ESUT Wins Gov Mbah's N15 million Out Of N20 million Cash Prize, Beats UNN, IMT, 15 other tertiary schools in debate
Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) clinched victory in the 042 Coal City Debate, winning a N15 million cash prize after outperforming five other universities, including University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), which secured the runner-up position and N5 million.
…As Mbah reiterates creativity, critical thinking, innovation in education
The Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, has defeated five universities including both campuses of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, in Nsukka and Enugu, to emerge winner of the 042 Coal City Debate with N15 million cash prize. The UNN, however, emerged the runner-up, with N5 million cash prize.
Other tertiary institutions defeated by ESUT include the Godfrey Okoye University, GUO, Institute of Management and Technology, IMT, Renaissance University, Caritas University, among others in the state.
The 042 Debate Tournament tagged, “Debate Cool-it,” started 12 weeks ago with over 20 tertiary institutions from across the state, with ESUT, UNN and IMT competing for the top prizes at the grand finale where UNN and IMT emerged second and third places respectively.
ESUT entred the competition with two teams: Team Paragon and Team Legion, both of which were inaugurated on April 30, 2024, by the Secretary General of the Medical Students' Union of the institution and chairman of the teams, Chidubem Nnamdi Mamah. However, Paragon was eliminated after three rounds of the debate while Team Legion continued and eventually won the competition.
The participants from team Legion were Aka Obinna Celestine, Miracle Obingene, Chindo Adiele, Adaobi Madu and Chisom Ezeugwu.
The grand price of N15 million was presented to the representatives of ESUT, and N5 million to the UNN which came second, at the Post Primary School Board, PPSB, weekend in Enugu.
Presenting the prizes, Governor Mbah, who was represented on the occasion by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, reiterated his administration’s commitment to invest in quality education that would creativity, critical thinking and innovation among students at all levels of education in the state.
Mbah noted that the exercise was the first phase for higher education, pointing out 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 further 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 would prepare them for leadership roles and make them agents of transformation in the society.
According to Mbah, the competition which was designed for the post-secondary school level would cut across all aspects of teaching and learning, and asked the participants to effectively utilise their experiences including what they learnt during the 12-weeks of rigorous intellectual exercise in their daily activity in order to set a good standard for others to emulate.
“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, learnt 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 further said, and commended Governor Mbah for the initiative.
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