Defeating former titleholders, two brilliant Godfrey Okoye University Law students emerge overall champions of the NUC debate tournament, earning massive institutional and cash rewards.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) and Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI), Enugu, have lavishly rewarded two exceptional GOUNI Law students for emerging as the overall champions of the highly competitive NUC national debate tournament.
The brilliant intellectual achievers, Egbogu Favour and Ajoiyi Priscilla-who are currently 400-level and 300-level Law students respectively-were presented with a joint cash prize of ₦250,000 from the NUC and Royal Rhetorics, alongside an additional ₦500,000 institutional reward from the university management, while the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Christian Anieke, personally gifted each student an extra 100 Euros among other spontaneous monetary donations.
The high-profile academic tournament was originally initiated as a Community Development Service (CDS) project by a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member at the NUC, Ms. Janefrancis Abuta, before being formally adopted and fully sponsored by the apex university regulatory commission, with professional training and strict adjudication processes seamlessly facilitated by Royal Rhetorics to guarantee absolute fairness.
Presenting the official replica cheques to the newly crowned champions on Thursday at the university campus, the joint representative of Royal Rhetorics and the NUC, Mr. Nwele Stanley, revealed that the GOUNI team clinched the grand trophy after a fiercely contested, intellectually exhausting battle involving 119 teams, 213 debaters, and 74 universities across the federation.
He explained that the intensive championship structure was preceded by a mandatory two-week elite training seminar explicitly designed to equip Nigerian undergraduates with advanced public speaking and critical thinking skills.
Stanley confessed that many observers initially expected the Godfrey Okoye University representatives to be deeply intimidated when they were paired against formidable, historic debate heavyweights like the University of Ilorin and Obafemi Awolowo University, yet the brilliant duo displayed absolute fearlessness to deliver an undeniable victory.
This historic triumph culminated in a double win for the institution’s Faculty of Law, as GOUNI did not only clear the grand finale debate against Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but also produced the overall best speaker of the entire tournament, effectively securing an automatic qualification slot to represent the nation at the West African Universities Debating Championship in October.
Celebrating the milestone, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Christian Anieke attributed the massive victory to the university’s strict culture of academic discipline and unyielding pursuit of excellence, while the Dean of Law, Prof. Frank Asogwa, assured that the faculty will continue to cultivate highly competitive students.
Expressing profound gratitude on behalf of the team, Egbogu Favour emotionally recounted her difficult academic journey, noting that her past financial struggles and instances where peers had never heard of her institution served as the ultimate turning point that inspired her to study relentlessly and become completely undeniable on the national stage.
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