Unilorin student wins CIPM essay contest

A student of the University of Ilorin, Alao
Idris Ibrahim, has emerged the second
runner-up at the 2013 edition of the
Chartered Institute of Personnel
Management (CIPM) Essay Competition.
The award was presented to Alao alongside
other winners during the 45th Annual
National Conference of the Institute held at
the Abuja International Conference Centre
between September 18 and 20, 2013.
Alao, who is a 300 level Law student, a
university scholar and President of the
Union of Campus Journalists, University of
Ilorin chapter, has earlier won an essay
contest organised by Naija Writers' Coach
(an online resource) in April this year.
The budding writer emerged the third prize
winner alongside Wright Damilola (the 1st
prize winner) and Uzoigwe Chimezie (the
1st runner-up) of the University of Lagos
and University of Benin respectively.
The competition featured 107 entrants who
are undergraduates from various Nigerian
tertiary institutions, out of which seven
entrants were invited for the essay defence
earlier in September.
The topic of the essay was “Youth
empowerment and development drive: An
invaluable step to secure Nigeria's future
prosperity”. The drive for a topic like this
was borne out of the urgent need to
harness the potential in the youth for
development. The youth population in
developing countries is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for the country to develop
locally led economies, set pace for
industrialization and secure a prosperous
future.
In his post-award remarks, Alao expressed
joy on breaking new ground. He said, “I feel
highly elated that I emerged one of the
winners of the 2013 CIPM Essay
Competition.”
When asked how he attained the feat, he
explained: “Since last year's edition, I've
made up my mind to enter the contest this
year. The information about the 2013
edition got to me in early June when I had
to go sleepless for several nights to
prepare for my second semester exams.
Intuitively, I couldn't work on the essay
until after the exams. So, while my
colleagues were returning home after a
successful academic session, I stayed back
on campus to commence the 20-page write-
up. I submitted my entry few days before
the deadline in July. Then in August, I was
invited for the Essay Defence on September
6, 2013 and after the defence I was
announced as the second runner-up”.
Last year, Muhammed Abdullahi Tosin,
another Unilorin student, was among the
winners of the competition. The Chartered
Institute of Personnel Management is an
institute of learning on human resources
and personnel management. It organises
essay competitions annually for
undergraduates of Nigerian tertiary
institutions.

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