From Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu

Young people of Enugu State have smiled home with various cash prizes and commendation letters as winners in the art competition to depict the transition from Monday sit-at-home to productive Monday emerged.The joint winners were Nwachukwu Sunday and Ukeje Olubebe Victory, while Nkiruka Ogbonna was the runner-up.

The competition, according to the Special Assistant to Governor Peter Mbah on Visual Communications, Great Okeke, was put together to allow the youth of the state to tell their stories during and after the sit-at-home. “The governor came in and made that declaration that there was no longer a sit-at-home in Enugu State. So, after one year, we tried to put the art competition together for the youth of Enugu State to tell us their own stories about the sit-at-home.“For instance, you know the students were among the most hit because they did not go to school on Monday before now. They lost 52 days out of the 365 days in each year that it lasted. And, at the end of the day, those in secondary school would still compete with others in Lagos or other states in the same examinations such as JAMB UTME and WAEC,” Okeke stated.Presenting the prizes, the Secretary to State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, expressed happiness over the restoration of the entrepreneurship, productivity, and studies in all parts of the state on Monday, saying the sit-at-home was a sad and shameful part of the state’s history it wants to put behind it.“One of the key things the governor said at the very beginning was that the sit-at-home syndrome that had lasted and changed what we are as a people, who are entrepreneurial and fearless, was over in Enugu.“Before that, activities in Enugu State dwindled and you can see the first drawing here shows the very basic things that happened: people going out to sell, but they could not anymore because they were scared of the confusion, the chaos, the running around, and of course the syndrome that when you moved around and you saw the Sienna and it was tinted, that something bad was going to happen.“So, I am happy that I can see the transition you depicted and that joy and order have come back. You were selected because you really reflected the thinking of this administration. In your storyline, you expressed the desires of the governor for Ndi Enugu to feel that level of safety, for commerce to come, for our people to live in joy and peace, and for our state to be great again,” Prof. Onyia stated.Speaking, the winners, Nwachukwu Ozoemena and Ukeje Oluebube, said they were motivated by the theme of the competition, especially given the frustrations they suffered as students and youth while the sit-at-home lasted.“The theme says “The echoes of sit-at-home”. So, immediately I saw the theme, I was very thrilled and it encouraged me to say yes, I need to do that which I have been keeping in mind. I said let me express myself.“The message here is that anybody should move around and do his or her businesses because Enugu State today is free on Monday as on other days of the week. Normalcy has returned because this current administration has actually helped us by keeping up with the promise to protect lives and property,” Ozoemena said.On her part, Ms. Ukeje said, “My first painting depicts the dark part of the sit-at-home where I used the tomato seller as a topic. From the picture you see Sienna and whenever people see Sienna they will scamper for safety because of fear of the unknown gunmen.“From the second painting, you could see her sitting at home and peeping through the window, seeing the unknown gunmen with their Sienna and no one is moving because of fear.“But the third picture depicts the return of normalcy on Monday after the emergence of Dr. Peter Mbah as the governor of Enugu State. The woman can now take her perishables to the market and sell since there are security personnel everywhere. She is now happy.”