A 14-year-old Nigerian High school student, Oluebube Ogbonna, has been declared the winner of the first indigenous language, Igbo spelling bee competition after defeating 356 other contestants in Anambra state, South-East Nigeria.

Oluebube Ogbonna, the winner of the Igbo spelling bee competition, is a student of Divine Rays British School, in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Students were assessed on their knowledge of spelling, syllabication, and punctuation in the Igbo language at the competition which was organized by City Speller Bee in partnership with Onitsha Business School.

Oluebube who defeated 356 competitors from public and private secondary schools in Awka, Nnewi, and Onitsha education zones went home with a N300,000 cash prize while Oruche Chukwuma of St Paul’s Seminary Ukpor and Okeke Godswill of Divine Rays British School Obosi emerged in second and third places, going home with a cash prize of N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.

A Professor of Igbo Literature at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Mr. Ogochukwu Ofeka said the competition had confirmed that efforts to revive the Igbo language were yielding fruits.

Ifeka commended the students’ proficiency in the knowledge of the Igbo Language and also their schools for taking the teaching of the language seriously.

In her words, “I must say I am impressed with the performance of these students, while I was marking their scripts, I had Internal joy that they could do so well.

“I want to thank the organizers of the Igbo Spelling Bee Competition for reawakening the consciousness, the good thing is that the fear that the Igbo Language is going into extinction is no more there.

“It is the duty of parents to teach their children their native languages, that is why it is called ‘mother tongue’, they should communicate with them in their own languages, it also goes with a strong understanding of their culture,”

The Project Manager of the competition, Mr. Chinedu Aniagboso, speaking at the event noted that the competition was the first indigenous language spelling bee in Nigeria and was aimed at making it attractive to the youth.

He said, “You can see how excited these students are competing in their own language, they not only understand English, but they are also proficient in Igbo.

“We are hoping to make this a yearly event, so we call on the Anambra government, firms, and individuals to come and partner with us so that the awareness and reward can get better in subsequent editions,”