DAYO ADESULU

The United Bank for Africa recently reiterated her commitment to give back to the country it has benefited from in the past decades by introducing scholarship opportunity to brilliants but least privileged secondary students through essay competition.

Speaking at a press parley organised by UBA Foundation for education stakeholders and the media held in their corporate head office, Marina, Lagos, the Managing Director, UBA, Mr Philips Oduoza represented by Deputy Managing Director Designate, Mr Kennedy Uzoka said that over the years, UBA has been engaging in text books distribution to various schools in Nigeria adding that the time has come to try our students in order to discover how much they have been studious.

According to him, the essay competition will not only produced the best essay writer but also reveals how much our students have be reading, studying and compose good essays.

For those who took first, second and third positions, Udozie noted: will be ambassadors of UBA in their institutions as the organisation will be responsible for their tuition fees for four years.

He however said that the conditions attached to the gesture is that for beneficiaries to consistently enjoy the scholarship scheme, he must be of good behaviour at school and maintain his university minimum GP that takes him to other class.

Explaining the workability of the scholarship scheme, Mrs Ijeoma Aso, Managing Director, UBA Foundation said that the essay competition is open for both public and private secondary school students in Nigeria who are willing to pick up university education.

Interested candidate, she maintained, is meant to write an essay about himself and career of not less than seven hundred and fifty (750) words which professors from University of Lagos and University of Nigeria, Nsukka will cross examine.

She said: “We have six (6)weeks period for the essays to come in, after which twelve to fifteen essays will be sorted out before getting the best three amongst them.

The best essay writer will attract a cash prize of one million naira (N1,000,000) only. Second position will receive a cash prize of seven hundred and fifty thousand naira (N750,000) only, while the third position gets five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) only.”

The cash prize, Aso maintained, will serve as the total sum of scholarship for that individual four years duration in the university. However, she added that in a situation where a SS1 students won, such money will be kept until he gains admission into the university.