Ten-year-old Blessing Umoh attends a school in Ajegunle, but her background paled into insignificance on Tuesday as she emerged winner of the maiden edition of the City of Lagos Inter-school Monopoly Tourney. Umoh, a Junior Secondary School 1 pupil of Caro Favoured College, Ajegunle, Lagos, beat 65 other contenders to emerge victorious in the tourney organised by Bestman Games.

The competition, which held at Terra Kulture on Victoria Island, attracted pupils from both public and private schools in the state.

The contest, held in different stages, saw Umoh displaying her thoroughness, diligence and skill to win the converted trophy. Right from the preliminary stage, the lass showed her industry as she emerged from among the 32 contenders in her group to become one of the six finalists in the competition.

Little wonder, at the final stage, the innocent looking but quick-witted Umoh, outsmarted the other finalists to win N.5m and a year-long meal voucher. Her success also earned her a giant-size City of Lagos Monopoly board.

While the organisers presented the board, First Bank Nigeria Plc and Sweet Sensation provided the money and voucher respectively to the youngster.

Umoh moments after her victory told our reporter amid sobs of joy, “I am very happy. I never knew I would win but focus and determination saw me through in the game. Again, I believe God helped me, because I prayed in the morning before coming for the competition.”

Interestingly also, destiny seemed to have played a role in her success. According to her school and teammate, their teacher and leader almost dropped Umoh for a more experienced male player.

She said, “Our teacher thought of changing Umoh. He wanted to replace her with another boy, but somehow he left her to participate in the contest.”

In the game targeted at promoting personal financial literacy among pupils, each of the contestants had $1,500 (monopoly dollar) to invest with and they had different investment options to display their business acumen. In fact, they were to spend their money in such a way that at the end of the game, they would have recorded higher value assets that bring best returns on investment.

So at the end of the over four-hour brain-tasking game of three rounds, spiced with background music and refreshment, Umoh had higher value assets and more money to invest than the other contenders.

Umoh said, “The game has taught me how to earn and invest wisely. It may be in property or other businesses.”

The lass, who wants to be a banker added, “Since the game has taught me to invest wisely, I will like to be a banker. I want to help people to keep their money and advise them on what they can do to generate more money.”

She noted that her father, Israel Umoh, supported her dream of becoming a deft monopoly player.

Apart from Umoh, a pupil of Top Grade Secondary School, Surulere, Ndu Godfrey, came second in the competition, while Ayotunde Olaitan of Fountain Heights School, Lagos came third.

The second prize-winner took home an electronic tablet sponsored by online retailer, Jumia while Olaitan got a-180-day meal vouchers from 3 Cousins and a Crook BBQ.

The Head tutor, Caro Favoured College, Mr. Chuks Ikem, savouring the success recorded by Umoh, noted that people should stop looking down on those from Ajegunle, because according to him, the popular ghetto has produced many shining stars in education, sports and music, among other spheres of life.

He admitted that he initially was nervous when he saw pupils from highbrow schools, but he had to encourage his pupils to go into the game with confidence.

He said, “One thing I saw in Umoh was that she was determined. I taught 10 of them for one week. When we arrived here and they started calling the names of schools from highbrow areas of Lagos, I felt a little bit shaky, but I told my pupils to be focused and determined. And at the end of the day it paid off.”

The Chief Executive Officer, Bestman Games, Nimi Akinkugbe, noted that since personal finance was not taught in schools, the tournament would make pupils to imbibe the culture of saving and investing wisely.

Akinkugbe, who stressed the need to teach youngsters personal finance, noted that it would help in equipping them with the right values.

She said, “The City of Lagos Edition of Monopoly Inter-School tournament teaches pupils financial literacy. It is good to catch them young. They can earn money by doing holiday job, and they can be taught to save from their pocket money.

“Bestman Games is using this novel tool to present some basic lessons in resource management by educating pupils, especially about the importance of financial literacy and responsibility from an early age.

“Some people learn this very late in life, and you discover that such people would have frittered away their fortune.”

The game, which also dwells on promoting sanity in Lagos, also has rewards for positive and negative behaviour.

Akinkugbe has set a target for herself and those who wish to support the initiative: to reach out to 100,000 pupils with 100,000 monopoly boards across the country.

Among guests, who attended the event, were the First Lady of Lagos, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, an Assistant Director in the state Ministry of Education, Mrs. Balogun Oluremi, Head, Corporate Social Responsibilty, FBN, Mr. Ismail Omamegbe, Managing Director, Sweet Sensation, Mr. Tunde Kamson, and Directors of Bestman Games, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, and Mrs. Ibukun Awosika.

The schools that participated in the tournament include Senior Model College, Badore, The Apostolic Church Grammar School, Lagos, United Christian Secondary School, Lagos, Corona Secondary School, Agbara, Ogun State, Chalcedony School, Lagos and Ireti Secondary School, Lagos among others.

http://www.punchng.com/education/10-year-old-wins-inter-school-monopoly-tournament/