runner up after bagging 80 per cent in the first round and 70 per cent in the second round.
Other winners are Chinedu Chimezie of Cedar College, Ipaja, Adedeji Aderemi of Grange School, G.R.A Ikeja, Atoyebi Israel of Kings College, Lagos, Olalere Victor of Deeper Life High School, Akure, Okadigbo Juliet of State Senior Grammar School, Surulere, and Kolawole Oladunni Memorial of Reagan Baptist Girls Secondary School, Yaba, Lagos.