The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Foundation has announced N41 million in university education grants for five Nigerian senior secondary school students participating in its 16th National Essay Competition.
Under the initiative, the overall winner will receive N15 million, while the second and third-place winners will get N10 million and N7.5 million, respectively.
The fourth and fifth-place winners, introduced for the first time in the competition, will receive N5 million and N3.5 million, respectively.
The competition provides senior secondary school students across Nigeria with a platform to demonstrate their writing, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the grants intended to support the winners throughout their university education.
For this year’s edition, participants are required to write on the topic: “No nation can develop without food security. How can Nigeria deal with this problem?”
The foundation said the topic would challenge students to examine Nigeria’s food security challenges and propose practical solutions to improve the country’s agricultural productivity and food supply.
Interested students are required to submit handwritten essays of no more than 750 words through the competition’s online portal.
Applications for the 16th edition close on Friday, October 23, 2026.
Students can submit their entries through the UBA Foundation’s official competition portal at https://www.ubagroup.com/nec/.
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