The corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, UBA Foundation has announced the call for entries for the 2017 edition of its annual UBA Foundation National Essay Competition.
The essay competition which is put together for senior secondary school students is organised as part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative geared towards promoting reading culture and encouraging intellectual competition among secondary school students in Nigeria and across Africa.
Briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos, Bola Atta, chief executive officer of UBA Foundation, said the essay competition provides an opportunity for all senior secondary school students across the country to win educational grants that would help them realise their goals in life.
“The competition is a key aspect of our investment drive in human capital and we will continue to sustain the initiative because education is vital to UBA and we are more than committed to providing the necessary support for students in Nigeria,” she said.
Atta further disclosed that UBA donates thousands of books to students in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, under the ‘Read Africa’ initiative to encourage and promote the reading culture in secondary schools. “We are driven by the mantra to do well and do good and we will not relent in our efforts at touching lives through our various projects.”
According to Atta, the first prize for the UBA National Essay Competition is a N1 million educational grant for the winner to study in any African university of his or her choice while the second and third prizes are N750,000 and N500,000 educational grants respectively.
She said that entries received from students for the competition will be reviewed by a panel of judges made up of professors from reputable Nigerian Universities, who will then shortlist 12 best essays for further assessment.
“A second round of the competition will involve the 12 finalists who will write a second supervised essay from which three best essays will be selected. “Three best essays will be selected as the overall winners from 12 finalists that will emerge from the first round of the competition” she noted.
Ebele Ogbue, deputy CEO, Anglophone Africa, said that the only effective way to transform Africa is through Education. “The future of any nation rests on the younger generation. Hence, the legacy passed on by the preceding generation could make a nation. Therefore, investing in the future of the youths is critical to redeeming the economy for the collective good. This is why UBA’s support of education across Africa is relentless.”
KELECHI EWUZIE
