A winner has emerged in the fifth edition of Nigeria Info’s ‘I Beg To Differ’ Student Debate Competition.
15 years old Ruth Okorocha from Kingsway College, Lagos, defeated Ramadan Olalekan to emerge as the winner of the competition, themed: ‘The Champion of Champions.’
This followed weeks of engaging in a series of intellectual debates which focus on the socio-political and economic issues that affect the development of the country.
The organisers said the competition took a new dimension as it only featured the winners and runner-ups of the previous editions. This is to refresh the previous contestants’ intellectual competencies while encouraging Nigerian youths to engage in intellectually-stimulating conversations that could proffer viable solutions to the nation’s complex socio-economic issues.
The grand finale of the competition, which was aired live on Nigeria Info’s Hard Facts Show, had Ruth defeating Ramadan, a 15 year-old student from the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos, after debating on topics that focused on ‘Artificial intelligence and China’s partnership with African Countries.’
Commenting on the successful completion of the competition, the general manager of Corporate Affairs department for Cool FM, Wazobia FM, and Nigeria Info, Femi Obong Daniels commended the contestants for demonstrating their capacity to critically assess issues that are of both national and global concern.
“We, at Nigeria Info, are happy to be associated with this laudable initiative which seeks to intellectually develop Nigerian youths to engage in brain-tasking conversations that seek to proffer viable solutions to the issues that affect the nation’s corporate existence.
“As such, we are proud that this platform has produced top-tier debaters that are capable of projecting Nigeria in a positive light. It is on this premise that I want to use this medium to congratulate the overall winner and other contenders as we believe that they are all champions,” he said.
Expressing her excitement after emerging as the winner of the debate tournament, Ruth Okorocha noted that her deep appreciation goes to everyone who assisted her in achieving this feat the second time.
“I sincerely want to use this medium to express my gratitude to everyone who gave me the necessary push to emerge as the winner for the second time. I am also deeply grateful to Nigeria Info for allowing me to continuously hone my public speaking skills through the various stages of the competition. This platform has further given me the required motivation to develop myself aggressively” she noted.
Ruth was awarded a N2 million cash prize, an HP laptop, a Wiwu ergonomic adjustable laptop stand, and a Porodo Buds 3 while the first runner-up, Ramadan, received a Nintendo Switch LITE, and a Porodo Buds 3.
The ‘I Beg To Differ’ Student Debate Tournament is one of the many initiatives of Nigeria Info that seeks to develop the intellectual capacity of Nigerian students through healthy debate competitions.
