It was all glamour, fun and sheer fanfare as the pioneer students of English and Literary Studies, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, had their graduation ball and dinner party.

The students who looked excited and stunning and very much bubbly, enjoyed every moment of the time.

It was easy to see they were all eager to go and explore the world having studied hard to equip themselves with the requisite capacities for that.

The event which took place at Hard Break, New Haven, Enugu, featured awards, pageantry, winning and dinning, parade, motivational talks, storytelling, poetry, dance, etc, all under unsurpassed conviviality.

Among the guests were Mr. Samuel Ndubisi Osefina, Mrs. Lawretta Aniagolu, Dr. Justice Chidi, Jeff Ejiofor, Dr. Dele Maxwell Ugwuanyi, Dr. Ugo Chinedu Noke, Ifeanyi Nnamani, among others.

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Pasali Kuje, Abuja has held a culture celebration in honour of St. Anthony of Padua

The Grand finale of the event which started with various Cultural activities and competitions last month held today Sunday, 18th June, 2023 at the church premises in Pasali Kuje, Abuja, Nigeria.

The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Patrick Nwagbo Obi told WORDS AND SHOTS such activities with cultural aesthetics included thanksgiving by the communities, essay writing, Quiz competition and thirteen days prayer in honour of St Anthony of Padua.

In the community Thanksgiving, all the ethnic groups were in zones as Arewa, Benue/Kogi, South East, South South, South West, and Federal capital Territory.

The Communities in these areas danced to the altar for thanksgiving.

The essay writing saw the senior and junior Secondary student, write on theme St. Anthony of Padua as a model to the Christian Faithful. The Quiz Competition focussed on doctrines of Catholic Church faith, Bible study, catechism and current affairs in the Church.

The 13 days prayer in honour of St Anthony enriched the spiritual aspects of the event.

The Grand finale, the clmax of the Cultural activities started with Holy Mass at 8 am, during which the community thanksgiving will took place inside the Church.

Immediately after the Mass, reception followed with the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Alex Ogbanufe as the Chief Host and Dennis Uganden KSM as the Chairman of the event.

During the cultural parade, each ethnic group went round the arena with their cultural dance, decked on their costumes, accoutrements, icon etc.

There was also cooking competition, with prizes given to the winners as well as those of the quiz, essay writing competitions, in the senior and junior categories.

Below are details of the categories and the winners:

Southeast, won the Thanksgiving Competition, Tiv won the Dance and Vostume Competition, Edo/Delta won the Food Cooking competition.

The Spirit of Sportsmanship was won by Federal Capital Territory. In essay writing Senior Category: Nwanze Rita -1st position, Kalu Ibe Maximus- 2nd position, Innocent Ogbole- 3rd position, while in Junior Category: Adimonye Emmaunella- 1st won the position, Sylvia Dakup- 2nd position, Ororopere Anthonia-3rd position.

In the quiz, Competition
First prize went to Martha S. Shigaba and Christiana Timothy, Second prize to Ameh Confidence and
Egba Raphael, while the Third Prize went to Adimonye Victory and Ihenacho Michael.

The Cultural day which Sir Dennis Uganden, KSM was the Chairman of the day had Hajiya Lantana Ahmed, former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Nasarawa State and Francis Duru, a veteran actor, Nollywood as the Adjudicators for the cultural performances, while Mrs Beatrice Oguntuase and Ambassador Dorothy Ossai, were the Adjudicators for food and cooking competition.

Prof Daniel Omatsola of the Theatre Arts department, University of Abuja presented the Cultural day lecture, where he extensively discussed how the life of St. Anthony of Padua promoted the Christian Culture

Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen is a popular and award winning Nigerian film maker.

Also called D’Guv, he is very audacious with his creative imaginations. This he leaves as noticeable imprints on his works that enjoy wide and critical acclaim.

Today is his birthday and WORDS AND SHOTS join his numerous fans, friends, colleagues and family to wish him a happy birthday and many more years of beautiful story telling with the lens.

Congratulations!