The Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) has defeated the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), University of Nigeria, Nsukka and its Enugu Campus, Godfrey Okoye University, Renaissance University, Caritas University, among other top institutions to emerge winner of the 042 Coal City Debate.
While presenting the grand prize of N15 million to the representatives of ESUT, N5 million to the IMT, and N2 million to UNN which emerged first and second runners-up over the weekend in Enugu, Governor Peter Mbah reiterated his administration’s commitment to continue to invest in quality education that would incentivize creativity, critical thinking and innovation among students at all levels of education in the state.
The 042 Debate Tournament tagged, “Debate Cool-it”, which started 12 weeks ago with over 20 institutions drawn from across the state participating in the tournament had three institutions, ESUT, IMT and UNN competing for the top prizes at the grand finale where IMT and UNN emerged second and third places respectively.
Governor Mbah, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, described the debate as a huge success aimed at inculcating the right civic values, discipline and leadership skills in young people, particularly students and youths, which will prepare them for leadership role and make them agents of transformation in the society.
Governor Mbah said the exercise was the first phase for higher education, stressing that it would cascade down to the secondary and primary school levels, especially the Smart Green Schools in order to build resilient youths that can challenge and compete with their peers across the globe.
He added that the competition designed for the post-secondary school level would cut across all aspects of teaching and learning, and charged the participants to effectively utilise their experiences including what they learnt during the 12-week rigorous intellectual exercise in their daily activity in order to set a good standard for others to emulate.
Earlier, the organiser and Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Social Culture and Self-development, Mrs Dera Okenwa, said several social issues that impact societal culture with overarching implications on the way people communicate and communicate among themselves formed the debate topics to test the intellect of the young ones and their worldviews.
“Burning global issues, such as climate change, human rights and press freedoms, governance, religion and its effects, corruption, gender inequality, feminism, minimum wage, abortion, polygamy, cybercrime and cybersecurity, were among the highly contested topics that were discussed among the debaters.
“Our aim was to create the atmosphere where people can discuss, even debate, without intimidation or threat of violence. People should be able to share their ideas and communicate their disagreement without resorting to threats or use of uncivilized language. Over the past 12 weeks, the panelists and, indeed, thousands of informal participants, could learn one or two things from the debaters. We learnt respect for others’ views, we learnt to yield to superior arguments and ideas, and we also learnt that self-improvement is essential to building the society we all crave for,” she said.
While commending Governor Mbah for the initiative, one of the debaters, who spoke on behalf of others, Emmanuel Nwuze, thanked the state government for the opportunity afforded thousands of young ones who participated, saying it has offered them the atmosphere to contribute meaningfully to the development of the state.
