Rivers Student Wins N1 Million in Mike Okonkwo Essay Contest Amid AI Concerns

Clinton Chimenem Agburum, a student from Rivers State, has clinched the top prize in the 2026 Bishop Mike Okonkwo National Essay Competition for Secondary Schools. Agburum, representing Deeper Life High School in Port Harcourt, will receive N1 million for his winning entry.

“

We report that, in general, the entries provided for us a convincing proof of how science and technology are transforming the delivery of education and the ways that students have positioned themselves to benefit from it, while awaiting the fundamental overhaul that the current curriculum requires to cope with a change.

This year's competition attracted 850 essays that met the technical requirements for review. Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, the Chief Examiner, highlighted the students' enthusiasm and the growing impact of science and technology on education delivery. She noted that while students are adapting to new learning methods, the curriculum itself requires a fundamental overhaul to keep pace with these changes.

A significant observation from the examination process was the pervasive influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the students' essays. Ezeigbo stated that over 85% of the examined essays showed identifiable imprints of AI or machine thinking. While acknowledging this as a demonstration of agility and resourcefulness, she expressed concern that AI might be blunting originality, as students increasingly rely on machine learning to simplify complex tasks.

“

It is human in nature to follow easy path and most of the students contacted machine learning to do the thinking for them in a way that cannot be described as plagiarism. They are simply demonstrating agility and resourcefulness in the way they deploy the machine learning to ease what they see as difficult methodologies of the traditional curriculum.

In response to this trend, examiners engaged with the finalists about AI's role in education. The discussion centered on whether AI represents the future of education or its end. This evolving landscape prompts a critical re-evaluation of traditional assessment methods and the very nature of learning and creativity in the age of intelligent machines.

“

So, we are not just witnesses to remarkable scientific progress in learning taking place. We are also seeing how originality is being blunted by thinking machines.