Teenager Jemimah Marcus Becomes Lagos’ One-Day Governor

Jemimah Marcus emerged as the one-day Governor of Lagos State as Babajide Sanwo-Oluon vacated the seat briefly on Monday.

AllNews Nigeria reports that the 17-year-old student of Angus Memorial Secondary School in Somolu, Lagos East, won the 2020 edition of the Spelling Bee Competition, thereby earning the honour to become the one-day Governor.

The Spelling Bee competition, a contest between public schools across Lagos, is one of the legacy programmes in the State’s education sector pioneered in 2001 by the then First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu through her New Era Foundation.

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Winner of the Spelling Bee Y2020 competition & the One-Day Governor, Miss Jemima Marcus of Angus Memorial Secondary School, during the One-Day Governor’s visit, at the EXCO Chamber, Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday, December 20, 2021. Since 2015, the State Government has taken full charge of the programme, collaborating with partners and stakeholders to further help realise its objectives.

Emerging as winners of the 2020 Spelling Bee competition, Jemimah Marcus presided  over the weekly Executive Council meeting of the State’s cabinet, commended the Sanwo-Olu administration for initiating “laudable” programmes through its THEMES agenda to turn around governance and service delivery.

Describing Sanwo-Olu as a “transformational leader”, the one-day Governor said the State had recorded giant strides in education, health, housing, infrastructure renewal, transportation, youth and women development in the last two years of the administration.

She said: “Mr. Governor, I commend your team for excellent leadership, as well as proactiveness in critical sectors. In education, the State Government has embarked on revamping schools and delivering new ones to improve access.

"This effort has been complemented with massive innovative programmes, such as EKO EXCEL, Lagos Learns Together, Read Loud, EKO Digital School, and job initiative.

“These laudable programmes have impacted on students, teachers and the out-of-school learners, as the initiatives have improved teaching and learning with excellent outcome.

"With the deployment of technology, I can say teaching techniques across Lagos schools are no longer what they used to be.

"The success of these programmes is evident in the performance of students in their academic.”

The one-day Governor harped on the need to commit more investment in digital literacy across public schools in the state, urging Sanwo-Olu to ensure the metropolitan fibre being laid across Lagos drops in public schools as promised.

Marcus, who described the one-day governorship as a “dream come true”, praised Senator Tinubu for the legacy programmes.