Dairy Farm School wins 2023 Eloquence Cup public speaking competition
Maureen Aguta
Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School Agege, Lagos, has won the Senior Secondary Schools ultimate public speaking contest tagged: “The Eloquence Cup” and displaced the defending champions, CMS Grammar School. The cup is the designated overall trophy prize for oratory amongst secondary schools.
The competition featured two speakers from each of the following nine government-owned secondary schools: CMS Grammar School, Queens College, Kings College, Girls Senior Secondary School, Ikoyi, Falomo Senior High School, Ireti Senior Grammar School Ikoyi, Kuramo Senior College, Victoria Island, Victoria Island Senior Secondary School, and Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Agege.
The competition which is a annual event is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project of the School of Eloquence in Lagos recently, according to a press statement released by the registrar, Patience Essien.
Speaking on the theme: “Drug Abuse and its Impact on the Youths,” students from the nine secondary schools spoke extensively about the challenges and consequences of drug abuse among the youths, with various speakers proffering recommendations to address the issue by both state and non-state actors.
In the individual prize category, the students from three of the nine participating schools – Jasmine Chris of Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Leopold Favour of CMS Grammar School, and Oke Abdulrahman of Kings College Lagos clinched first, second, and third prizes with cash rewards of N150,000; N100,000 and N75,000 respectively.
Ubong Essien, West Africa’s Only Certified Speaking Professional, Founder of the school, and convener of the Eloquence Cup, in his opening address, stated that the School of Eloquence was marking its 17th anniversary with the 5th edition of the Eloquence Cup as a tribute to the power and importance of public speaking in the development of any nation. And that the school remains committed to mainstreaming the learning of practical speaking skills amongst business and political leaders, royalty and celebrities, workplace professionals, and entrepreneurs.
He maintained that since launching its Catching Them Young initiative in 2015 as its corporate social responsibility programme targeted at public senior secondary schools, over 50 schools have been visited in Lagos to train the students on public speaking. And in 2024, the Eloquence Cup will become a national competition, with schools participating from Abuja, Port Harcourt, and other zones of the country.
He also praised the teachers of the various schools for their remarkable work in nurturing the students while reminding the audience that teachers affect eternity and that their reward should come to them while they are alive.
The special guests included a Member of the Board of the School of Eloquence, Mr. Oluseyi Sowemimo, SAN, Mrs. Feyisola Abiru, MD/ CEO of H & Y Furniture, Mrs. Alake Rukayat Sanusi, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Debt Management Office.