Inspire Africa tasks youths on leadership skills, announces winners in oratory contest

Inspire Africa for Global Impacts Initiative, a not-for-profit social and entrepreneurial leadership education organisation, has tasked the youth with leadership skills and has also announced the winners of its 2021 ‘The Orators’ public speaking contest.

Blessing Mene, the co-founder of the organisation, made this known in Lagos while congratulating the finalists and winners of the competition as he admonished the youth to leverage the skills of public speaking to build their leadership and entrepreneurial potentials.

Cynthia Mene, the CEO and co-founder of the organisation, stressed that “the essence of the contest is to build young Nigerian leaders by giving them the oratory, leadership and innovative abilities,” they need to excel.

At the event, twelve of the finalists, who made it to the grand finale stage of the contest, were organised into four groups comprising three people to engage in debates. The three debate topics were ‘Africa is more innovative than the West’, ‘Feminism has done more harm than good’, and ‘Formal education is better than informal education’.

Following the debates, seven of the finalists made it to the next round, which involved giving an impromptu speech on the topic ‘The value of being a Nigerian’.

On the value of being a Nigerian, Adeola Mofopefoluwa titled his speech ‘120 million to believe in Nigeria’, and his speech was inspired by the #EndSARS protests. Hasfat Abdullahi titled her speech ‘Is Nigeria sufficient for you?’ and she spoke about the abundant natural, human and cultural resources that Nigeria is blessed with.

Isioma Ojeme titled her speech ‘Resilience: The virtue of every Nigerian’, and she used the resilience of her father and that of herself to show how resilient Nigerians are. Anna Esioka titled her speech ‘Embracing oneness in diversity’, stressing that Nigerians can survive anywhere.

Sadiya Murtala titled her speech ‘Being a Nigerian can give you the greatest gift in life’, and she noted that self-reliance and confidence are some of the gifts.

Titilope Ibrahim titled her speech ‘The power of perspective’, adding that the value of being a Nigerian depends on what one sees. Favour Chigbo titled her speech ‘What it means to be a Nigerian’, and she emphasised that Nigerians are blessed, but they do not see it yet.

The judges of the competition were Blessing Mene, Dr Benjamin Wayo, and Olugbenga Ogunbowale.

Mr Mene, apart from being the co-founder of Inspire Africa, is an international award-winning speaker who has represented Nigeria in many international competitions.

Dr Wayo is another international award-winning speaker and a finalist at the 2020 World Championship of Public Speaking. Ogunkowale is an inspirational speaker, a business grant award-winner, and the winner of the 2015 The Orators competition.

The judges critique the oratory skills of each contestant while mentoring and training them so they can perfect their strengths and improve on their weaknesses.

Dr Wayo assured the finalist that they all did well and that the result of the judges was not a judgment on their person, but on their current performance.

“It is not about what happens here, it is about what happens after here,” he said.

Mr Mene enjoined the orators to always be conscious of the time allocated to them to speak or debate, and other rules that have to be adhered to.

“Eye contact, confident posture and necessary hand movement are important. Avoid moving around, unless it is necessary,” he advised.

Ogunbowale stressed that accurate facts and reasonable comparisons can help a speaker tell his or her story well. He advised the orators not to always look at their papers while speaking or during debates.

“Sometimes, the audience might forget what you say, but your energy or the drama with which you tell your story is what they will remember you for,” he said.

After the overall assessment and scoring by the judges, Favour Chigbo has announced the orator of the year.

“I thank God for the kind of parents I have, who believe in me. I can’t thank the organisers of this programme enough,” Favour said.

“From Mr and Mrs Mene down to the administrators, judges, and everyone, I’m grateful to have come in contact with this organisation. What they’ve done in my life in the space of these few weeks, is something I would always live to remember.”

The first runner up, which is the second prize, went to Titilope Ibrahim, who won 100,000 naira; while the second runner up prize went to Anna Esioka, who won 50,000 naira.

Precious Efuneshi and Sadiya Murtala won the first and second public choice awards respectively, while Isioma Ojeme won the judges’ prize award. Finally, the award for the most committed orator went to Keesh Rowland.

After the announcement of the winners, Mr and Mrs Mene presented the awards, certificates and dummy cheques to them.

They admonished the orators to leverage the possibilities that public speaking can offer them in terms of leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities.

After the presentation of the awards, Mr Mene gave the closing remarks and declared 2022 The Orators competition open.

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Inspire Africa tasks youths on leadership skills, announces winners in oratory contest

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