The Lagos State Government on Thursday presented over N1.3 million to eight outstanding senior secondary school students at the 2015 Lagos State Schools’ Debate Challenge.
Two students of the CMS Girls Senior Grammar School, Bariga – Adetutu Adesuyi and Marvellous Seidu – emerged as the overall winners of the debate in Lagos.
Fifteen-year-old Adesuyi and Seidu, 13, spoke against the topic: Legislating in Nigeria should be part-time in all tiers of government.
They scored 71.3 per cent to beat the duo of Elizabeth Ajigboteso and Remilekun Ojurongbe of Mafoluku Senior Grammar School, Oshodi, scoring 70.3 per cent, to emerge as runners-up.
Meanwhile, Adesuyi has attributed the excellent performance of the overall winners of the competition to hard work.
She said: “My success today is through hard work.
“At times, I will not sleep.
“All I do is study day and night.
“I wish my mother was alive to rejoice with me.
“I thank my English Teacher, Mrs. Rita Akaba, for her support.
“And my friends.
“It has not been easy, but I thank God for the success.”
In her argument, Adesuyi said legislating in Nigeria could make or mar the development of the society.
According to her, making the legislature part-time will mean no dedication on the part of the assemblymen, as they will be pre-occupied with their main jobs, thereby neglecting their legislating duties.
She added: “It will also make the legislature play a second fiddle, thereby promoting personal interests above the national interest.”
According to Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution, there are three arms of government – the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
Adesuyi said further: “The legislature is saddled with the responsibility of making the laws, while the executive implements the laws made by the legislature, and the judiciary interprets the law.
“Judging by this, it has shown that the legislature is the most important arm of government because without it, there will be nothing for the executive to implement and the judiciary to interpret.
“Since the executive and the judiciary are not part-time, I do not see any justifiable reason why the legislature should be part-time.”
In the individual speaker category, Sherifat Fagbenro of Badagry Senior Grammar School, Badagry, won the first position, with the topic: Nigeria should withdraw from the African Union.
Fagbenro received N75,000 for her outstanding performance.
The competition was organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Education for all public and private senior secondary schools in the six education districts.
Olayinka Oladunjoye, the Commissioner for Education, said the debate was aimed at developing and improving the public speaking skills of the students through provocative topics.
The commissioner lauded the tenacity, level of maturity, zeal, composure and dedication of the contestants.
Oladunjoye said the competition formed an integral part of the state’s annual school calendar, to add value to co-curricular activities in schools.
She said: “We have already begun to reap the benefits of the competition, as our students are making waves in national competitions.
“Just recently, Lagos State emerged the overall winners at the 2014 National Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists competition.
“We came first in inter-state quiz competition, the National Theme Project, Free-Choice Project and Physics Competition.
“We also came third in Physics Competition, Second in Biology Competition, Third and Fourth position in Mathematics Competition and Fifth in Agricultural Science Competition.”
Oladunjoye said Kelechi Nwagwu of the Lagos State Senior Model College, Kankon, Badagry, was adjudged the best female student at the competition.
She said: “We can only link this to the massive transformation that is taking place in our public schools through the provision of a conducive environment for quality teaching and learning processes.”
The commissioner urged the male students to put in their best as most of the winners were females.
The Principal of CMS Girls Grammar School, Bariga, Olufunke Oyegbile, told the News Agency of Nigeria that she was overwhelmed.
Oyegbile said the competition had improved the performance of students academically and in public speaking.
She said: “Our school came second last year and now we able to emerge as the champion.
“I will continue to encourage the students so they can participate actively.
“It has not been easy.
“It is a lot of work, especially for the English Language teachers.
“We attend any debate competition that we are invited to and it has helped our students in winning.”
—