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Enactus Nigeria and its funding partner, African Capital Alliance Foundation, have pledged their commitment to advancing ethical living and learning in Lagos State by supporting its annual essay competition to test secondary school students’ compliance with the training given to them on ethical living.
The companies said the competition on ethical living was created and introduced to secondary schools in Lagos to ignite personal changes and as well prepare them as future leaders.
Speaking at the grand finale of the awards ceremony in Lagos, Okechukwu Enelamah, chairman of ACA Group, said the initiative reached over 2,000 students across 20 public secondary schools in Lagos State, compared to about 534 in the inaugural edition in 2024.
According to him, this milestone reflects the growing impact of group shared commitment to promoting ethics, integrity and responsible citizenship among young people.
He congratulated all 20 schools and the 1,416 students who rose to the challenge by participating in the essay competition on ethical living.
Enelamah said ACA Foundation was established as a force for good with three focal areas: governance, entrepreneurship, and ethical leadership, adding that the Foundation believes that the future of the society rests on a foundation of strong values, which are honesty, empathy, and respect.
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Michael Ajayi, country director of Enactus Nigeria, the implementing partner for the ethical living project, said, Enactus is in the business of building capacity, leadership, entrepreneurship, and project management skills among young people, particularly the tertiary institutions.
“African Capital Alliance Foundation engaged us and said, what we are doing in tertiary institutions can be domesticated for secondary schools. It was an opportunity for us to expand our reach to younger people”.
“We moved from 534 students that participated to over 2,000 students in the second edition. We look forward to the third edition and beyond, looking to expand the programme and, of course, the impact and reach beyond Lagos, first to other South-western states and eventually to other parts of the country. The impact that needs to be made to transform Nigeria cannot be made on a handful of states”.
Uwa Osa-Oboh, head, corporate development of African Capital Alliance, executive, ACA Foundation, said, the quality of engagement of the students is better.
“While we may not expect to see all the changes now, the seed that has been sown could be the difference between a young man joining a cult and not joining a cult. The reason for this grand finale is not just because the six weeks of training are not enough, but when you elevate and celebrate the way the grand finale does, it reinforces it in the minds of the children that this is truly important.
On his part, Paul Kokoricha, chairman, ACA Foundation Council, said, The purpose of the ethical living project is to instil in young minds in the secondary schools the virtues of living ethically.
He said the competition in its maiden edition reached out to 10 schools, noting that this year, 20 schools were involved.
We started with a pilot of 10 schools last year, and then we moved to 20 schools this year. Eventually, we are going to spread across Nigeria. “We are teaching young people the virtues of making right decisions, the virtues of honesty, and the virtues of integrity, of accountability, of responsibility,” he said.
Highlight of the event was the presentation of cash prizes to Samuel Opadotun, a student from Ebute Elefun Senior High School, Sura, Lagos Island; Ruben Oshisanya, an SS1 student from Baptist Academy, Obanikoro, Lagos, first runner up and Anuoluwapo Akeni, a student from Jagunmolu Girls’ Senior Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos
