UI, OAU, Others Shine at 2021 Jawwar

Students of the University of Ibadan, UI, have shown their counterparts from other institutions that the institution is truly ‘the first and the best’ as they outshone other students in the just concluded ‘Jawwar’.

The Students numbering thousands, filled the International Conference Centre of the institution to the brim to witness the Grand Finale of this year’s edition.

The annual gathering of intellectual titans is said to be the largest public speaking event in any University in West Africa.

The program is organized by The Literary and Debating Society, the University of Ibadan where students debate on various topics affecting the country and continent at large.

At this year’s grand finale, the University of Ibadan emerged first in a keenly contested battle of words with 81.25 points. Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) finished in second place with 80.75 points.

University of Ilorin, Federal University of Technology, Akure and Olabisi Onabanjo University finished in the third, fourth and fifth places respectively.

Meanwhile, in the finals of the Inter-faculty and Inter-hall categories between students of the University of Ibadan, the Faculty of Arts scored 82.18 points to defeat the Faculty of Clinical Sciences who scored a total of 78.31 points.

In the Hall finals, Tedder Hall ran away as winners of the competition for the fourth time with a total of 82.81 points at the expense of the Alexandra Brown Hall.

In the oratory contest for Rookies, Adebayo Abdulrahman of the Great Independence Hall emerged winner with 73.5 points ahead of his closest opponent Olabisi Owadayo of Queens Hall who scored a total of 71.25 points.

Speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the event, the President of The Literary and Debating Society, University of Ibadan, Ayeni Otito-Jesu explained that the topics of this year’s edition of the competition were tailored to make students discuss the most important issues affecting the African continent.

He explained further that the decision to invite representatives from other Nigerian Universities was reached in a bid to expand the scope of the debate.

Winners in the different categories of the competition received prizes ranging from cash prizes, laptops and Samsung tablets to books, plaques and android devices.

Present at the event was the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Kayode Adeyemo, Deputy Vice-chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose among others.