Ayobami Atanda 

Popoola Gloria, a 400-level Political Science Student has emerged as the first runner-up in the essay competition organized by the African Economic Scholars Program (AESP).

Gloria, who is known for her academic brilliance, was shortlisted among the 10 finalists, who participated in the 2024 National Policy Challenge. 

Undergraduate essayists wrote on either of the topics: Engaging Youths in Climate Actions And Environmental Sustainability Initiatives: What Role Should Policy Play? or Advancing Gender Equity: Actionable Policy Strategies For Nigeria’s Development. 

When interviewed by NASELS Press about what inspired her to write the essay, she disclosed that she was “largely interested and committed to using research for policy formulation that addresses the challenges of the state”.

She said, “As a trained and soon-to-be Political Scientist, this is my field and area of interest. I am largely interested and committed to using research for public policy formulation that addresses the challenges of the state. So, coming across this challenge, I was elated because this was to me an opportunity to show my substance as a Political Scientist and to put it out there that students and practitioners in the field of social sciences matter to the nation because of the specificity of our expertise and training which is focused on understanding the social and political system in order to create solutions for its continuity, stability and development.”

“The second thing that inspired me to write was the topic of the policy challenge. There were two topics from which participants could pick from. I picked the topic “Advancing Gender Equity: Actionable Policy Strategies for Nigeria’s Development”. Apparently, this topic is notably similar to my final year thesis topic which I am currently on and gender equity is a topic I am very passionate about. Thus, it fuelled my desire to write a policy paper on this topic,” she added. 

Gloria shared how she felt when she knew she would be among the winners, stating that ‘she was filled with gratitude to God’. 

“I was filled with gratitude to God. It’s one thing to be good at something, it’s another to get recognized for it. Also, the other 9 finalists were all good with their presentations and to stand out amongst these brilliant minds is indeed something to be grateful to God for. So, yes I felt grateful to God and also optimistic about my future career in Politics, Research and Policy-making.” 

However, she acknowledged that, despite her win in the AESP essay competition, she had had some setbacks, likewise few wins in essay writing contests. 

“I won my first essay competition when I was in the 100 level. It was a competition for political science students in the South-western region of Nigeria. I emerged second runner up for this competition. Moving forward, I applied for quite a number of essay competitions such as CIPM, NHEF and few others I cannot recall, but I wasn’t successful with any. I stopped writing essays at the 300  level because I guess I became frustrated or something like that. One thing I take pride in is my academic writing skills, so not being successful with those essays made me frustrated. However, the AESP National Policy Challenge was different. I felt that winning it was bigger than me. Like winning it is a win for all social science students. I wanted to make a point with winning it, a point to prove my expertise as a social scientist and I’m grateful to God for granting it to me,” she concluded. 

However, Elizabeth Uche, a Law student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, took the first position and won N250,000 and a plaque, Gloria who emerged as the first runner-up received a sum of N150,000 and a plaque, while Bala Khadijah, a 500-level Law student at Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, became the second runner-up and got the prizes of a sum of N100,000 and a plaque.  The organizers of the 2024 AESP National Policy Challenge for top ten finalists.