By: Eriomala John

The Faculties of Education, Science, and Law, defeated speakers from the Faculty of Technology to emerge winners at the Tech Bilaterals 5.0 held on the 10th of November, 2023, at the Tech Lecture Theatre, UI. 

The competition was split into two sections. The first was the debate invitationals which featured speakers from five faculties, Law, Arts, Science, Education, and Renewable Natural Resources, going up against speakers from the Faculty of Technology, while the other was a Rookie Oratory Contest for new members of the Faculty of Technology Literary and Debating Society. 

At the end of the debates, the scores were as follows:

Tech 63.25% –  RNR 62.75%

Tech 64.% – Science 67.6%

Tech 72.94% – Arts 70.4%

Tech 61.9% – Education 73.1%

Tech 74.1% – Law 77.1%

The first speaker for Law, 300-Level student, Idowu Ademola Faith, emerged as the Overall Best Speaker for the Day. In the Oratory Contest,  second-year Wood Products Engineering student, John Bosco, claimed the first prize and was announced as the Rookie of The Year. 

In a conversation with Indy Press, John Bosco had the following to say, “I feel happy, honoured and I thank God for everything. The process was not easy at all. We had to do TDBs for two days consecutively and there was no break. It wasn’t easy at all. We had to juggle between the bilaterals and our ODE tests. So yes, the process was not easy but it was worth it”.

Meanwhile, the Best Speaker, Idowu Ademola Faith, attributed his victory to God, saying “I’ll be honest. This was God. Of course, I had tried to internalise my speech and I relatively knew it. But like a few hours before we actually spoke, I don’t know but somehow I got jittery. God really took control”.