The first prize winner, according to the organiser, will receive an educational grant of N5 million to study at any African university of their choice.
UBA Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced a call for entries into the 2023 edition of its annual national essay competition in Nigeria.
Now in its 13th edition, the annual National Essay Competition is part of UBA Foundation's education initiative aimed at promoting literacy and encouraging healthy and intellectual competition amongst senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across the African continent, the organisation said in a statement shared with this newspaper.
Essay contest
This year, contestants are tasked with writing an essay of not more than 750-word on the topic: "Will Artificial Intelligence(AI) Take Over Human Intelligence? What Should Students Do to Ensure AI Doesn't Override But Enhance Their Ability to Learn through Research?".
"Students are expected to properly research, write, scan and upload their handwritten essays to the digital portal on or before October 20th, 2023," the statement said.
Prizes
The first prize winner, according to the organiser, will receive an educational grant of N5 million to study at any African university of their choice.
The Foundation said the second and third prizes winners now stand to win N3 million and N2.5 million educational grants for any African university, respectively.
The organisers added that winners of the 12 best essays will also go home with brand new laptops and other educational tools "to help them with their studies and other tertiary research work."
Eligibility, application
Meanwhile, only senior secondary school students in Nigeria are eligible for the contest, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, said.
To apply, Mrs Atta said the students can scan and send in their handwritten entries to compete.
The organisation said applicants must also scan and submit their passport photographs and a birth certificate, national identity card or an international passport, noting that the deadline for the submission is 20 October.
She said: "We have worked hard to ensure that every Nigerian high school student who wishes to, will be able to enter for the NEC 2023 and stand a chance to win a fully funded University education through the UBA Foundation.
"For several years, we have upgraded our processes to ensure that our UBA Foundation programmes continue to impact lives in meaningful ways. We realise that the use of technologically driven initiatives is part of modern day and we would like to reach students in their comfort zones, which is why we encourage students to submit their essays digitally," Mrs Atta said.
She pointed out that the submissions will be evaluated by judges who are professors from reputable Nigerian Universities.
"The professors will select the top 12 finalists who will take home consolation prizes including personal computers. These 12 finalists will also write another supervised essay where the top three winners will be announced at the grand finale to be held in November at UBA's head office in Lagos, Nigeria," the statement added.
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The Foundation further noted that the national essay competition has been rolled out in other African countries where UBA operates, in order to open up the opportunity for more African children to benefit from the educational grants.
UBA Foundation
UBA Foundation is the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of the UBA, embodying the group's CSR objectives which seeks to impact positively on societies through projects and initiatives.
Another project anchored by the foundation is the "Read Africa" initiative aimed at encouraging and promoting the reading culture in African youths.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
