THE credibility of the 2012 Worldwide Microsoft Office competition for secondary schools, being organised in Nigeria by the New Horizon Computer Systems Limited, an Information Technology (IT) firm, is currently at stake.The question of integrity reared its head last week, when the management of Caleb International School, Lagos, whose student came first in the Microsoft PowerPoint category, raised an alarm and accused the competition's organisers of double standard.The school's grouse was informed by the organiser's decision to adopt another procedure for choosing the overall winner, after the competition had already been concluded.An obviously irked Executive Director of Caleb Group of Schools, Mrs. Denise Ejoh, explained at a briefing in Lagos that when schools were invited for the competition, the rules and conditions laid down by the organisers had stated that the overall winners in the three categories of the competition (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) would be sponsored to represent Nigeria at the global finals, to be held in Las Vegas, United States (U.S.). It was also stated that the organiser would fund the trip and underwrite all expenses associated with it, in respect of the three winners. The rule had also stated that the candidates with the highest scores would be chosen as the overall winner for each of the different categories.Indeed, The Guardian sighted a letter, signed by the firm's School Business Manager, Mr. Dayo Talabi, which affirmed that the overall winners in each of the three categories of the competition would be sponsored on an all expenses paid trip to the United States.However, Ejoh asserted that without giving any explanation, the organiser decided to sponsor only one of the three winners for the trip. It turned out that only two winners emerged: Maroh Ejiro, from Caleb International School, won in the PowerPoint category, scoring 1000 out of 1000 marks. Hadiza Adeleke, from Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Lagos also emerged the overall best in the Word category, scoring 967 out of 1000 marks. There was no winner for the Excel category.Curiously, however, the organiser now decided to take Adeleke instead of Ejiro, who had scored the highest marks.Apparently irked by what she regarded an act of robbery and dishonesty, Ejoh said it was unacceptable for the organiser of the competition to sideline the first place winner of the competition for the second place winner, without offering any explanation and with total disregard for the terms of the competition.She said, 'we are not aggrieved over the trip (to the US) and whoever they give the winning prize to. But I will not allow or take it, for the right of a child to be compromised. We insist on a fair deal of giving Ejiro his rightful dues, for winning a competition that he worked so hard for.'Ejoh pointed out that no rebranding of the country's image would make any sense when people freely renege on their words. According to her, even if one of the winners is to be taken for the U.S. trip, it should be Ejiro who had the highest score and not Adeleke who finished second. To her, New Horizon's action amounted to a breach of contract.She said: 'I believe in trust and integrity and I teach my students same. When you fail to honour an agreement, that is very wrong and should not be encouraged. When I put my students through an examination, they should be given their dues and that is what the organisers have not done in this case. They have failed to recognise the potentials and talent of this young boy and they have left us with a very bad impression of competitions in Nigeria, by displaying such an act.'She continued: 'Microsoft Corporation is a very big organisation and its integrity will be at stake, if New Horizon fails to fulfils its own side of the bargain. Nine of our students participated in this worldwide competition and Ejiro made a very high score. He needs to be given a chance. Changing the criteria at the last minute is very depressing.'However, Talabi, who was also at the briefing, defended New Horizon's position. According to him, the decision to choose 13-year-old Adeleke was based on the fact that her average score from both categories (Word and Power Point) was slightly higher than Ejiro's. But Talabi could not offer an explanation, when asked, why the firm changed its original pledge to sponsor the three overall winners in the three categories for the competition. He however maintained that the firm reserved the right to choose who would represent the country in the competition.His words: 'We spent about N4 million to sponsor the competition and there were certain criteria we decided to use in picking who to sponsor to the U.S. We agree that Ejiro emerged the winner in the Microsoft PowerPoint (category) and Hadiza scored 967 in Microsoft Word (category), but it still remains our decision to pick who would eventually represent the country in the U.S.'However, Ejiro, who was accompanied to the briefing by his widowed mother, Mrs. Melrose Maroh said: 'after the examination, when I learnt that I came tops, I was very happy and my hope came alive. I feel bad that the organizers turned around to change their promise. They cheated me out of what I worked hard for and that is not a good impression on a young boy like me.
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