Nigeria-Braille-Cup COMPETITION

Nigeria-Braille-Cup COMPETITION

The Nigeria Association of the Blind (Nab) braille reading and writing competition took place on Thursday November 21st, 2013 at the Pacelli school for the blind and partially sighted Children.

The competition was in 3 categories;

1.  Reading comprehension

2.  Spelling

3.  Reading fluency.

OBJECTIVE:

To preserve braille reading and writing culture of blind and partially sighted persons in Nigeria.

The preliminary were held at the six zonal levels and six winners emerge from the zones, however only five of the winners participated in the grand finale.

The winner from the North West zonecould not participate because he was not permitted to leave his school. Therefore the following pupils participated in the competition;

1.  John Jemimah from the Christian Institute of Nigeria (COCIN) School for the Blind, Gindiri, plateau state north central zone.

2.  Ajibade Oluwaseyi from Pacelli School for the blind and partially sighted Children, Lagos state, South west Zone.

3.  Uchenna Eze from special education centre Enugu state. South east zone.

4.  Santus Bagbo from Saint John center for the visually handicapped, Obudu, Cross River State. South- south Zone.

5.  Shafi’u usman from special education center Bauchi state north east Zone.

Members of the press and a Representative from the Lagos state Ministry of Education, First bank Nigeria Limited, Givanas Nigeria limited, Aminty General and others were present to capture the event.

Sponsors include;

·  Perkin Braille International

·  FirstBank Nigeria limited

·  Givanas Nigeria limited

·  Book share

·  IOA consult

·  Aminty general

·  Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind

·  The Pacelli school for the blind and partially sighted Children.

Of the five judges invited four officiated and Mrs Angela Afram of Perkinsinternational was the coordinator.

The competition began at 11:35am, with the braille reading comprehension section, which took place in the school library with only the participants, judges, NAB president, south west coordinator, one volunteer and members of the press in attendance.

The second category was the spelling competition witness by the audience and master of ceremony.

A pupil from the Pacelli school for the blind and partially sighted children Abednego Jacob, presented a poem titled: Tribute to Louis Braille.

The third category was the braille reading fluency test which was also witness by the audience and coordinated by the master of ceremony.

There were goodwill messages.

At the end of the competition, winners emerged as follows;

First prize winner – Ajibade Oluwaseyi

Second prize winner – Uchenna Eze

Third prize winner –Santus Bagbo

Fourthprize winner –Shafi’u usman

Fifth price winner -John Jemimah

Apart from the trophy, which was presented to the first price winner and certificates which were given to each participant, prices were awarded as follows;

First price; Perkins braille machine for the winner and another for his school, one year free access to book share for the winning school and one book of the winner’s choice from Royal Blind Institute (RNIB) library as donated by one of the sponsors.

Second prize winner; one Perkins braille machine for the winner.

Third price; 70,000 naira cash for the winner

In addition the following prices were presented;

One Talking wrist watches one twenty seven – line writing frame and 200 – sheet packet of braille paper was given to each participant and 6 27- line writing frames were given to each participating school.

The prices were presented by the national president of the association (nab) and other members on the High-table.

The Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Lorence Arowosegbe gave the closing remark. In his remark, he appreciated all the sponsors and expressed the hope that in the coming year, the Nigeria-Braille-Cup would accommodate other divisions like the Junior and Senior Secondary divisions, Adventitious blind and even the Teachers of the blind.