Enugu State Governor Dr Peter Mbah has awarded a total sum of N22,000,000 to the winner, first and second runners-up of the 042 Debate Tournament, tagged “Debate Cool-it,” organised by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Social Culture and Development.
The sum of N15,000,000 was given to the overall winner, N5,000,000 to the 1st runner-up, and N2,000,000 to the 2nd runner-up, during the grand finale of the debate tournament.
NewsBits reports that the 042 Debate tournament was aimed at encouraging intellectual discourse among young people. Presenting the dummy cheques to the debating groups, Dr Mbah represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia re-emphasized his administration’s commitment to inculcating the spirit of critical thinking among the youths as well as improving the quality of education in Enugu state.
While describing the 042 Debate tournament as a huge success, the governor said the exercise was the first phase for higher education, stating that it would be cascaded down to the secondary and primary school levels, especially the Smart Green Schools in order to build youths that can challenge and compete with their contemporaries across the globe.
He noted that the competition in the post secondary school level would cut across every aspect of teaching and learning not just debate, and charged the participants, especially the champions to effectively utilise all they have learnt during the entire exercise in their day-to-day activities in order to set a standard in society.
Earlier, the organiser and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Social Culture and self development, Dera Okenwa said several social issues that influence the culture negatively or positively were debated to test the intellectual ability of the youths.
Also, one of the debaters, Emmanuel Nwuze, who spoke on behalf of others, commended the state government for the lofty initiative, saying it has offered them the opportunity to contribute meaningful and intellectually to the development of the state, and promised to continue to utilise the knowledge gathered from it for their own good and for others.
