By:-MARTINS ISAAC [MI SPY]
The first and the best University of Nigeria, University of Ibadan will be participating in the 2018 Continental Public Speaking Contest in Ghana organized by Impact Africa International and scheduled for July 23 to July 28 at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Republic of Ghana.
The invite for the debate was sent to the Office of the Vice Chancellor of the University on May 5. According to one of the participants, the debate is an all – expense paid trip funded by the University.
The theme of the competition reads: YOUTH AND THE CHALLENGES OF CHANGE
Registration fee for each student costs 250USD covering accommodation, feeding, souvenirs, participation and certificate.
A participating school is required to send a minimum of one team (2students) and maximum of nine teams(18 students) for the debate competition. In addition, another two students must represent the institution at the Public Speaking Contest which means the minimum from each school should be four students. The students are necessarily required to be registered students of the University. They are also to be accompanied by a staff of the Institution whose registration fee costs 350USD covering accommodation and feeding.
The University of Ibadan in response has sponsored the trip of 6 students to participate in the Debate Championship and Continental Public Speaking Contest. They are; Oluwagbenga Sadik (President TLDS; 400l, Public Health), Nwarueze Elizabeth (500l,Law), Olaniyan Oluwadara (400l,Law), Asudemade Habeebullah (300l, Law), Anyaeji Chizoba (500l, Law), Ejide Temitope (200l, Statistics).
The training for this competition had been ongoing for over a month supported by the speech coaches for The Literary and Debating Society (TLDS) – Dr Demola Lewis and Miss Damilola Okoyomoh. The team which departed on Sunday arrived in Ghana on Monday.
Impact Africa is an international organization established with the main responsibility of contributing to Africa sustainable development and also to develop youths for responsible leadership in Africa. Created after the Bari Youth Action Plan and declaration in Italy (2010) to develop Africa; it is an effort undertaken by the government of Italy, Puglia Region and development Partners with headquarters based in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.
It seeks to annually gather young intellectuals for a Continental debate championship (in the form of British Parliamentary Debate) and Public Speaking Contest in Africa.
It is worthy of note that the 2017 edition hosted at Gaborone, Botswana has Igbinedon University, Nigeria as the winner of the debate while Zimbabwe Open University won the Public Speaking Contest.
