By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

Government Secondary School, Orozo, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has claimed the N1 million grand prize as winners of this year’s VIA Creative Contest organized by energy giants, TotalEnergies and NNPC Limited.

The competition called “Safe Mobility for Young People Poster Contest” which saw entries from over 100 secondary schools in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt centred on creating awareness of safety for students to and from schools.

The second and third positions were won by Expressway High School Tolu, Lagos and Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, Abuja.

Speaking to journalists, the Acting General Manager, of Corporate Social Responsibility, TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria, Tonye Osifo explained that the company was committed to the education of young Nigerians.

Osifo explained that the winner of the Nigerian competition will compete against schools from other African countries with the winner competing against schools drawn across the globe.

She said: “The VIA creative competition is the brainchild of TotalEnergies Foundation and Michelin Foundation from our head office in Paris because of concerns about mobility accidents, and road crashes across the world, especially impacting on children. For TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria, one of our major focuses is on education, educating the children of this country in different ways.

“So we have scholarship programmes that we give to undergraduate students, we have scholarship programmes that we give to postgraduate students interested in pursuing their education in France. We also have an institute in Port Harcourt, part of the University of Port Harcourt that is the Institute of Petroleum and Energy Studies. The school is a collaboration between Uniport and IFP school in France and it is sponsored by TotalEnergies where we train graduate students in masters in petroleum engineering, technology and developments”.

Also speaking, the Partnership Manager, of Slum2school Africa, Hawal Yahaya, said the competition was put in place to address the challenges faced by students on the journey to school.

“A challenge was identified across several states in Nigeria and that is safe mobility. What do I mean by safe mobility? Students can go to school safely due to the numerous accidents that occur on the roads including safely crossing the roads. This is about sensitizing the students and the public about this issue”, she explained.

Also speaking, a student of the winning school, Miss Adekunle Peace Adeola said the competition has exposed the students to the dangers faced by students while going and coming back from school.

While thanking TotalEnergies for the opportunity, she promised that her school would make Nigeria proud at the continental competition.