UBA Foundation NEC winners smile home with prizes
By Felicia Nwosu
Students, who emerged as winners at the grand finale of the 2022 edition of the UBA Foundation Annual National Essay Competition (NEC), have smiled home with various memorable prizes. It was held at the Tony Elumelu Amphitheatre in UBA House, in Lagos.
Among other 11 finalists, 15-year-old Usongobong Paul, a student of Federal Government Girls College Ikot- Obio Itong, Akwa-Ibom, emerged as the overall winner. Usongobong, who topped the list, clinched the best prize at the competition with a scholarship worth N5m to study in any African university of her choice and also a premium brand laptop.
The N5m proud scholarship winner, who could not hold back her excitement and joy, expressed her profound gratitude to the UBA foundation, the CSR arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc.
“I am so grateful to the UBA Foundation for this opportunity. It has helped me to believe in myself and bolster my confidence. This scholarship will go a long way toward assisting in my dream to become an ophthalmologist. This opportunity has changed my life and I appreciate the UBA and the UBA Foundation for this,” she said.
Also, the second prize was bagged by 15-year old Princess Sholabomi of Value Spring College, Lagos. She won a N3, 000,000 educational grant and a laptop; while the third prize of N2, 500,000 and a brand-new laptop went to 15-year-old Sharon Nwajiaku of Ota Total Academy, Ogun State. The other 9 finalists also received brand-new laptops and other consolation prizes.
Kennedy Uzoka, Chairman of the UBA Foundation, noted that the United Bank of Africa has for 12 years been impacting lives across communities.
“We set up this competition over 12 years ago, because we saw the need to allow students to express themselves and convey their ideas, and over the years, we have seen that we are doing something very unique and truly African. We have given scholarships to over 60 students, and we have been able to produce doctors, engineers, and lawyers through this platform,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bola Atta, the Group Director, Corporate Communication at UBA/CEO UBA Foundation, while welcoming guests and students, noted that she has been part of the event for the past eight years and each year has been quite emotional to witness that the life of somebody and several other people are going to change from that moment onward.
According to her, the Foundation had completely obliterated manual entry this year, but had to move to digital to stay in tune with new realities. She was impressed with the turn-out of 35% participation of entries from the northern part of the country despite the challenges of lack of educational tools.
“Every student who sends in an entry is a winner. To be confident about your writing skills and ambitious enough to enter a competition to further enhance your educational path is laudable. For those that did not come first this year, I would say do not be discouraged. Take it as a challenge to perfect your writing skills and enter the competition again next year,” she said.
Atta also commended the female students for leading the number in this year’s participation, while stating that the Foundation received 5,000 entries in the 2022 edition.
“I am excited that there are 12 students that came top and guess what, I don’t want to be biased, but honestly, they are 11 girls and a boy. Girls are really taking the lead,” she added.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Comment
No comments found.