A 500-level law student of University of Abuja, Amra Salihu,has emerged winner of the 2026 Amnesty International intervarsity debate.

The University of Abuja emerged in first position with 86.1 points, defeating Imo State University, which came second with 73.7 points, while Madonna University secured third place with 72 points.

The country director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, announced this known at the grand finale of the debate on Monday in Abuja.

Mr Sanusi said the organisation remained committed to expanding and improving the annual debate competition across Nigeria as a form of enhancing youths’ participation in human rights.

“We only have one aim for having this debate.That is that we want to make sure that human rights is widely understood in Nigeria and to also ensure  we enhance the culture of debate and conversation between people.

“This is because in the age of social media and mobile phones, it is very clear that people are gradually losing their ability to have productive conversation with each other.

“You will go to schools, public places, you will sit down among people, and you hardly see two people engaging in meaningful conversation between themselves. Everyone is on his phone, including myself. So, this is reducing our ability and our capacity to engage in each other, to convince people,” Mr Sanusi explained.

Mr Sanusi therefore said that the debate was organised to make  younger people, the university students, and secondary school students to imbibe the culture of debate, culture of conversation is  improved among young people in Nigeria.

Mr Sanusi urged students see the debate not as a competition, but as an opportunity to learn, as an opportunity to understand human rights better and advising them to take their studies  and their debating skills very seriously.

This, he said was because debating skills have taken so many people to so many places and they stand a chance to learn, improve and build themselves for the future.

(NAN)