Nine Years After NTEC Debut, Victory Yinka-Banjo Attains Global Distinction at Cornell - By Daisy BARRO
Nine (9) years after debuting on the National Travel Essay Competition (NTEC) platform, Ms. Victory Yinka-Banjo has achieved global academic recognition as the Overall Best Candidate in the World in the Cambridge English Examination. The Princeton High School, Lagos graduate is currently a PhD candidate at Cornell Medicine’s Tri-Institutional Computational Biology & Medicine program in the United States.
The milestone underscores the multiplier effect of structured talent-identification initiatives within Nigeria’s aviation and education value chain. Yinka-Banjo’s recent Cambridge performance generated full-tuition scholarship offers exceeding $5 million from 19 institutions across the United States and Canada, including MIT, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Johns Hopkins and the University of Virginia. She was earlier nationally distinguished for obtaining nine consecutive A grades in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Trajectory Through NTEC
Yinka-Banjo’s engagement with NTEC, a Future Workforce Development Initiative (FWDI) of Travel & Business News, spanned three (3) editions and demonstrated incremental progression. Her initial entry did not place within the top 10. In 2017, at the 8th NTEC and Air Transport Youth Empowerment Seminar held on May 27 at the NCAA Training Centre, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, she secured 3rd position in the Secondary Schools category for her paper on “Curbing Cyber Crime and Identity Theft In Air Travel Transactions". The prize comprised N40,000 and a domestic ticket sponsored by DANA Air.
In the same year, she won the inaugural South African Airways Essay Competition (SAAEC 2017) on the theme "Patriotism: Making a Difference as a Youth."
(L - R) Mr. Ohis Ehimiaghe, Regional Manager for Africa, Middle East and Indian Ocean, South African Airways; Halim Blessing of Princeton College, Surulere, Lagos, 3rd Place Winner; Victory Yinka-Banjo also of Princeton College, 1st Place Winner; Ojo Purpose of Liz International College, Olambe, Ogun State, 2nd Place Winner; and Mrs. Kemi Leke-Bamtefa, Country Manager, South African Airways at the maiden South African Airways Essay Competition (SAAEC 2017).
At the 9th NTEC on May 26, 2018, delivered in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), she attained the Secondary Schools Grand Prize for “The Role of Economic Insecurity In Illegal Migration.” The award included N100,000 and a return ticket to Dubai courtesy of Kenya Airways.
During the SAAEC 2018 handover, Yinka-Banjo reflected on the challenges she had faced: "I had written previous essays for competitions in the past but had never emerged the winner. Thank goodness I never lost hope because of my previous failures. Actually, I wouldn’t really consider them failures but rather learning experiences", she divulged. The perspective underscored the resilience that later characterized her trajectory through NTEC and into global academia.
Industry Ambassadorship and Workforce Mandate
Following her victory, Yinka-Banjo was appointed NTEC Aviation Industry Ambassador for a one-year tenure. The role involved representation at multiple forums convened by the African Business Travel Association (ABTA), including the association’s annual conference in South Africa where she presented proposals on mitigating illegal migration, a recurrent concern for Nigerian aviation.
In an October 27, 2020 recommendation, NTEC Founder and National Coordinator, Mr. Ewos Iroro, contextualized the program’s objective:
"NTEC is a Future Workforce Development Initiative (FWDI) of Travel & Business News, aimed at discovering hidden talents and encouraging Nigerian youths to follow a career in the sector; thereby raising future aviation professionals in an effort to address the challenges of ageing workforce and skilled manpower shortage within the sector."
On Yinka-Banjo specifically, Iroro stated:
“Victory has outstanding public speaking skills. She is also a prolific writer. This intrinsic prowess of hers was no doubt instrumental in helping her put together her winning article titled: ‘The Role of Economic Insecurity In Illegal Migration,’ thereby emerging as the best student in the Secondary Schools Category out of over one hundred (100) participants across the country. This honour also came with the responsibility of being a role model to other young people. She collaborated with her teachers to run her school’s Aviation Club and tirelessly raised awareness about career prospects in the aviation sector", he wrote.
Institutional Support and Policy Alignment
NTEC’s 2017 grand finale, themed, "Raising Future Giants for the Air Travel Sector" drew regulatory endorsement. The then Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman, represented by the then Safety Inspector Capt. Dapo Williams, remarked, "Competitions like this should be regular and sustained through active support by government, corporate organizations and well meaning Nigerians to bring the best out of our youths... The future will be brighter for air transport if we introduce fascinating reach out programmes that can attract the younger ones into the profession."
Special Guest of Honour, Princess Titilayo Owolabi-Akerele, Member, Ekiti State House of Assembly at the time, further urged participants to "brace up to the task of being solution providers in the aviation sector and to become giants in the industry, at a time when the sector greatly needs fresh hands to take over from an ageing workforce", she noted.
Technical adjudication for NTEC is conducted by an independent panel of aviation professionals. The 2017 and 2018 panels were chaired by Capt. Dele Ore, former President of Aviation Round Table (now ASRTI). Through the years, capacity-building support for the initiative has included ticketing and reservation training scholarships from Sabre Travel Network, as well as backing from FAAN, NCAA, NAMA, AIB, SAA, EgyptAir, AWA, Kenya Airways, DANA Air and other industry stakeholders.
From an initial non-placement to 3rd place, Grand Prize Winner, Aviation Ambassador, and now a Cambridge World Best with multi-million-dollar scholarship access, Yinka-Banjo’s progression illustrates how early intervention programs can cultivate human capital with both national and international relevance for the aviation sector.
Comments
Post a Comment