Abuja schoolgirl Khaira Bala, 15, wins N15m UBA scholarship as girls take all five top places
About 15,000 students entered the 16th UBA National Essay Competition. The judges also flagged a rise in AI-written entries.
Lagos — Khaira Bala, a 15-year-old student at Metro International School in Abuja, has won the 2026 UBA National Essay Competition and a N15 million university scholarship from the UBA Foundation.
The winner was announced at UBA's headquarters in Lagos. All five top prizes went to girls, chosen from 20 finalists out of about 15,000 entries for the competition's 16th edition.
The winners
Unwanabasi Udom of Topfaith International Secondary School, Mkpatak, came second and won N10 million. Flourish Ndamzi of the University of Port Harcourt Women Association International Secondary School was third with N7.5 million. God'sFavour Udo of Federal Government Girls' College, Ikot Obio Itong, won N5 million for fourth place, and Uchenna Anyanwu of Coral Impacts International School, Abuja, took N3.5 million for fifth.
The winners also receive laptops and an educational trip. The other 15 finalists get consolation prizes, funded bank accounts and mentoring. The number of finalists has grown from 12 to 20 and scholarships from three to five.
Bala said she was excited and surprised, and that it was her first time entering. Her parents had encouraged her to take part.
Spreading across Africa
The competition has expanded to Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Chad and Zambia, and the foundation hopes to cover all 20 African countries where UBA operates.
The judges estimated that 35 to 40% of entries showed signs of AI-generated writing and recommended screening tools and workshops for teachers. Judge Ini Uko said using AI "is not inherently wrong," but students should research, personalise and critically assess what such tools produce.
Source: Premium Times, November 2026.
