UBA Foundation launches 2025 National Essay Competition, raises prize pool to N18m

UBA Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has flagged off the 2025 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC), offering over N18 million in educational grants and prizes to winning students.

Now in its 15th year, the competition invites senior secondary school students across Nigeria to submit essays on the theme: “Nigeria is characterised by diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions. How can young Nigerians deploy diversity to build a united nation?”

According to the foundation, the topic was chosen to challenge participants to reflect on how Nigeria’s diversity can be transformed into a tool for national unity and development, while also rekindling interest in reading and writing among young people.

This year’s edition comes with a significant boost in prize money. The first-place winner will receive a N10 million university grant, up from N7.5 million in 2024, to study at any African university of choice. The second and third-place winners will get N7.5 million and N5 million, respectively, also reflecting an increase from last year’s N5 million and N3.5 million.

Speaking at the launch, Managing Director/CEO of UBA Foundation, Mrs. Bola Atta, stressed the importance of engaging young people in national discourse.

“For well over a decade, the National Essay Competition has provided a platform for secondary school students to showcase their intellectual prowess. Parents and pupils eagerly anticipate this initiative every year,” Atta said.

She added, “This year’s topic is particularly crucial as it focuses on our greatest national asset – diversity. We want students to come up with ideas on how it can be harnessed for unity, growth, and development.”

To be eligible, applicants must be Nigerian senior secondary school students. Entries must be handwritten, no longer than 750 words, scanned, and uploaded with a recent passport photograph and valid identification (birth certificate, national ID card, or international passport). The deadline for submissions is Friday, October 17, 2025, through the foundation’s website or by scanning the QR code on official posters.

The NEC has expanded beyond Nigeria, with similar editions rolled out in other African countries where UBA operates, broadening access to educational grants.

UBA Foundation continues to drive educational initiatives across Africa, including its Read Africa campaign, which has distributed hundreds of thousands of books to schools in an effort to revive reading culture among young people.