By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced commencement of the 2017 NSE Essay Competition with call for entries from students in senior secondary schools in Nigeria.
A statement issued by the local bourse on Monday said the theme of this year’s edition is ‘Investor education is critical to retail investor participation in the capital market. Discuss.’
The NSE Essay Competition is one of stock market regulator’s financial literacy and inclusion initiatives aimed at bridging the gap in classroom learning with practical knowledge required for long-term personal financial planning.
The competition’s overall goal is to develop a culture of wealth creation amongst youth towards ‘Building a Financially Savvy Generation.’
According to Ms Pai Gamde, Acting Head, Corporate Services Division at the NSE, this year’s topic has been selected to highlight the importance of the capital market in the efforts to improve national financial literacy.
“The NSE Essay Competition feeds into the Capital Market Literacy Master Plan; a 10-year Capital Market Master Plan currently being implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission to increase the proportion of capital market literacy levels from 16% to 40% by 2025,” she said.
“It is important that students and youth understand the significance of the capital market in the Nigerian economy and participate in programmes and initiatives in relation to this sector which will enable them to shape their own lives and make a difference in their communities.
“I therefore urge parents and teachers to encourage students to participate in the NSE Essay Competition,” Ms Gamde added.
Mr Olumide Orojimi, Head of Corporate Communications at the NSE, said the NSE Essay Competition continues to be a force to be reckoned with nationwide, “the success of the competition over the years continues to be encouraging and has motivated The Exchange to sustain the initiative. Since year 2000, the competition has inspired over 37,000 young people from numerous higher institutions and over 7,000 secondary schools across Nigeria to showcase their knowledge of the financial and capital markets. It provides an opportunity for youths to contribute towards the discussions around the capital market and the Nigerian economy.”
“The competition rewards the 10 winners out of which the top three will be presented with equity investments, University scholarship funds and personal Laptops/tablets at the Awards ceremony which comes up in November 2017. The winners will also be honoured with a Closing Gong ceremony at The Exchange. The schools of the top three winners will also be recognised and presented with prizes such as trophies, desktop computers and printers. The competition has already received support from Access Bank Plc and Prime Atlantic Nigeria Ltd and many more expected to join the growing list of sponsors,” he added.
Intending participants are required to submit their typewritten entries, which should not be more than 1,000 words via email to [email protected].
An online submission form is also available on www.nse.com.ng and the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s Facebook page. The entry submission is expected to close on Friday, October 27, 2017.
Recently, as part of efforts to boost capital market literacy, the NSE launched a knowledge platform, X-Academy, which offers bespoke capital market training programmes to equip individuals who will lead and transform businesses for sustainable growth.
This platform will help in strengthening financial literacy and enhance investment in the capital market.