By Sandra Chukwunyere
***Board Highlights Youth Development, Manufacturing and Sustainable Local Content
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has unveiled winners of its 2026 Annual National Undergraduate Essay Competition, with Wisdom David Fabunmi, a 200-level Physiotherapy student at the University of Ilorin, emerging as the overall winner.
Fabunmi won the grand prize of ₦1 million, a brand-new laptop and a plaque at the award and prize-giving ceremony held on Thursday at the NCDMB Conference Centre in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Joy Oghogho Enogieru, a 100-level Doctor of Optometry student at the University of Benin, emerged first runner-up, winning ₦700,000, a laptop and a plaque, while Ahmadu Kodan Yusuf, a 100-level Law student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, came third with ₦500,000, a laptop and a plaque.
According to a statement signed by Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, General Manager, Corporate Communications Division of the NCDMB, the 10th edition of the competition attracted about 5,000 entries from 52 universities across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. Contestants who placed fourth to ninth also received consolation prizes.
The competition, themed “Promoting Manufacturing for Sustainable Local Content Development,” highlighted the importance of youth development and local manufacturing in strengthening Nigerian Content and building a resilient economy.
Representing the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, at the ceremony, Dr.Ezeobi said the competition supported the Board’s mandate to develop human and material capacity and monitor compliance among operators in the oil and gas industry.
He explained that the Board implemented capacity-building programmes through direct intervention training for graduates and artisans in technical and non-technical skills, as well as project-based human capital development involving on-the-job training on active projects, as required by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010.
Ezeobi said universities played a critical role in developing ideas, examining problems, encouraging innovation and creating solutions for societal advancement. He added that the competition encouraged undergraduates to think critically and write about Nigerian Content.
He listed other youth-focused initiatives, including Research Centres of Excellence at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri; Federal University of Technology, Minna; Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island; University of Port Harcourt; University of Ibadan; and Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.
The Board also promoted innovation through the Nigerian Engineering Olympiad, whose maiden edition concluded in July 2026. Other initiatives include the Nigerian Oil and Gas Readiness Training, which targets 10,000 young Nigerians for training in 10 key skills required for emerging industry projects, and the Catch-the-Researcher-Young Programme, which equips undergraduates with digital technology skills, advanced research methods and industry-relevant competencies.
On the competition’s theme, Ezeobi described manufacturing as the bedrock of sustainable local content development. He said the Board established the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme to support the manufacturing of components used by the oil and gas industry.
He also highlighted the Nigerian Content Equipment Commitment policy, which requires companies to demonstrate their manufacturing capacity and ability to execute key activities before securing oil and gas industry contract opportunities.
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 NCDMB investment in ideas.
The chairman of the occasion, Professor Promise Mebine, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, congratulated the Board on sustaining the competition and urged the winners to take advantage of the opportunities their achievements had opened.
In a goodwill message, Esueme Dan Kikile, Director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate, commended the Executive Secretary, the Corporate Communications Division and the programme consultant for sustaining the competition and its benefits to the Board and participants.
