Esther Motunrayo Olanrewaju, a 19 year old native of Lagos State and 200 level law student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state has emerged the 2025 winner of Fola Ojutalayo’s Annual Maritime Speech-Making Competition (FOAMSC), a maritime industry oratory competition.
Esther beat two other finalists, Egbetade Aanoluwa Elijah, another student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and Akinpelu Oluwaseun Abdul-samad, a student of Federal College of Fisheries and Maritime Technology (FCFMT) to emerge victorious at the final stage of the competition held in Lagos at the sidelines of the 9th Annual Maritime Students and Youth Conference organised by Platforms Communications.
As the winner of the 4th edition of the competition, Esther won the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (#250,000) Cash Prize, an Award Plaque and a Certificate of Oratory Excellence; whereas the First Runner-Up, Egbetade Aanoluwa Elijah won #125,000 cash prize and a Certificate of Oratory Excellence; even as the Second Runner – Up, Akinpelu Oluwaseun Abdul-samad won #100,000 Cash Prize as well as Certificate of Oratory Excellence.
Esther Olanrewaju receiving Certificate of Oratory Excellence from Capt Dr Fola Ojutalayo after being announced winner of FOAMSC 2025 held in Lagos on Tuesday.
Speaking while presenting the award to the winner, the inspirer of the speech competition, Capt Dr Fola Ojutalayo commended Esther and the runners up for putting up a competitive display of their oratory skills.
He urged them to continually horn their speaking skills and also read articles on maritime topics in order to gain more knowlegde on maritime subjects so as to become future eloquent speakers on maritime topics.
Earlier in his opening address, the convener of the AMSAY Conference, Mr Sylvanus Obasi hinted that the speech competition was conceived and integrated into the AMSAY Conference program initiative since 2022 with a view to challenge Nigerian maritime students to contribute intellectually to the development of the sector while also using the initiative to discover and groom eloquent speakers amongst maritime students.
Winner and runners up (1st roll) in a group picture with the AMSAY Conference Convener (middle-2nd roll) flanked by the Panel Judges for the speech competition during the event in Lagos on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the 2025 AMSAY Conference which has the theme, “Automation and Digitalisation of Maritime Operations” featured Special Addresses, Paper Presentations, Panel Discussion, Awards of Academic Excellence as well as Question and Answers session.
The event was well attended as about 250 participants graced the occasion, including representatives of government agencies, captains of maritime industry, professionals organisations, corporate companies and different maritime schools with their students.
