The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has emerged winner of LEAP Africa’s Youth Leadership Debate 2.0 held at the Platform Nigeria for the second consecutive time, defeating University of Ibadan (UI) at the grand finale.
LEAP Africa is one of Africa’s foremost non-profit organisations focused on youth leadership development.
The Youth Leadership Debates is a pillar of the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund (NYFF), an initiative of LEAP Africa. It creates a platform for young Nigerians in tertiary institutions across the nation to lend their voices to topical issues that affect Nigeria through the art of debates. Participants were taken through courses on self-leadership, active citizenship, sustainability, and advocacy.
At the end of the learning process, 32 teams from 19 tertiary institutions in Nigeria qualified for the debates. There were two virtual elimination rounds, quarter-finals, and semi-finals. The finalists were tasked with debating the topic, “Nigeria’s Long Standing Position as Giant of Africa is no Longer Tenable”.
Following very engaging and brilliant arguments from the proposing team, UNILORIN, and the opposing team, UI, scores from the judges, and the audience, who also got an opportunity to vote for their winning team, were tallied, and UNILORIN emerged winners.
The third place winners, the University of Lagos, received a cash prize of ₦1,000,000. The second place winners, the team from the University of Ibadan was rewarded with a cash prize of ₦1,500,000 while the first place winners, the University of Ilorin received a cash prize of ₦2,500,000.
Speaking about the debates and the role of young Nigerians in birthing the Nigeria we want, LEAP Africa’s Executive Director, Kehinde Ayeni, stated that:
“Youth voices and youth-led actions are very critical to nation building and this is one of the key propellers of our efforts to activate youth voices across Nigeria.
Young people should not be silenced, however, they should be guided on how to leverage their voices and the right channels for advocacy that will lead to sustainable change.”
Also speaking to the importance of the Nigeria Youth Futures Fund initiate, the Project Lead for NYFF at LEAP Africa, Ikenna Ogbudimkpa further emphasized the essence of advocacy in amplifying the agency of young Nigerians.
“The Nigeria Youth Futures Fund initiative was launched as a catalyst for youth voices and to amplify the efforts of young Nigerians towards the Nigeria We Want. It has become apparent that the Nigerian youth are ready to advocate for the change they desire in Nigeria and the brilliant arguments of the debaters in this season is proof of that.”
The Youth Leadership Debate 2.0 was made possible through strategic partnerships with organisations and institutions like MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Future Work Africa, Lagos State University (LASU), LASU Student Union (LASUSU), LASU FM, and LASU Sustainable Development Goals Centre and Club (LASUSDG), University of Lagos Radio Station (UNILAG FM), and the Platform Nigeria.
