A 13-year-old student of Igando Senior High School, Lagos, Master Ebunoluwa Seth Oluwatimilehin, has emerged winner of this year’s National Essay Competition organised by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc among senior secondary school students nationwide.

He was announced the winner at the grand finale of the competition and award ceremony held at UBA House, Marina, Lagos, on Tuesday.

Interestingly, Ebunoluwa is the first male student to win the star prize in the last eight years as female students have been winning the prize back to back in the past seven years.

From right: UBA Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa, Oliver Alawuba; Winner, 2025 National Essay Competition, Ebunoluwa Seth Oluwatimelehin; and Managing Director/CEO, UBA Foundation, Mrs Bola Atta, during the grand finale held at UBA House, Lagos, on Tuesday.


UBA National essay competition, which is an annual event and with this year’s edition, 15th in the series, is one of the major UBA intervention initiatives on education domiciled under its social arm, UBA Foundation. And it is free for participants.

Ebunoluwa , an SS2 student and first child of his parents defeated 15-year-old Emarald Njoku of Christian International School, Owerri, Imo State and Fatima Bayero, a 14-year-old student of Conerstone Montessori School, Abuja to second and third places, respectively and the rest out of a total of 7, 000 students who participated in the competition across the country this year.

While Ebunoluwa was rewarded for his effort with a N10 million scholarship grant to study at any university of his choice in Africa, a trophy, laptop, certificate of merit, and a school bag, Emerald and Fatima on their part, won N7.5 million and N5 million scholarship grants respectively also to study at their choice universities in Africa and equally received a laptop, certificate of merit, and a school bag each.

The money prizes were increased to these amounts this year from N7.5 million, N5 million and N3.5 million for the top three respectively.

Ebunoluwa who was accompanied to the event by his mother, Mrs Comfort Oluwatimilehin, a teacher, told Nigerian Tribune that winning the competition was really tasking as he burnt night candles to read and research to put down the winning essay.

It was his first attempt to participate in the competition.

This year’s topic was “Nigeria is characterized by diverse cultures, ethnicities, and religions. How can young Nigerians deploy diversity to build a united nation?”

While commending UBA Foundation for providing the platform, Ebunoluwa said he had gained additional knowledge about contemporary issues in the country and that hard work and commitment are certainly rewarding.

In his remark at the event, the Managing Director/CEO of UBA Plc, Mr Oliver Alawuba, said UBA is particularly excited to be using the platform to boost education and reading culture and also encourage healthy competition among secondary school students in Nigeria and other African countries, noting that the annual event is designed to positively change the world.

According to him, we believe so much in quality education and we believe that the future of the world is in Africa and that could only be achieved by preparing youths well for the future

He noted that the competition has produced so many winners with many of them now contributing meanigfully to the national development.

He promised that the bank through the competition would continue to invest in the education of African youths who want to study in any of the African universities.

Also speaking, MD/CEO, UBA Foundation, Bola Atta congratulated and commended the winners for their exceptional performance, urging those who did not win the major prize this year not to be discouraged but be more committed to enable them to do better in future.

She said the foundation decided to increase the scholarship money to N10 million, N7.5 million and 5 million for the first, second and third place respectively this year because of the high inflation in Africa.

She noted that the competition had been extended to many other African countries where UBA operates including Ghana, Senegal, Mozambique and so forth as a way of giving back to them.

Atta, however, pointed out that the competition had really improved students wriiten prowess, confidence, critical thinking and also knowledge on social issues in their environment.

In her part, one of the panel of jurists, who assessed all the entries, Prof Asabe Kabir Umar from Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto, said even though there were better entries this year, many of those entries were actually poor as many students wrote out of contexts and also used slangs in their essays.

She said their entries showed that many of the students are too engrossed with social media and things that would not add value to them rather than be committed to their studies.

The nation’s foreign reserve has risen to over $46 billion, according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso.

Cardoso, who was represented by the Deputy Governor Economic Policy Directorate, Dr. Muhammad Abdullahi, disclosed this at the opening of the Monetary Policy Department’s 20th anniversary colloquium at the CBN headquarters in Abuja

He said it was the first time the country had reached such a level since 2018, adding that the number could cover over 10 months of imports.

According to the deputy governor, lending rates may decline in the coming months as inflation continues to ease, raising hopes for improved access to credit and stronger investment flows.

Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the naira depreciated marginally by 0.4 percent as the dollar was quoted at N1,448.03 on Monday, compared to N1,442.43 on Friday at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).

In the parallel market, the naira gained slightly by N2, closing at N1,455 on Monday as against N1,457 on Friday.

Nigeria’s external reserves reaching the $46.7 billion mark have been largely attributed to the federal government’s Eurobond issuance and rising FX inflows.

October 2025 marked the country’s strongest month for foreign exchange inflows since May, boosted by improved macroeconomic stability and renewed appetite from offshore investors seeking opportunities in Africa’s largest economy.

However, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows fell by 25 per cent month-on-month to $222 million, reflecting persistent structural challenges such as insecurity and policy uncertainty that continue to deter long-term capital.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has reacted to the decision of S&P Global Ratings to revise Nigeria’s outlook to Positive from Stable, saying that the government would continue to implement well-coordinated policies aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability.

The Minister, in a statement released on Saturday, said the upgrade, while affirming Nigeria’s long- and short-term ratings at ‘B-/B’, was a strong endorsement of the fiscal, monetary, and structural reforms being rolled out under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“I am delighted to receive the news that S&P Global Ratings has revised Nigeria’s outlook to Positive from Stable while affirming our ‘B-/B’ rating,” he said.

“This development is yet another clear signal that the difficult but necessary reforms we are undertaking are gaining traction and earning strong recognition from respected global institutions.”

Edun noted that with Moody’s and Fitch Ratings having earlier upgraded Nigeria’s credit position in the same year, all three major global ratings agencies now align in acknowledging the progress of the reforms.

“This alignment reflects tremendous confidence in the direction of our fiscal, monetary, and structural reforms, and in the renewed strength and stability of our economy,” he said.

The Minister highlighted that S&P’s decision echoed the agency’s recognition of improved growth prospects, strengthening external buffers, and clearer monetary policy outcomes, which are beginning to materialise as the reforms take hold.

“These positive signals reinforce our commitment to staying the course,” Edun added. “While we are fully aware that more work lies ahead, the foundations we are building today will support inclusive and sustainable growth for years to come.”

He commended President Tinubu for what he described as “unwavering leadership and political courage” in pushing reforms that had long been delayed and also acknowledged the resilience of Nigerians navigating the transition.

“We will continue to implement well-coordinated policies that restore macroeconomic stability, attract investment, and create opportunities for our citizens,” he assured.

“The confidence shown by global ratings agencies strengthens our resolve to deliver a stronger, more dynamic, and more prosperous Nigerian economy.”