Submissions are ongoing in the 2021 Children’s Day Essay Competition organized by Africa’s leading FinTech and HR Tech firm, SystemSpecs, in furtherance of its commitment to the development of indigenous IT capacity for national prosperity,

The providers of Remita, Paylink and HumanManager are currently receiving entries from children across Nigeria into the junior and senior categories of the competition which is now in its second year.

Themed “Building a more Secure Nigeria using Technology” entries are to be submitted through the competition portal, www.systemspecs.com.ng/2021essay, from 10:00 am on April 1 2021 until 6:00 pm on April 30 2021. The competition is open to children that school and live in Nigeria who would be no less than 9 years and not older than 16 years by May 26, 2021.

While entries into the junior category are for children between ages 9 and 12 and should not exceed 1,000 words, entries into the senior category are for children between ages 13 and 16 and with a maximum of 1,500 words. Entries must be participants’ original ideas written in English, and endorsed by an accredited school official, parent or legal guardian.

“It is our belief that a solid technology foundation is necessary for any nation to compete and thrive in contemporary times. The competition’s objective is therefore to stimulate and encourage young Nigerians to become more technologically aware, so they can intuitively consider technology as a natural response to addressing everyday challenges around them,” said Deremi Atanda, Executive Director, SystemSpecs.

The first place winners of the competition in each category would respectively receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphone, monthly 10 gigabyte Internet data for one year, branded travel suite case, a unique keepsake hoodie, a thermal flask and school bag.

Second place winners in each category would also respectively receive a high capacity laptop, a topnotch headphone, monthly 5 gigabyte Internet data for one year, a trendy hoodie, a thermal flask and school bag.

The third place winners in each category would respectively receive a high performance tablet, a headphone, a branded hoodie, a thermal flask and school bag while top 10 Honour Roll winners in each category would also be handsomely rewarded and certified.

Similarly, the school that produces the top winning participants in junior and senior categories would be rewarded with 10 and 15 high capacity personal computers respectively.

“The SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition is another expression of SystemSpecs’ Corporate Social Responsibility which has over the past couple of years been focused on raising a new generation of tech-enabled Nigerians to lead the country to become one where the benefits of technology easily becomes an everyday reality,” Atanda added.

The 2021 edition follows the very successful inaugural edition which held last year and attracted over 2,000 entries from more than 500 schools in 29 states and the FCT. This year’s edition of the contest is expected to be bigger, drawing even more participation across Nigeria.

The organiser of this competition, SystemSpecs, is a 29-year-old household name in Africa for innovative financial and human capital technology solutions and services. The ideas birthed from the 2021 SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition would be put together and shared with relevant stakeholders as the bright thoughts and contributions of Nigeria’s tech-savvy youngsters to tackling our security challenges.