THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UBA FOUNDATION SPONSORED NATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION 2026
A Special Report By Mike Cerutti Osagie The 2026 edition of the UBA Foundation National Essay Competition is not just another school contest, it is a national statement about the power of education, the power of the pen, and the power of the Nigerian youth to think, to reason, and to proffer solutions to the problems facing our country. Now in its 16th consecutive year, the competition has grown from a modest corporate social responsibility idea into one of the biggest and most respected intellectual platforms for senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across Africa. This year alone, over 15,000 entries were received from schools across the country, a figure that shows how deeply the competition has entered the consciousness of students, teachers, parents and school administrators. It is free to enter, open to all, and judged by professors of English, which makes it a true merit-based contest where only hard work, originality and clarity of thought can win. The significance of...