Top winners, all of whom were present or represented at the venue of the event in Lagos, were presented with gifts that included tens of high-capacity laptops, top-notch headphones, free 3-month uLesson coding courses, 480-gigabyte internet data for one year, branded travel suite cases, unique keepsake hoodies, thermal flasks, school bags, among many others.

Some of the honourees are 11-year-old Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo of Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, and 15-year-old Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert of The African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos who emerged winners in the junior and senior categories respectively. Both emerged ahead of about 2,000 entrants from both private and public primary and secondary schools across the country.

Also among the top 3 in each category are 10-year-old Somadina Edeh of Independence Layout Nursery and Primary School, Enugu State and Chetachi Best Mbalu from Lagooz School, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, who emerged first runner-up in the junior and senior categories respectively; and 12-year-old Emmanuel Nkanu Nkanu of St Anne High School, Calabar, Cross River and 13-year-old David Nkereuwem of Holy Mary Comprehensive College, Benin City, Edo state emerged second runners-up in the junior and senior categories respectively.

Others who made the top 15 Honour Roll in each category of the competition will also receive consolatory prizes to encourage them to remain innovative.

The African Church Model College, Ifako Agege, Lagos and Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, that produced winning entries in the senior and junior categories, respectively, received 20 and 10 high-capacity laptops per school.

“When they broke the news that I had won the competition to me, I could not contain my excitement. I am delighted that I won and believe it will birth even more significant achievements for me,” said Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert, the first-prize winner in the senior category.

For Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo who was the champion in the junior category, it was a dream come true. “I am happy I won. I have always looked forward to such a glorious time as this. I want to thank my teachers and my parents for their support,” he said.

Speaking on the feat of the champion from her school, Shade Oluyinka Erinle, principal of The African Church Model College, Ifako Agege, Lagos, expressed her excitement.

“She has made us all proud,” she said, adding that the computers her school won would indeed add immense value to the school’s brand promise of delivering qualitative education.

“On this special day, we crowned the champions of this year’s SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition and the schools that produced them in recognition of the need to emphatically celebrate young talents that emerge from Nigeria who have the potential to transform our world.

“Not only have these young ones proffered solutions to some of Nigeria’s nagging challenges in the educational sector, but they also can champion the vision of a new and truly thriving country we all will be proud of,” said Oluwsegun Adesanya, Group Head, Corporate Services.

“With the ambience of the occasion and the tangible excitement of the winning participants, other students, teachers, principals, parents and other well-wishers, we are once again reinvigorated to continue to impart the lives of Nigerians, young and old, irrespective of their location,” he added.

The annual SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition is part of SystemSpecs’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment towards advancing capacity development in Nigeria, with a specific focus on creating opportunities for young people across Nigeria to share fresh, bright, and original ideas capable of transforming our country for good.

Leading more than 2,000 other entrants from 795 schools across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 11-year-old Oluwaseun Samuel Temitayo-Ojo of Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos emerged the winner in the junior category while 15-year-old Ekemini Keziah Effiong-Robert of the African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos, emerged winner in the senior category.

Somadina Edeh, 10, of Independence Layout Nursery and Primary School, Enugu state and 12-year-old Emmanuel Nkanu Nkanu of St Anne High School, Calabar, Cross River emerged first and second runners-up, respectively, in the junior category.

Chetachi Best Mbalu from Lagooz School, Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos state, the 13-year-old junior category winner in 2021, emerged second in the senior category in 2022. 

13-year-old David Nkereuwem of Holy Mary Comprehensive College, Benin City, Edo state, was the third in the senior category.

In the 30th anniversary and third edition of the annual competition, Nigerian children aged 9 to 16 shared relevant technology-led ideas with the potential of transforming the nation’s educational system.

This year, the first-place winner of the competition in each category will respectively receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphones, a free 3-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, monthly 10-gigabyte internet data for one year, branded travel suite case, a unique keepsake hoodie, a thermal flask, and school bag.

Second-place winner in each category would also receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphone, a free 3-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, monthly 5-gigabyte internet data for one year, a trendy hoodie, a thermal flask, and a school bag.

Third-place winner in each category would receive a high-performance tablet, a headphone, a free 3-month coding course at uLesson Coding School, a branded hoodie, a thermal flask, and a school bag.

In addition, the top 3 winners in each category will gain automatic admission into the SystemSpecs National Summer Coding Camp, while the remaining in the top 30 Honour Roll would also be handsomely rewarded.

The School’s Award in the senior and junior categories went to the African Church Model College, Agege, Lagos and Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos respectively, winning 20 and 10 high-capacity laptops per school. This is aside from other benefits that include the implementation of an end-to-end electronic funds collection and payment system for both schools. 

Oluwasegun Adesanya, Group Head, Corporate Services, SystemSpecs, said the firm’s annual Children’s Day Essay Competition aligns with its core values – Innovation and Diligence – and its CSR commitment geared towards developing capacity for national growth and development through technology.

He noted that this year’s competition is unique because it is part of SystemSpecs’ 30th-anniversary celebration.

“The quality of essays that we received from this year’s participants was mind-blowing. We have also identified inspiring solutions proffered by these young Nigerians as we are set to take the next step of translating their ideas to reality through our corporate social responsibility and collaboration with relevant stakeholders,” Adesanya added.

Adesanya applauded the support from leading bodies for the 2022 competition, especially uLesson – a frontline Edtech startup, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Ministry of Education across all states, and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

Speaking on the evaluation process, one of this year’s judges, Dr Babatunde Obrimah, Chief Operating Officer, FinTech Association of Nigeria (FinTechNGR), said the winners’ selection process was free of any bias, as all entries were judged without the identities of the participants and in multiple assessments that led to shortlisting the winners as solely determined by the panel of judges.

“Many of the entries we received offered impressive solutions to improve Nigeria’s educational system, which proved that these children are eager to see the change they wished for. I commend this competition’s organisers for harping on the need to innovate to ensure Africa remains relevant and prioritises quality for a viable economy,” Dr Obrimah said.

SystemSpecs, providers of innovative solutions— Remita, HumanManager and Paylink—is a technology powerhouse providing innovative solutions for individuals, businesses and governments in Nigeria and the African continent. 

One of the notable fields that are being increasingly influenced by technology is the accounting and finance industry, which is being transformed through innovations in automation, cloud-based services, artificial intelligence and unprecedented access to data.

Indeed, technology in accounting and financial planning has transformed the sector with newer and advanced software, and its ability to ensure accuracy and reduce errors, which helps businesses avoid tax penalties and other issues. Furthermore, it is now much easier to organise audits in a highly efficient manner.

In Nigeria, the rising impact of technology on accounting processes is illustrated in the emergence of innovative financial management systems such as the federal government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the rise of the booming fintech sector which has provided thousands of jobs for Nigerians and helped millions of organisations and individuals process financial transactions more efficiently.

Today, Nigeria has become the leading fintech hub in Africa with several products providing innovative solutions servicing millions of people in diverse sectors.

These products include Paystack, Flutterwave, Remita and Quickteller facilitating payment, Piggyvest, Carbon and Palmpay facilitating lending and investment, and Paylink and Opay facilitating remittance amongst several others. To stimulate efficiency and fast track business growth in a tough, highly competitive, and rapidly changing market, organisations in Nigeria need to maximize the leverage provided by fintech and other digital technology solutions.

Last month, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) also underlined this increased collaboration when the Institute’s 57th president, Mrs. Comfort Eyitayo, paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of African technology giant, SystemSpecs, as a major stakeholder of the prestigious accounting institute.

One of the oldest technology firms in Nigeria and a pioneer of the fintech revolution, SystemSpecs was founded in 1992 by a former banker, John Obaro.

 It is known for its innovative revolutionary products in financial technology, human capital management and ecommerce.

Some of the company’s popular solutions include HumanManager, Paylink, and Remita which has already become a household name.

Congratulating the company on its ‘Three Decades of Innovation and Impact’, the ICAN boss said it is noteworthy that SystemSpecs has operated for three decades while developing topnotch human capital and financial management software for the Nigerian and African economies.

With its flagship products, Remita and HumanManager, SystemSpecs is one of the firms revolutionizing financial planning and management in Nigeria. For instance, HumanManager is an all-in-one solution that takes care of payroll, reporting, staff record, performance, and human capital management needs for organizations across Africa whilst Remita has helped thousands of individuals, corporate organizations and governments organise their finances more efficiently with its aggregated interface enabling people to access all their bank accounts vis one dashboard. Remita has also acquired a reputation as a national product with its adoption as the technology powering the TSA.

The TSA is an essential public finance management reform agenda recommended by the World Bank to ensure proper oversight of government cash flows and reduce the cost of keeping public money in several commercial banks. Like several other countries around the world, it was embraced by the Nigerian government to facilitate a unified structure of government bank account for all public sector transactions. Along the line, it has also become a major instrument of campaign for zero tolerance for corruption.

The TSA has been so successful that over N45 billion in interest rates is currently being saved by government on a monthly basis, according to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed. TSA has allowed, for the first time, visibility of the total quantity of government funds at any point in time. This has Increased transparency in government processes and brought governance closer to the average citizen.

Besides the joint federal government accounts, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has also transformed financial management for many government agencies through the maximisation of technology. A very good case is the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The exam body’s increasing compliance with strict government financial policies, such as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has made it possible for it to increase revenue and reduce prices, making its examinations more accessible to millions of indigent students.

While speaking at a colloquium in May 2018, JAMB’s Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, had said the examination body’s yearly remittances before 2017 was a meagre N52 million but had now increased to N7.8 billion under his administration.