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Celebrities who many young people look up to as role models are using their influence to openly normalise substance abuse. From music to movie stars, they’ve unknowingly normalised this harmful habit without regard for their audience and with no system to check them.
This is why it has become imperative for Nigerians to come together to raise awareness on substance abuse, and MTN is championing the fight against substance abuse, starting with the younger generation and children more susceptible to being easily influenced.
MTN Foundation, with its Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) through a quiz competition brought together nine schools across the country with three students from each school answering questions on substance abuse while learning in cases where they had no idea what the questions were about.
On June 6, nine schools went through five rounds of questions in two segments which narrowed down the numbers to five schools, with PTA/NADP Secondary School Lafia taking the top spot and emerging top of their group.
Government Girls Secondary School Abakpa Nike Enugu and Government Girls Secondary School Yola took the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively, after successfully going through a tight race of questions regarding drugs and substance abuse.
A second round, with nine different schools, was held on June 7, 2023, with Anglican Girls Grammar School, Benin, Katsina College, and Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, earning the same score that earned them the top 3 positions.
All the six schools who moved to the final round would be going to Abuja for the final competition in an all-sponsored trip by MTN for the last leg slated for June 23, 2023.
According to Dr. Ngozi Madubuike, one of the moderators of the quiz competition, the purpose of the quiz was knowledge acquisition. She said, ‘The most important thing is being drug-free, it’s not about coming first, it’s about holding on to your self-esteem.’
Chigbu Odoemelam, a judge on the panel, corroborated this statement as he said to the students, ‘The essence of this competition is to educate you on ways to stay away from drugs. You have been empowered mentally and psychologically, it is now left for you to decide what part is more beneficial.’
The four hours quiz competition was moderated by Dr. Ngozi Madubuike and Mrs. Abimbola Adewumi, while Chigbu Odoemelam, alongside other judges, compiled the final results of the competition.
MTN ASAP has been held yearly since 2019 to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (World Drug Day) on June 26.
The post Six Secondary Schools Make It To The MTN ASAP Quiz Competition Finals appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
