Ms. Akande Oyinkansola Josephine, a 16-year-old 200-level Medicine and Surgery student of the University has emerged the overall winner of the 2025 Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Annual National Undergraduate Essay Competition, beating hundreds of entrants from across Nigeria to clinch the ₦1 million grand prize and a brand-new laptop.

The brilliant teenager outshone her peers at the fiercely contested grand finale held at the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, with a masterful essay on the theme: “Sustaining Local Content Policies in the Transitioning Oil and Gas Industry.”

Reacting to the victory, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, described Oyinkansola’s feat as “a resounding affirmation of the excellence that defines the Great Ife spirit.”

“On behalf of Council, Senate, Management, Staff and the entire OAU community, I extend the warmest and most heartfelt congratulations to Miss Akande Oyinkansola Josephine,” Professor Bamire said. “At just 16, she has demonstrated intellectual depth, exceptional analytical prowess and maturity far beyond her years. We are exceedingly proud of her and deeply delighted by this landmark achievement. She has once again placed our great institution on the global map of academic and intellectual leadership.”

The Dean of Student Affairs, Professor John Adeolu Odedire, also hailed the young scholar, calling her victory “a golden example of what focused determination and intellectual courage can achieve.”

Professor Odedire urged the entire OAU student body to draw inspiration from Oyinkansola’s success: “Let this triumph remind every Great Ife student that you are destined for greatness. Emulate this sterling performance. Strive for excellence in the classroom, in research, in leadership and in every national arena. Go ye and conquer!”

Speaking at the grand finale of the event, NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, praised the competition as one of the Board’s flagship initiatives for building capacity and awakening local content consciousness among Nigerian undergraduates.

Now in its 9th year, the annual contest continues to sharpen critical thinking, communication skills and awareness of Nigeria’s local content imperatives in the evolving energy landscape.

For Obafemi Awolowo University, Oyinkansola’s victory is the latest addition to an unbroken tradition of national and global dominance by its students, further proof that OAU remains Nigeria’s undisputed University of First Choice and the natural home of the nation’s brightest minds.