The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has won this year’s edition of the Bounce Corruption National University Debate Competition on Anti-Corruption organised by Yiaga Africa with support from Mac Arthur Foundation in Abuja.
While the University of Jos came second, there was no third place, and Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) emerged the top four in the competition on Wednesday.
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The University of University of Benin and University of Maiduguri completed the list of the six universities that participated in the competition in its second edition.
The Programme Manager, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, said that the debate focused on issues on integrity, transparency and anti-corruption in Nigeria, and was organized by Yiaga Africa in partnership with the All Nigeria Universities Debate Championship (ANUDC).
She said that the debate was part of the Bounce Corruption project launched by Yiaga Africa in 2017 to mobilize 20 million Nigerians in the fight against corruption and demand for accountability.
According to her, through the debates, the views of young Nigerians are harnessed into the fight against corruption as well as for propagating the values of integrity, transparency and accountability.
“It is estimated that at least $582bn has been lost from Nigeria since independence due to corruption, while N1.3 trillion of public funds was reportedly laundered between 2011 and 2015 alone. It is thus not surprising that Nigeria ranks 149th out of 179 countries on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index rankings of the Transparency International.
“Not only that, a December 2019 report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on the patterns and trends of corruption in Nigeria revealed that young people are most likely to give or receive bribes, with at least 60% admitting to having given bribes. These bribes are given for a variety of reasons, but most especially to obtain a government service, speed up a procedure or avoid paying a fine,” Mbamalu said.
In 2018, two students representing the University of Ilorin emerged winners of the maiden debate, with the two UniIlorin undergraduates which comprised a female and a male defeated eight other universities that participated in the debate.
The UNILAG was the first runner up, the Federal University of Technology as the second runner up, and the University of Calabar coming in as the third runner up in that edition.
