UBA Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced the commencement of the 2026 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC), with N41.5 million in educational grants and prizes for the top five winners.
Now in its 16th consecutive year, the competition provides senior secondary school students in Nigeria and across Africa with a platform to demonstrate their creativity, writing skills and critical thinking while receiving financial support towards their university education.
A major highlight of the 2026 edition is the expansion of educational grants to the fourth- and fifth-place winners for the first time.
The first-place winner will receive a N15 million university grant, representing a 50 per cent increase from the N10 million awarded in 2025.
The second- and third-place winners will receive N10.5 million and N7.5 million respectively, while the fourth- and fifth-place winners will receive N5 million and N3.5 million each towards their university education.
The grants will be tenable at any African university of the winners’ choice.
The 2026 competition challenges students to examine one of Nigeria’s pressing challenges under the topic: “No nation can develop without food security. How can Nigeria deal with this problem?”
Participants are expected to propose practical and sustainable solutions to the country’s food security challenges.
Commenting on the initiative, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UBA Foundation, Ms Bola Atta, said the competition reflected the Foundation’s commitment to empowering young Nigerians to contribute meaningfully to national development.
“For well over a decade, the National Essay Competition has provided a vital platform for our secondary school students to express their ideas and showcase their intellectual prowess,” Atta said.
She said the topic for this year was particularly important because it challenged students to confront “one of the defining questions of our time” — how to feed the nation and secure its future.
“We believe the young minds of today hold the key to a more prosperous and self-sufficient Nigeria,” she said.
Eligible students are required to submit handwritten essays of not more than 750 words through the competition’s digital portal on or before Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.
Applicants must be Nigerian senior secondary school students and are required to complete the online application form and upload their handwritten essays.
They must also upload a recent passport photograph and a valid birth certificate, National Identity card or international passport.
The National Essay Competition remains one of UBA Foundation’s flagship education initiatives, complementing its Read Africa programme and other interventions aimed at promoting literacy, education and youth development across the continent.
