16 year-old Ajayi Adetola an SS3 student of Holy Child
College, Lagos, has emerged the winner of the maiden edition of the Young
Debaters competition which was organized by Young Educators Foundation (YEF) in
conjunction with English Speaking Union (ESU), UK during the maiden edition of
the event which was held at the Standard Bearers School, Lekki, Lagos, last
week wednesday March 15, 2017 which coincided with the World Speech Day.
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1st place winner: Adetola Ajayi, Holy Child College,
Lagos(M)
2nd place winner: Rukewe Chico-Ejiro, Holy Child College,
Lagos*(L
3rd place winner: Oyesiji Ezekiel, St. Gregory's College,
Lago(R)
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Commenting after she was announced winner, an excited
Adetola who trounced 11 other debaters in a keenly contested competition said:
“I am actually very excited. This is the first time I am doing something for my
school and it is really beautiful. At a certain point I had doubts but I kept
on praying. I had to give up a lot to achieve this today and tried to be
focused and be bold.” According to Akinleye Olu-Phillips, Programmes Director
of YEF, an NGO which is based in both Ghana and Nigeria and a partner of ESU
and the franchise holder of International Public Speaking Competition (IPSC) in
Nigeria, the objective is to promote literacy among the age bracket of 16 to
20".
Today is the grand finale of the pilot of the Young
Debaters, an oratory competition dedicated to public speaking “We discovered
that public speaking skills have not been well harnessed and encouraged, so in
line with our vision of impacting the next generation of leaders on the
continent, we knew we had to start at this early stage teaching the values of
leadership and oratory to students, which ultimately will evolve a very strong
and viral leadership on the continent. Young Educators Foundation is also the
franchise holders of the Scripps Spelling Bee United States in Nigeria.”
Schools that competed include Deeper Life High School,
Port Harcourt, St Gregory’s College, Lagos, Holy Child, Lagos, Nicky Bee
College, Idimu and Deeper Life High School, Portharcourt and Lagos. The Young
Debaters competition is a public speaking/debating competition that inculcates
the basic imperatives of effective communication by impacting leadership
skills, development of poise and accurate word usage. It allows students to
develop their critical thinking and communication skills through its unique
method of orators choosing their own topic which is regulated to an overall
theme. It is targeted at students between the age bracket of 15 and 20 years.
The panel of judges included Funke-Treasure Durobola and
Tunde Alabi (Iceman). Ajayi will represent Nigeria at the international public
speaking competition in the UK between May 8 - 12, 2017.
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