Akwa Ibom Student Wins ₦1 Million As Accessible Publishers’ Digital Learning Vision Takes Centre Stage
By JULIET EKANEM
A Competition Becomes a Digital Statement
THE grand finale of the 2026 Accessible Summer Competition was more than a prize-giving ceremony. It was also a public demonstration of how an established educational publisher is seeking to redefine its relationship with learners in an increasingly digital education environment.
Held on Friday 18 September 2026, the event marked another milestone in the 30-year history of Accessible Publishers Limited. Powered by SmartEdu Hub, the company’s digital School Management and Learning Management System, the competition brought together students, educators, parents, government representatives, technology professionals and stakeholders in the private-school sector.
The event also gave practical expression to the company’s 30th-anniversary theme, “Beyond Print: Scaling Digital Products for Inclusive Publishing.”
That theme captured the central idea behind the initiative: educational publishing can retain the value of books while using technology to extend access to knowledge and learning opportunities.
Happiness John Emerges Winner
At the centre of the celebration was the announcement of the competition’s winners by Esther Bamgboje.
Happiness John, a JSS 1 student of Joy Prime Model Secondary School in Akwa Ibom State, emerged the overall winner and received the first prize of ₦1 million.
Agaga-Oamen Dave-Wisdom of The Oasis Schools, Ekpoma, Edo State, finished second and received ₦500,000.
The third prize produced a tie. Daniel Barry Monsigia of Teko School, Rivers State, and Okunoye Mojolaoluwa Deborah of Oritamefa Baptist Model School, Ibadan, each received ₦250,000.
The geographical spread of the winners offered one of the clearest indications of the competition’s national character. Students from Akwa Ibom, Edo, Rivers and Oyo states featured among the leading performers.
Their success also gave visibility to the central proposition behind the digital competition: location should not necessarily determine who gets an opportunity to participate in a national academic challenge.
5,226 Students, One Digital Platform
According to Moses Akintola, the Summer Competition Team Lead, the competition ran for two weeks and was designed for students in JSS 1 to JSS 3.
Participants competed in Mathematics, English and Science, with questions drawn from the national BECE question bank. Significantly, participation came at no cost to the students.
A total of 5,226 students from across Nigeria took part.
That figure became important not simply because of its size but because of what it demonstrated about the possibilities of digital participation. Students in different states could access the same competition without having to gather in one physical location.
In that sense, SmartEdu Hub functioned as a kind of national digital classroom.
The platform placed learners from different communities within the same competitive environment, allowing them to test their knowledge against a common academic standard.
For educational publishers, that shift represents a significant change in how content can be created, distributed and experienced.
From Books to Connected Learning
Gbadega Adedapo, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Accessible Publishers Limited, used the occasion to reflect on the company’s three decades in educational publishing.
His message centred on adaptation.
The educational environment has changed considerably, and publishing companies increasingly face the challenge of remaining relevant to schools and learners whose interactions with information are no longer confined to printed textbooks.
For Accessible Publishers, SmartEdu Hub represents part of its response to that changing environment.
The company’s position, as presented at the event, is not that digital technology should replace print. Rather, technology can extend the reach of the company’s educational-content heritage.
That distinction matters.
Print remains an important part of educational publishing. However, digital platforms can add other functions, including communication, school administration, content delivery and interaction between teachers, parents and learners.
Technology as an Educational Bridge
Mayowa Bernard, Team Lead of Best Technologies Limited, the technology company responsible for developing SmartEdu Hub, explained the technology component of the initiative.
The platform is designed to simplify educational processes while improving communication among schools, teachers, parents and students. It also provides a digital environment through which educational content and learning activities can be accessed more efficiently.
The summer competition therefore offered a practical test of that concept.
Instead of discussing digital inclusion only as an abstract objective, the organisers used an actual national competition to bring students together through technology.
The result was a learning experience that crossed state boundaries without requiring participants to leave their schools or communities.
Publishing With a Human Purpose
The competition also raised a broader question about the purpose of educational publishing.
In his keynote address, Accessible Publishers’ Chief People Officer, Fola-Akinlose Vincent, focused on the human consequences of knowledge. His argument placed the value of books and educational resources beyond their physical production and distribution.
The ultimate measure, in that framing, is the impact such resources have on learners and their development.
Asiwaju (Dr.) Olukunle Fajobi similarly offered a description of Accessible Publishers that connected the company’s publishing role with the wider process of teaching and learning.
That perspective is increasingly relevant as publishers explore how technology can change the relationship between educational content and its users.
A Preview of the Fourth Decade
The 2026 competition ultimately served two purposes.
For the students, it was an academic challenge that offered recognition, experience and substantial prizes. For Accessible Publishers, it provided a platform for demonstrating how the company intends to approach its fourth decade.
The traditional publishing business remains part of that identity. Yet SmartEdu Hub signals an additional pathway—one in which educational content, school management, communication and learning activities can operate within a connected digital environment.
The success of the competition will therefore be measured by more than the winners’ prizes.
Happiness John’s victory gave Akwa Ibom a moment of celebration. The performances of students from Edo, Rivers and Oyo added a broader national dimension. More significantly, the participation of 5,226 students showed the scale that a digitally enabled academic initiative can achieve.
As the applause faded at the grand finale, the larger message remained: educational publishing is no longer defined only by what appears between the covers of a book. Increasingly, it is also about how knowledge travels, whom it reaches and what technology makes possible.
