The semi-final and grande finale of the 2023 Tax Club Quiz Competition organized by the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, KW-IRS in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development will be held next week Thursday at Ilorin, the Capital of Kwara State.

It is the Sixth Edition of the highly educative event which is aimed at “nurturing school children to have a clear understanding of the role of tax in the development of an economy and growing to become tax-compliant citizens.”

The bid for the coveted prizes for this year's edition among secondary schools in the State has been fierce and tough with a record 231 Secondary Schools slugging it out.

The preliminary stages took off on 20th June and were concluded on the 26th of June 2023 with each of the three Senatorial Districts in the State- Kwara North, Kwara South, and Kwara Central- producing six winning schools each. Overall, 18 Secondary Schools emerged as semi-finalists.

Schools that emerged semi-finalists in Kwara North Senatorial District are Government Secondary School, Lafiagi with 82 % score, Baptist Model High School, Kaiama, 78%, Government Senior Secondary School, Tonga Aboki, Kaiama, 72%, Unique College, Kaiama, 68%, Royalseed High School, Jebba, 64% and Lafiagi Secondary School, Lafiagi 62%.

In Kwara South Senatorial District, the following six secondary schools came tops in the preliminary stages: Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, 80%, Adeola College, Offa 78%, Iyeru Okin African Church Secondary School, Offa 68%, Oro Muslim High School, Oro, 66%, UMCA Secondary School, Share, 66% and Apostolic Faith Secondary School, Egosi-Ile with 66%.

For Kwara Central Senatorial District, the Star Schools in the preliminary stages are Stepping Stone College, Agbabiaka, Ilorin, 82%, Ilorin South Local Government Senior Secondary School, Oke Adini, Ilorin, 74%, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College, Asa Dam, Ilorin, 74%, Muslim Model Secondary School, Idi-Ori, Ilorin, 72 %, Gove Day Senior Secondary School, Gaa-Akanbi, Ilorin 66% and Roemichs International School, Offa Garage, Ilorin 60%.

The annual tax competition has continued to grow phenomenally since the advent of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Administration. While 142 Schools participated in 2021, the number of participating schools shot to a record 219 in 2022, while this year recorded 231 participating schools.

The Tax Competition has helped to bring out youths' hidden academic potentials and talents and has also helped to showcase Secondary Schools with exceptional performances in the training of their students.

This perhaps informed the rationale behind the organisers' decision to compensate the winning Schools, the students that excelled in the competition, and their teachers that made that feat possible.

The overall Best School in the Competition wins the grand prize of N2.5 Million, the first runner-up goes home with N1.5 Million while the second runner-up has a cash prize of N1 Million.

There are other prizes. The Coordinating Teachers of the winning schools also win cash prizes, while students who participate in winning the prizes for their schools are given cash prizes to support their educational pursuits once they communicate notices of admission into higher institutions of learning to the Agency.

Last year, Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College, Ilorin, represented by Elizabeth Uchechukwu Ajah and Johnpaul Oyindamola Arokoyo emerged as the overall winner. The second prize went to Mustapha Standard College, Offa, represented by Miracle Tochi and Abdul Basit Mohammed. Kwara State College of Education Model College, Oro, represented by Emmanuel Ajekigbe and Mary Olaoye was the second runner-up.

All is now set for the Semi-Final and Final stages of the competition and Kwarans look forward to a grand and memorable event that the grand finale of the competition has always been.