A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Sulaimon Mojeed-Sanni,  serving at Al-Lateef Model College, Ilorin, Kwara State, has organised an inter-schools debate competition for secondary school pupils across Ilorin metropolis.

The first edition of the competition was held among the junior secondary school students and their senior colleagues in Al-Lateef Islamic College in Ilorin South Local Government Area.

Sulaimon, who graduated from the Lagos State University (LASU), where he studied Political Science, said the contest was organised because of the urgent need to attend to the derailing culture of public speaking. He said he was motivated by the need to have an enlightened generation demanded by the society.

"During my growing up years, I have come to realise that public speaking is an important part of being successful.  It is a different thing to write, another is being able to communicate what you have written to a  group of people who are grossly impatient to read," Sulaimon said.

He said if public speaking must be engendered, secondary school stage was the most suitable stage to build the confidence in the students. He said apart from public speaking skill, the debate was equally to promote rigorous and critical thinking in the pupils.