Onga seasoning powder, a brand of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, has produced a star prize winner in the grand finals of its National Campus Cooking Competition held at the University of Lagos on Thursday October 27, 2001.
Ossai Josephine, a female student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, clinched the star prize of a brand new Kia Rio car, after a tense cooking competition involving 14 contestants from across 14 tertiary institutions nationwide.
The competition which took off about four months ago cut across 14 national higher institutions with one winner emerging from each to participate in the grand finals of the competition.
Other winners who won second, third and fourth positions respectively were Idiaro Kikelomo Baliqis, a 200 level Law student of Bayero University Kano; Emma Edwin, a student of Nursing Science from University of Calabar and Nkechi Chioma, a 500 level Law student of the host school, University of Lagos.
While fielding questions from journalists, Josephine, the star prize winner, expressed gratitude to Promasidor for creating programmes that assist youth to develop their culinary skills through the use of Onga seasoning powder, adding that, the competition has afforded her the privilege of meeting other people from other tribes and learning how to cook their cuisines.
In her words, “A big thank you to Onga, and thanks to my fellow contestants. With this, I know that many students will go for Onga because Onga is trying to let us know that apart from the normal food we cook, Onga can be used to cook big soup because what I prepared was a very big soup and I used Onga soup flavor. I have met with friends, fourteen of us, we stayed in the same hotel, we mingled and for the first time I am in the University of Lagos and am so happy, it’s just a good thing.
“This is not the end; other people should keep trying to win.
“I got to know I could cook well since I was a kid. In fact, my Mum said when I was in the womb I started cooking,” she enthused.
While explaining why students were the target of the competition, the Manager, Brands Group, Food Enhancement and Beverages, Mrs. Abiola Inawo noted that the students are the future mothers, and the campus is one of the places where you can meet a group of students. However, we hold competition among different groups of women too.
Her words: “We hold competitions among women too because the brand is women-oriented. We’ve held cooking competitions in churches, Asalatus (muslim gathering), Societies (Ogoja women). Earlier this year, we were in Kaduna in conjunction with the commissioners wives. We did women empowerment programmes, and we gave out thirty six gifts like cooking items. So, we try to intervene in our own little way in empowering women of the society.”
Remarking on the outlook of the event, the Assistant Brand Manager, Onga, Miss Taye Adewumi said the turnout was impressive and encouraging, adding that, a lot of awareness has been created for the brand, and that the brand is targeted at both young and the old.
A member of the jury, Mr. Oluwasina Afolabi, who is also the Quality Control Manager with, Mama Cass restaurant, while commenting on the criteria for choosing the winners, stated that, the rating was on quality of their meals, kitchen hygiene, presentation of raw materials, the processes, organisations, timeliness, taste and manner of presentation.
His words: “We rated them on the quality of their meals right from how they organized themselves in the kitchen, hygiene, presentation of raw materials, the processes, we watched them during the cooking, we looked at their processes step by step, how organized they are and after cooking we try to see how timely they are in preparing their food. Thereafter, we look at the taste and the presentation.”
Renowned Nollywood actress and Onga’s brand ambassador, Kate Henshaw-Nuttal described the competition as a way of fostering unity among Nigerian undergraduates especially those who have taken part in the competition, remarking that, they have learnt how to cook other dishes other than their indigenous meals.
“It has fostered a lot of unity among the Nigerian undergraduates especially those who have taken part in the cooking competition. They have dished out different dishes not only pertaining to their own indigenous meals. They gathered a lot of knowledge, and apart from that, they all left with something substantial. I mean, if I were a parent and my child came back to tell she won a car, I would wonder what kind of company did that, and surely, I will follow the brand.”
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About the Company
Promasidor Nigeria Limited, the makers of Onga Seasoning Powder was incorporated in Nigeria in 1993 to manufacture, package, market and distribute fast moving consumer products. Since inception, it has been offering quality and affordable products to its consumers. Its products range includes Cowbell milk, Cowbell chocolate, Cowbell flavoured milk drink, Loya full cream milk, Miksi, Top Tea and Amila instant fruit flavoured powdered drink.
