The winning team with the VC, Professor Razaq Olatunde Rom Kalilu and Dean Students Affairs, Dr. Adewusi Adepoju
Three students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have spoken their ways to fame at this year’s edition of the National Orientation Agency Debate, coming tops to bring fame to themselves and the University that is training them.
Olanipekun Opeoluwa, Agricultural Economics (Matriculation Number 170486), Adekunle Ayomide Mechanical Engineering (Matriculation Number:20230110950), and Oladeji Olushina Medicine (Matriculation Number 162012) singled out the University Vice Chancellor, Professor Rasaq Olatunde Rom Kalilu for the support that saw the team to success.
Being science students, debating to them would have ordinarily be conceived as a strange terrain, but the tradition of never say never at LAUTECH urged them to go for gold when they approached the authorities for sponsorship.
Narrating their story, the team lead, Olanipekun Opeyemi said the invitation, which was communicated to them through the University’s Dean of Students Affairs, had come unexpectedly.
But grace spoke for them when they succeeded in submitting their presentation to the National Orientation Agency on 3rd November, 2024.
“By November 19, we discovered that our Institution and the University of Ibadan were chosen in the South Western Region for the finals which held at the University of Lagos. The event between us was tough but grace spoke for us as we put up outstanding performance, quality argument strengthened by logical reasoning. At the end of it all, we defeated University of Ibadan.
If the contest at the Region was tough, the one at the National is tougher. This involves teams from University of Ilorin representing the North Central, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria representing the North West, Institute of Management Technology, Enugu, representing the South East while Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, and Gombe State Polytechnic, representing the North East respectively.
The finals that took place on December 17 at the Marriot Hotel in Lagos can only be likened to the battle between Biblical David and Goliath. After several rounds of witty presentations and oratory clashes, LAUTECH was declared winner of the National Debate with 43.4 percent, leaving the other five (5) Institutions in the final to share the remaining points.
