Tamale Poly places second in continental debate
The Tamale Polytechnic emerged the first runner-up at the African Inter-Tertiary Institutions debate, held in Cotonou, Benin in August, this year.
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It was organised by Impact Africa International, a non-profit making organisation, which aims at contributing to sustainable development in Africa and raising Africa’s future leaders through youth participation.
The students, who represented the polytechnic, were Mr Adam Iddrisu Baba, a Higher National Diploma (HND) Secretaryship and Management Student and Ms Sally Azontihini, also an HND Media Communication student. They were led to the competition by Dr Emmanuel Nyamekye, a lecturer of Language and Liberal Studies of the Polytechnic.
They spoke against the motion for the debate, which was on the topic, "African Nation's Conflicts can only be resolved by the United Nations"
The awards
The polytechnic was presented with a trophy for placing second at the competition, while Mr Baba and Ms Azontihini were presented with awards for their performance in the debate.
Participating countries
Ten tertiary institutions from eight African countries comprising Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Benin, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone participated in the competition.
To recognise the feat chalked up by the polytechnic, a durbar was held in honour of the institution and to welcome a 10-member delegation from Impact Africa International, led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Prince Illesanmi Ayokunle to Tamale, to present the awards to the Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Abdulai Salifu Asuro.
Dr Asuro congratulated the two students and their leader on making Ghana and the polytechnic proud in Cotonou.
He said, “as future leaders of this country, your challenge is to help build a nation in which all people, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion or creed, can work together to enhance social cohesion”, adding that "for me, debates are important for our students since they provide them with the needed insights and develop their critical thinking skills”.
Scholarship scheme
For his part, Mr Ayokunle stated that for Africa to achieve any meaningful development, countries must begin to develop well-thought out policies that would ensure not just mass literacy but also a full utilisation of the resources of educated persons.
He said to promote education for sustainable development, his organisation had proposed to launch a scholarship scheme for 500 brilliant, needy students across the continent by 2015.
Impact Africa International also used the occasion to honour the Rector of the Tamale Polytechnic for good governance.