Winners of the 7th Nigerian Content Annual National Undergraduate Essay Competition, 2023, were unveiled on Wednesday at the Lady Daima Memorial Event Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. It was the Grand Finale of the competition, with the top 10 finalists awarded prizes. The annual essay competition is an initiative of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board. 

Overall best was Miss Iruoma Favour Lazarus, a 200-level student of the Faculty of Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. She received a cheque for ₦1million and an HP laptop. Miss Lucy Agbalu, a 100-level student of Microbiology at the University of Calabar was awarded the second prize of ₦700,000 and an HP laptop, while the third prize was won by Akinduyite Samuel, who received ₦500,000 and a similar laptop.  

Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, said the Board seeks to “inculcate local content consciousness among students of our higher institutions”, thereby creating champions of such an endeavour. He described local content as “an existential necessity for every nation, particularly for developing nations like Nigeria”. 

The NCDMB boss noted that the topic of the essay competition, which was Nigerian Content and the Lessons from COVID-19,” was conceived in view of the impact of the pandemic. He said at the height of the pandemic, “the movement of persons and goods was disrupted for several months, forcing every nation to rely on their local resources for survival.”

He added: “The Nigerian oil and gas industry survived that period because of the huge local human and infrastructural capacities we had developed since the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act in 2010. Efficient implementation of the Act ensured that Nigeria’s oil production continued without interruption, even when all the expatriates had left the country.”

Engr. Wabote, who was represented by the Manager, Corporate Corporations, Esueme Dan Kikile, called on policymakers at various levels of government and in the private sector to take deliberate steps, “to develop resilient and sufficient human and infrastructural capacities in key sectors of our national fabric, which can withstand any external shocks in future.”

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While commending winners of the essay contest and the consultants, Mahogany Century Concepts Limited, he said the Board has sustained the competition for seven years because of the huge importance it attaches to it, and that the intention is to challenge students in tertiary institutions to sharpen their writing skills and engage youths in productive activities.

The annual essay competition is one of several initiatives of the NCDMB designed to benefit the youth segment of the Nigerian population. Others include the Integrated Institutional Strengthening and Upgrade programme, under which the Board has undertaken and completed renovation of technical workshops and installation of facilities in Government Technical College, Amoli in Enugu State, Government Technical College, Abak in Akwa Ibom State, Government Technical College, Port Harcourt, and the University of Ibadan Vocational School. 

Prof Allen Agih, Chairman of the event, commended the NCDMB for its remarkable contributions to capacity building in the country. He corroborated the point made by the Executive Secretary on how the resiliency of the oil and gas industry withstood the pandemic, stating: “Nigerians did not run to other countries when COVID-19 struck.” 

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.