Three brilliant students have emerged as winners in the 2015 UBA Foundation National Essay Competition in Ghana.
The three winners were selected from 12 finalists, who were invited to write a second essay under the bank’s supervision on Saturday, November 28, 2015. The second essay produced the finalists who were unveiled at the grand finale held on Monday, November 30, 2015 at the UBA Ghana corporate headquarters, Accra.
L-R:
Frederick Nana Kwame Asante, 1ST runner up; Adzokpa Serahine
Aku Kekeli, winner; and Senanum Kwabla
Adjani, 2nd runner up, during the grand
finale of the UBA Foundation 2015 National Essay Competition for Senior
Secondary Schools in Ghana, held in Accra.
Adzokpa Serahine
Aku Kekeli of Ola Senior High emerged as the overall winner of this year’s
competition. She will receive Ghs 20,000.00 to help with her tuition in any
African university of her choice. Frederick Nana Kwame Asante of Accra Academy
emerged as the first runner up and will be receiving Ghs 14,000.00 while Senanum Kwabla Adjani of Sogakope Senior
Secondary School, emerged as the second runner up and will be receiving Ghs 8,000.00.
L-R: Abiola Bawuah, MD/CEO,
UBA Ghana; Adzokpa Serahine Aku Kekeli, the winner, UBA Foundation 2015 National
Essay Competition for Senior Secondary Schools in Ghana;
and Ijeoma Aso, MD/CEO, UBA Foundation, during
the grand finale of the essay competition held
in Accra.
All the three winners
will receive their prizes in the form of an educational grant to study in any
African University of their choice. All the 12 finalists were also given
laptops.
Ijeoma Aso, the
MD/CEO of UBA Foundation while congratulating the winners praised them for them
for their brilliance.
“Every student who
sent in an entry is a winner. It shows that he or she is confident about his or
her writing skill. For those that did not win, I will say do not be
discouraged. Take it as a challenge to perfect your writing and enter for the
competition again in 2016.”
The MD/CEO of UBA
Ghana, Abiola Bawuah said the essay competition in Ghana shows the importance
the bank places on education.
Ghana’s Deputy
Minister of Education, Okudzolo Ablakwa who was represented by Cynthia
Bosumtwi, a Director in the education ministry expressed her appreciation to
UBA for taking such a keen interest in education.
Speaking more on
the competition, Mr. Emeke Iweriebor, Deputy CEO, UBA Africa, said the essay competition is UBA’s modest
contribution to educational development in Nigeria and across Africa.
L-R: The 2015 National Essay Competition finalists in Ghana and
the MD/CEO, UBA Foundation, Ijeoma Aso; MD/CEO, UBA Ghana, Abiola Bawuah;
a director in the Ghana Education
Service, Cynthia Bosumtwi and DMD, UBA Ghana,
Usman Isiaka, during the grand finale of the UBA
Foundation 2015 National Essay Competition for Senior Secondary Schools in
Ghana, held in Accra on Monday
“As a pan-African
financial services group with operations in 22 countries, we aim to impact on
the countries we do business through the three main anchors of education,
environment and social empowerment.”
Meanwhile, UBA Foundation announced the names of the 12 finalists for the 2015 edition of its National Essay Competition (NEC) in Nigeria.
The finalists emerged after a rigorous appraisal of entries for the annual competition which opened on September 30, 2015.
The Foundation received about 3,500 entries for the UBAF NEC 2015 edition from students of senior secondary schools all over Nigeria, representing a 50% increase over 2014.
The entries were reviewed by a panel of judges made up of professors from reputable Nigerian Universities, who thereafter shortlisted the 12 best essays.
The 12 finalists are Ayomide Omole; Udochukwu Melvin Okonkwo; Emediong Uduak Uko; Jonathan Favour; Obiabunmo Precious and Starish Ugie-Oritse-Ete Enonuya. Others are Comfort Macaulay Uwem; Dada Oluwatobi Joshua; Osagiede Omosefe; Olaoye Promise Oluwatobiloba; Eze Ugochinyere Golden and Peter G Okon.
Ijeoma Aso, the Managing Director/CEO of UBA Foundation, said “Three best essays will be selected from the 12 finalists who will now write a supervised essay at UBA House this weekend.”
The first prize for the UBA National Essay Competition is a N1 million educational grant for the winner to study in any African university of his or her choice. The second and third prizes are N750,000 and N500,000 educational grants respectively.
As the Corporate
Social Responsibility arm of the UBA Group, UBA Foundation is committed to the
socio-economic betterment of the communities in which UBA operates, focusing on
development in the areas of Environment, Education, Economic Empowerment and
Special Projects.
UBA foundation
remains a role model for other corporate organizations in Africa. The
Foundation has dedicated resources to ensuring that CSR is not simply conceived
as a marketing tool in the corporate world but as a corporate contribution
towards promoting sustainable development in communities