Quest 4d Best: EVENT REPORT (NYSC Files)

7 min readMar 30, 2024

EVENT: QUEST 4D BEST
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: 300+
200 [inside the hall], 100+ [outside the hall, they peeped through the windows]

REPORT
“We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give”
-Winston Churchill

“In the end, we will not be remembered for the amount of cars we had, or the amount of cash we stashed in foreign accounts, rather we will be remembered for lives touched, impact in our community”
-Ogunbowale Olugbenga

Epower foundation & Omala corp members are on a quest to locate and decorate the best of the very best student’s in Nigeria. This movement began at Omala Local government on the 20th of May 2015 at Kogi state, Nigeria and it brought over 300+ students from diverse schools to promote unity, inspire them to dream bigger through inspirational talks from young trailblazers, encourage healthy competition & challenge them to do better in their academics while teaching them new skills (beads making, chin-chin) that could fetch them money and even point their career paths. The occasion featured the distribution of over 100 educational charts to fast-track learning, directly offering the beneficiaries a better, brighter future.

10:30 AM: ARRIVAL:
Students from other schools & fellow corper’s started arriving, they took pictures outside the venue.

EVENT PROPER
After the MC’s led the audience to sing the second stanza of the national Anthem, the debaters picked their respective motions. Next was introduction of guests, officiators & schools.

This was followed by the citation of the chief host, read by the MC’s, and the chief host stepped up to the stage to take the welcome address. Ogunbowale Olugbenga spoke passionately about “the making of a superstar”. He inspired the teeming audience to Set goals, Value time, cultivate good character, read to lead and to never give up. He reminded the students that Buhari tried to become president 3 times and failed before He made it the fourth time. Abraham Lincoln kept failing till He became America’s president. A lot of corper’s wrote WAEC and JAMB more than twice, yet they made it through. According to him, ‘You’re not a failure if you keep trying, you’re a failure when you stop trying’. He ended the session with a series of inspiring confessions and a rousing applause.

This session was followed by sharing of books to members of the audience who could provide answers to questions as simple as “who is Nigeria’s president elect and where will the inauguration take place?” The MC’s were on ground to ensure a hilarious question & answer session.

Next was an entertaining speech on Culture & Igala lullabies by JOSHUA OSUNG. With the help of a female student with a sweet voice, He spoke about the history & context of use of Igala lullabies and she sang the lullabies. It was a fantastic duet.

MC Victor then returned to the stage to introduce the much awaited debate. During the 1st round, the chief judge read out the rules and welcomed the debaters to the stage. Alim went head to head with Rachael on the topic “Education guarantees success in life”. Also, Aaron clashed with Fatima on the topic “Culture is a necessity and not a luxury”. At the end of the round, the judges cross examined the debaters and announced the results. Aaron & Alim made it through.

Afterwards, MC Stella took to the stage to formally introduce all the schools that would be participating in the quiz. The questions were drawn from the fields of Maths, English and General Knowledge. The 1ST round saw FSP Model School crash out while Ife Community, Iyaji Commercial & Ajiyolo High school proceeded to the second round.

To calm down the tense atmosphere, Ife Community dancers took to the stage and did ‘the Shoki’ in smashing fashion. Their dance got the audience screaming, the judges giggling and even those outside the hall desperately trying to catch a glimpse of their legendary moves.

MC Victor then returned to the stage to introduce the Judges again
The 2nd round of the debate kicked off in earnest and Alim squared off with Aaron on the topic “Farmers are better than Teachers”. In a rare display of oratory power and intellectual sagacity, the two debaters garnished their presentations with facts, figures and analogies. In the end, the judges had a tough time making their decision as they were hard to separate but finally, Alim won with 8.25 to Aaron’s 8 marks.

This was immediately followed by the 2nd round of the Quiz. In the end, Iyaji Commercial recorded a flawless victory [didn’t miss a single question all through] with 14 marks, Ife community came second with 11 marks and Ajiyolo could only manage 3 marks after a barrage of negative points chalked up through careless guessing.

Next was the presentation of gifts to all the winners of both the debate and the quiz, including the best dancer in the audience!
The chief host then presented the educational charts to schools present and the MC’s introduced a special session on skill acquisition. In less than 10 minutes, the entire hall was rearranged and the students split into two groups: those who wanted to learn beads making and those who wanted to learn how to make chin-chin.

The chin-chin group rounded up around 2pm while the beads making group finished quite late into the evening, precisely around 6pm. Both groups had substantial results to show as the chin-chin made by the students tasted great and looked great while the beads made by the students became their new fashion statement. They were more than excited to wear it around their necks, on their wrists and to flaunt their newly found skill/passion to their friends and parents.
In the end, it was a wonderful program made possible by a wonderful crew that executed so wonderfully.

CONCLUSION
I say a big thank you to all our sponsors for their generous donations.
Thank you Mrs Fayomi Opeyemi, Mr Mohammed Musa, Mr Makworchukwu and every other donor far & near. May God bless you all richly. Thanks to your donations, not only will over 15 students stay in school through the scholarship scheme, you have helped transform the lives of over 300 students that attended the event directly. To the crew, I love you all, thank you for your professionalism, passion and for sacrificing your time & money. God bless you.

QUEST 4D BEST: equipping the young, helping the nation become strong!

CREW

QUIZ RESEARCHER
Jude Preye

PROJECTOR/PRE-EVENT LOGISTICS
Jude Preye

QUIZ MASTERS:
Victor James & Stella

TIME KEEPER [QUIZ + DEBATE]:
Victoria Ogorchukwu

DEBATE JUDGES:
Mr Mohammed Musa, Rev John

MASTERS OF CEREMONY:
Victor James & Stella

SKILL TRAINERS:
Justina [beads], Lucy & Mariam [chin-chin]

VIDEO CAMERA:
Thankgod

SOUND/DJ:
DJ Idris

PHOTOGRAPHY/PAPARAZZI
Clinton Productions