NCDMB Essay Competition: Ilorin Student Wins ₦1m Prize as 5,000 Undergraduates Compete
By Onwe Wisdom | Pan Afric Reporters
Wisdom David Fabunmi, a 200-level Physiotherapy student at the University of Ilorin, has emerged overall winner of the 10th edition of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Annual National Undergraduate Essay Competition, beating thousands of entries from 52 universities across Nigeria.
The NCDMB disclosed this in a press release issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Friday, October 23, 2026, and signed by its General Manager, Corporate Communications Division, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi. The Board said the competition attracted about 5,000 entries from universities across the six geopolitical zones, with this year’s theme focused on “Promoting Manufacturing for Sustainable Local Content Development.”
Fabunmi received a cash prize of ₦1 million, a brand-new laptop and a plaque for emerging as the overall winner. Joy Oghogho Enogieru, a 100-level Doctor of Optometry student at the University of Benin, won the second prize of ₦700,000, a laptop and a plaque, while Ahmadu Kodan Yusuf, a 100-level Law student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, came third, receiving ₦500,000, a laptop and a plaque. Consolation prizes were also awarded to contestants who finished fourth to ninth.
Representing the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, at the grand finale and prize-giving ceremony, Ezeobi said the competition supported the Board’s mandate to develop Nigeria’s human and material capacity, particularly within the oil and gas industry.
He explained that the initiative encourages undergraduates to research, analyse national development challenges and propose solutions that can strengthen local content and expand Nigeria’s productive capacity.
According to Ezeobi, universities provide an important platform for developing ideas, examining societal problems and encouraging innovation. He said the Board’s engagement with students was designed to promote critical thinking and deepen their understanding of Nigerian Content.
“The ideas, commitment and ingenuity of youths,” he noted, were crucial to the future of Nigerian Content.
Ezeobi described manufacturing as “the bedrock of sustainable local content development,” stressing that Nigeria must expand domestic production of components and equipment used in the oil and gas industry to retain more economic value within the country.
He said the NCDMB established the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme (NOGaPS) to support the manufacturing of components required by the industry.
“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” before receiving contract opportunities in the oil and gas industry, he said.
The NCDMB said the essay competition forms part of its broader youth-development interventions, which include Research Centres of Excellence at selected Nigerian universities, the Nigerian Engineering Olympiad, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Readiness Training programme and the Catch-the-Researcher-Young Programme.
Through the Nigerian Oil and Gas Readiness Training initiative, the Board is training 10,000 young Nigerians in 10 priority skills required for emerging industry projects. The Catch-the-Researcher-Young Programme, meanwhile, is designed to equip undergraduates with digital technology skills, advanced research methods and industry-relevant competencies.
Earlier, the programme consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Mahogany 21st Century Concepts Limited, Eyinimi Omorozi, described the ceremony as a celebration of a decade of investment in young people’s ideas.
“From the essays of these young men and women, you can just tell that the future is very bright,” Omorozi said, commending the Board for investing in intellectual development alongside its regulatory and industrial responsibilities.
He added: “NCDMB is not just building facilities and monitoring compliance, it is also building minds.”
The Chairman of the occasion and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, Professor Promise Mebine, also praised the Board for sustaining the competition and promoting youth development.
“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,” Mebine said.
Congratulating the winners, he urged them to see the awards as an opportunity to pursue further research, innovation and national development.
“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!” he told the winners.
Mebine also encouraged other participants to remain committed to intellectual development, saying that their participation had helped strengthen their research and writing skills.
In a goodwill message, the Director of the NCDMB Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate, Esueme Dan Kikile, commended the Board’s management, the Corporate Communications Division and the programme consultant for sustaining the competition.
The Board reiterated that developing young Nigerian talent, strengthening local manufacturing and encouraging research-driven solutions remain important to building a resilient economy and advancing sustainable Nigerian Content in the oil and gas sector.
