The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF) has announced its 7th Annual Scholarship Essay Competition which aims to provide a unique platform that supports critical thinking amongst university students on topical socio-economic issues that are important in Nigeria’s sustainable growth and development.
Eligibility requirements
- This competition is only open to students enrolled at NHEF Partner Universities. NHEF will verify the enrolment of each contestant with the University Registrar.
- NHEF’s Partner Universities include Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University, Kano, Kwara State University, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the University of Port Harcourt.
- Previous NHEF Essay Competition & Scholars Program beneficiaries are not eligible to participate in this competition.
Essay topics
In view of Nigeria’s ongoing financial and economic situation, this year’s competition focuses on “The CBN Naira redesign policy and its effect on the Nigerian economy & the consequence of increased brain drain on the economy”.
Applicants can choose one between the two questions below:
- Leading to the recent currency redesign policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria reported that about 84.71% of the N3.23 trillion currency in circulation was outside the banking system. A situation described to be a risk to its currency management responsibility.
Using relevant examples, critically analyse the pros & cons of the monetary policy implementation and provide recommendations to the CBN for future policy implementation based on the consequent challenges experienced nationwide.
- Article 13, section 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country“. This statement agrees with the Nigerian constitution on the Right to Freedom of Movement. However, a significant increase in brain drain can be classified as an anomaly for any economy.
Critically analyse the factors causing human capital flight in Nigeria and recommend relevant solutions to safeguard the country’s economic growth and development.
Essay criteria
Essays must abide by the following guidelines prior to submission:
- Entries should reflect the author’s ability to explore and discuss ideas / ethical concepts and demonstrate the conduct of research with a sufficiently detailed summary.
- Only one entry may be submitted per student.
- The essay must include a title page, a bibliography, and a scanned copy of the contestant’s current Student ID.
- The student’s name, university, and registration ID must appear in the header of each page.
- The essay must not exceed 2000 words.
- It must be double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, and contain numbered pages with one-inch margins, excluding the bibliography and title page.
- References in the essay should be included and clearly identified.
Contest prizes
- The Grand Prize winner will be awarded ₦100,000, a new laptop, 1 online certificate course*, a 1-year internet subscription** and 1 year of university tuition.
- The First Runner-up will be awarded ₦75,000, a 1-year internet subscription** and 1 year of university tuition.
- The Second Runner-up will be awarded ₦50,000, a 1-year internet subscription** and 1 year of university tuition.
*The online certificate course may not exceed $100 on Udemy, Coursera, Alison or EDX.
**1-year internet subscription estimated at 24Gb on the winner’s preferred mobile network.
Submission procedure and application deadline
- The document naming convention should be as follows: 2023 NHEF Essay Competition – Name of Applicant, e.g., 2023 NHEF Essay Competition – Adekunle Ciroma Ahmed.
- Entries must be submitted in PDF format.
- All entries must be submitted via NHEF Application Portal (https://portal.thenhef.org/) latest by 11:59 p.m. (WAT) on April 7, 2023.
- Students are encouraged to avoid plagiarism, as the essays will be checked for intellectual authenticity and against Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated content, e.g., ChatGPT.