By Stephen Ubanna
When the United Bank For Africa, UBA, Foundation, regarded in Financial circles, as the Pan African Bank, Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, arm initiated the National Essay Competition for Students in Nigeria and nineteen other African countries where it had business, some ten years ago, not many people gave it opportunity to survive the test of time.
This is because of the country’s harsh economic situation and it adverse effect on the banking sector. Unknown to pundits, the Bank, under the Chairmanship of Tony Elumelu , has set up the necessary structure to sustain the Founddation like the Tony Elumelu Foundation, a Philanthropist Organisation founded by the Chairman and which had spent $100 million promoting African Entrepreneurs in the last 10 years.
Between 2000 and 2019, the officials of the UBA, Foundation, with the active support of the past and present Management of the Bank, under the close watch of Kennedy Uzoka were said to have been involved in organising the National Essay Competition for Students in Nigeria and nineteen other African countries where it has flourishing business on ground without failing. Tens of Students in Nigeria and the nineteen other African countries were said to have smiled home with the millions of naira theat were said to have been won to support their education. The Educational grants awarded to the NEC, winners of the Competition in the first eight years of the Competition was said to be between N1.00 million and N1.5 million.
It was said to have been increased to N2 million for the first prize winner in the 2019 NEC, from the participating countries including Nigerian secondary students. The second and third place winners were said to have received N1.5 million and N1.00 million as their Educational grant respectively.
The Bola Atta led Foundation may have realised that it would not be unwise to award the same Educational grant given to winners of the 2019 Essay Competition organised by the Foundation because of the Wuhan Town in the Hebei Province of the Asian country of China emerged coronavirus, popular,COVID 19, which had spread to African countries , forcing the African Heads of States and Governments to announce lock down of their respective countries to stop further spread of the pandemic last March.
This may have informed why the Atta led management of the Foundation made a recommendation to the Elumelu led Board of Directors of the Bank for over a 33% increase across board for the 2020 winners of the yet to be organised NEC. It was said to have been approved. With the approval, the first prize winner of the Competition will now go home with N2.5 million Educational grant, while the second and third prize winners will now receive grants of N2million and N1.5 million respectively for their University Education and other Consolation prizes that would be given out to the Finalists.
The approved increase in the Foundation Educational grant to winners of its NEC, in Nigeria and the nineteen other African countries , may have prepared the ground for the Management to call for entries, as it introduced the digital submission Portal for the Students both in Nigeria and the other 19 African countries.
Atta, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the UBA Foundation had said that with the newly introduced digital submission portal, ‘’more students in secondary schools in Nigeria and the other African countries ‘’will have the opportunity to scan and send in their entries and compete to win any of the prizes of the Educational grant for study at any University of their choice on the African Continent’’.
She noted‘’ that as a Foundation , which is the CSR arm of the UBA plc, a fully digitalisd bank, driven by the mantra to always innovate and adapt to our constantly changing environment’’, they had to brainstorm on how to ease the pains that everyone is feeling in this year of COVID 19 outbreak across Africa, China and other Asian Countries, United States and other North and South American countries including Europe. The impact of the COVID 19, is so devastating that the global economy had been drastically affected . The situation is so bad as so many Companies, particular, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises , SMEs, the world over, have been forced too close down, forcing many workers to be laid off. Companies that had managed to remain in business had cut Staff salary by 50 percent, instead of shedding weight.
Hear her: Students have not been able to go back to school and there has been a lot of anxiety in families trying to ensure that educational gaps do not emerge’’. It is not surprising why she had repeatedly said that it is imperative for those of them at the Management level of the Foundation to ensure that the impact of the programme ‘’do not wane’’.
‘’ We need to design the Foundation programme to be inclusive as possible so that students who do not have easy access to Computers can still participate in the Essay Competition’’, Mrs.Atta, the UBA, Foundation, CEO, had said.
She may have let the cat out of the bag , when she announced the topic for the Essay Competition,’’ Do you think that the lock down during the COVID 19, pandemic was an essential measure in spite of the hardship it has brought economically. What would you have done differently and why? According to her ‘’the choice of the topic for the 2020 edition of the Competition,, ‘’is one that is expected to help ‘’ promote creative and analytical thinking in students while helping them become problem solvers’’.
Perhaps, to ensure that participants in the Essay Competition, do not make any misstake , Attah, was said to have advised all entrants ‘’to hand write their essays and upload scanned copies of their hand written entries as well as ID on the digital portal at www.ubagroup.com/national-essay-competition before October 2, 2020’’.
She was said to have also advised those who do not have the resources to upload scanned copies of their essay and ID , on the NEC portal to visit the Bank Head office at Marina, Lagos, or the nearest UBA , office to drop off the hand written essay, for onward submission to the Foundation . This is the first time since the Competition started that the Foundation is would be accepting hand written Essays in order to accommodate as many students as possible to get the best that could compete with essay written by students of that age in other parts of the world.
The Judges of the UBA NEC, were said to be Professors selected from reputable Nigerian Universities, who, The Value News was informed ‘’will receive all the essays on a digital drive, evaluate them and select the 12 finalists who will take home some Consolation prizes including personal Computers.
The Finale of the NEC, this year, the Magazine gathered will be conducted virtually as the initiative rolls out across the 19 more countries in Africa. Note that the Foundation embodies the UBA Group’s CSR objectives which seeks to impact positively on societies through several laudable projects and initiatives .
Recall that over the years, the Foundation had donated hundreds of books to schools in Nigeria and the nine African countries where the Bank currently have established business under the ‘the Read Africa’ initiative aimed at encouraging and promoting the reading culture in African youths.
