Creativity: Zamfara Moves To Recover Youths’ Talents

The Zamfara State Government said it will sustain its Youth Intellectual Competition as an annual event and extend the programme to all 14 Local Government Areas of the state to promote critical thinking, creativity, public speaking and academic excellence among young people.

The Coordinator of the Zamfara @30 competition and Senior Special Assistant, Office of the Zamfara First Lady, Bilal AbdulRahman, made this known while speaking during the programme in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.

Abdulrahman explained that the competition was organised by the Office of the Zamfara First Lady, Hajiya Huriyya Dauda Lawal, in partnership with the State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, designed to complement conventional classroom education by providing students with opportunities to demonstrate their abilities in critical thinking, analysis and effective communication.

According to him, the competition would also serve as a platform for identifying and nurturing talented young people whose abilities might otherwise remain undiscovered.

AbdulRahman said the impressive performances and level of preparedness demonstrated by participants had encouraged the organisers to make the competition a regular feature.

He disclosed that the programme would be expanded to cover all 14 local government areas and 147 wards of the state to provide more students with opportunities to participate.

According to him, the competition would be held annually, with the possibility of organising it twice a year to accommodate the growing interest among students.

The coordinator revealed that nearly 1,000 applications were received within one month of opening the online registration portal, with more than 150 applications recorded during the first week.

He explained that students were allowed to apply independently rather than through their respective schools, a process intended to give young people equal opportunities to participate.

However, AbdulRahman expressed regret that the pilot programme could not accommodate all interested applicants, noting that the overwhelming response had demonstrated the enthusiasm and intellectual potential of Zamfara students.

He said some participants also used poetry and other creative presentations to challenge negative perceptions of the state arising from insecurity and communicate their hopes for a better future.