Winners of the tenth Edition of the NCDMB Annual National Undergraduate Essay Competition 2026 have been on Thursday unveiled at a vibrant ceremony on the NCDMB Conference Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, with the Management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) underscoring the strategic significance of youth growth and native manufacturing in selling sustainable native content material and constructing a resilient financial system.
The coveted prize of N1 million, a brand-new laptop computer and a plaque was gained by Mr Wisdom David Fabunmi, a 200-level Physiotherapy pupil of the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, who emerged as total winner, whereas the second prize of N700,000, laptop computer and plaque was gained by Ms. Joy Oghogho Enogieru, a 100-level Doctor of Optometry pupil of the University of Benin, the primary runner-up. The third prize of N500,000, laptop computer and a plaque was gained by Mr. Ahmadu Kodan Yusuf, a 100-level Law pupil of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
There have been some 5,000 entries in the Essay Competition from 52 universities throughout the six geopolitical zones of the nation, with comfort prizes going to the 4th to ninth place winners.
The competitors, which the Board notes has turn out to be an essential platform for selling analysis, analytical considering, efficient communication and mental engagement amongst undergraduates, had this 12 months’s deal with, “Promoting Manufacturing for Sustainable Local Content Development.”
Representing the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Omatsola Ogbe, on the Grand Finale of the Award and Prize-giving Ceremony, the General Manager, Corporate Communications Division (CCD), Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, acknowledged that the competitors is especially essential to the Board as a result of it contributes to the realisation of its mandate, which centres on growth of human and materials capability and monitoring of compliance by gamers in the oil and fuel {industry}.
He defined that the Board discharges its capability constructing mandate by way of numerous programmes equivalent to Direct Intervention trainings for graduates and artisans in technical and non-technical abilities in addition to project-based human capital growth, which entails on-the-job trainings on reside tasks as required by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010.
Ezeobi identified that universities are establishments the place concepts ought to be developed, issues examined, improvements inspired and options created for the development of the society, therefore the Board undertook to interact college students and encourage them to assume critically and write about Nigerian Content. The concepts, dedication and ingenuity of youths, he famous, have been essential to the way forward for Nigerian Content.
He mentioned the Annual Undergraduate Essay Competition is related to a number of different interventions the Board has for teenagers in larger establishments, such because the Research Centres of Excellence in Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Federal University of Technology, Minna; Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State; University of Port Harcourt, Choba; University of Ibadan, Ibadan, and Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.
He additionally listed the Nigerian Engineering Olympiad (NEO), to encourage innovation amongst engineering college students, with the maiden version concluded in July 2026.
Other initiatives of the Board focused at youths embrace specialised coaching programmes like Nigerian Oil and Gas Readiness Training, the place 10,000 younger Nigerians are being educated in the ten prime abilities wanted in the rising new tasks being developed by the {industry}, and the Catch-the-Researcher-Young Programme (CRYP), a digital analysis capability growth initiative designed to equip undergraduate college students with fashionable know-how abilities, superior analysis strategies, and industry-relevant digital competencies.
Ezeobi famous that the main focus of this 12 months’s essay competitors on selling manufacturing for sustainable native content material growth is meant to problem individuals to look at how Nigeria can strengthen its productive capability and create higher financial worth.
Manufacturing, he emphasised, is “the bedrock of sustainable local content development,” and that the NCDMB established the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme (NOGaPS) “to incubate the manufacturing of components used by the oil and gas industry.”
According to him, “It is also the reason we implement a policy known as Nigerian Content Equipment Commitment (NCEC), which compels companies to show proof that they manufacture components and have capacity to execute key activities” earlier than they get contract alternatives in the oil and fuel {industry}.
Earlier in a welcome tackle, the programme guide, Mr Eyinimi Omorozi, Chief Executive Officer of Mahogany twenty first Century Concepts Limited, mentioned the Award and Prize-giving Ceremony was a celebration of “a decade of investment in ideas by the NCDMB.” He expressed satisfaction with the output of the individuals in the competitors, stating, “From the essays of these young men and women, you can just tell that the future is very bright.”
In regard to the sponsors, he declared, “NCDMB is not just building facilities and monitoring compliance, it is also building minds.”
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the event, Professor Promise Mebine, Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke, congratulated the NCDMB on its profitable internet hosting and sponsorship of the competitors and for staying devoted to the imaginative and prescient.
“Year after year, you have proven that building Nigerian Content is not only about pipelines and platforms, but about building people, particularly our youths, the leaders of tomorrow,” he acknowledged.
To the winners, his phrase was, “Your prize today is well-deserved, but the real prize is not the cheque or the plaque. The real prize is that NCDMB has now opened a door for you. Walk through it!” To the opposite contestants, he mentioned, “you are not losers; every essay you submitted is a seed. You have trained your mind to think. You have trained your hand to write. Keep writing; keep researching; keep believing in Nigeria; Next year, the podium may be yours.”
In a goodwill message, the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (MED) Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, Esq. recommended the Executive Secretary, the Corporate Communications Division and the programme guide for all the trouble towards sustenance of the competitors, which he famous has been immensely useful to the Board and individuals.
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