Abia Students Emerge Best Team at International Debate Championship
- Abia State public school students represented Nigeria at the 2026 International Schools Debate Championship held in Doha, Qatar
- The Nigerian team competed against students from six countries, including Jordan, India, Qatar, the Philippines and Kenya
- Abia Commissioner for Basic Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, said the government plans to celebrate all the students upon their return
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Doha, Qatar - Students from Abia State public schools have brought home the biggest prize at the 2026 International Schools Debate Championship, held in Doha, Qatar, clinching the Best International School Debate Team award alongside three other trophies and 12 additional laurels.
As reported by The Punch, the victory was announced on Sunday, October 4, in a statement by Ukoha Ukoha, Chief Press Secretary to Abia State Governor Alex Otti. The competition, coordinated by the Vocara Institute and hosted by the QatarDebate Centre at Georgetown University in Doha, drew more than 84 groups from eight countries. PM News also noted the development.
Source: Twitter
Abia team's road to title
Team Nigeria was presented by Presidential School Debate Nigeria and made up entirely of Abia public school students: Christian Chinweotitom Esther, Chikodi Maureen, Akamnonu Franklin, Ifeanyichukwu Prisca and Simon Divine. The delegation was led by the Executive Chairman of the Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, Ambassador Lydia Onuoha, alongside representatives from the Presidency and Presidential School Debate Nigeria.
The team advanced through the preliminary rounds by defeating students from the Philippines, Jordan, India and Qatar before reaching the final. Beyond the Best International School Debate Team award, they also won the Overall Best Team in the Junior Category, the Best Leadership Award, the Best Debater Award and 12 performance laurels.
The QatarDebate Centre, which hosted the event, was established in 2008 by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development as the country's national debating body.
Source: Facebook
Abia officials celebrate triumph
Ukoha said the result reflected the quality of Abia's education under Governor Otti.
"This historic victory has once again demonstrated the strength of Abia's new education model under Gov. Alex Otti and the intellectual capacity of students in Abia public schools. The Abia Debate Team has made Abia and Nigeria proud," he said.
Speaking separately with journalists on Sunday, the state Commissioner for Basic Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, said the outcome confirmed that ongoing reforms in the education sector were producing results.
"We feel elated now. What we are doing is that we are transforming the educational sector, and this outcome now is one of the expectations, and they are indicators that what we are doing is working," he said.
Ubochi added that the government intends to organise a broader celebration once the students return home, noting that other Abia students had also recorded achievements in different competitions. He cited one student who won a national essay competition organised by the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) as an example.
"We have a lot of them that we're going to celebrate," he said.
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UNILAG student wins global ICT competition
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the University of Lagos (UNILAG) celebrated one of its students, Peter Fagbola, after he emerged as a winner at the Huawei Global ICT Competition held in Shenzhen, China.
Fagbola, a student of the Department of Systems Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and a member of the ABS-CITS Huawei Academy, was part of Team Nigeria Cloud, which clinched first prize at the global competition and received a cash prize of N3.5million.
Source: Legit.ng
