Public school students from Abia State, representing Nigeria, have emerged champions of the 2026 International Schools Debate Championship held in Doha, Qatar.
The students secured four major trophies and 12 laurels after competing against teams from several countries to win the Best International School Debate Team award, the biggest prize at the championship.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Abia State Governor, Ukoha Ukoha.
The competition, coordinated by the Vocara Institute and hosted by the QatarDebate Centre at Georgetown University, Doha, featured more than 84 groups from eight countries.
Team Nigeria, presented by Presidential School Debate Nigeria and made up entirely of students from Abia public schools, competed against teams from Jordan, India, Qatar, the Philippines, Kenya and other countries.
Led by the Executive Chairman of the Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, Amb. Lydia Onuoha, alongside representatives of the Presidency and Presidential School Debate Nigeria, the team comprised Christian Chinweotitom Esther, Chikodi Maureen, Akamnonu Franklin, Ifeanyichukwu Prisca and Simon Divine.
The Nigerian team advanced through the preliminary rounds after defeating teams from the Philippines, Jordan, India and Qatar before reaching the final.
At the end of the championship, Team Nigeria won the Best International School Debate Team award, while it also received the Overall Best Team – Junior Category award, Best Leadership Award and Best Debater Award, in addition to 12 laurels for outstanding performances.
Reacting to the feat, Ukoha said, “This historic victory has once again demonstrated the strength of Abia’s new education model under Gov. Alex Otti and the intellectual capacity of students in Abia public schools. The Abia Debate Team has made Abia and Nigeria proud.”
Also speaking in an interview with The Punch on Sunday, the state Commissioner for Basic Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, said, “We feel elated now. What we are doing is that we are transforming the educational sector, and this outcome now is one of the expectations, and they are indicators that what we are doing is working”.
“Let them come back first. When they come back, we are going to host and celebrate them. They are not the only ones. There are others that we are going to unveil by the time we celebrate all our victors together, the winners.
“We have a lot of them. One student won the national essay competition organised by the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) nationally. So we have a handful of them that we’re going to celebrate.
“So we are waiting for them to come back. We will organise when we will celebrate all the contingents that have represented us well in one form of competition or the other.”
