15/06/2026
The highlight of my weekend was representing my school alongside two significant others, to participate in AFRO ADP 2026. An Africa & Asia Parliamentary Debate Competition. It ran through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (Grand finale).
It was indeed a tough one as we won in some rounds, and lost in some.
A notable loss that I won’t forget in a hurry was to another Nigerian team. I mean, we had argued with people from other countries, Asia inclusive, but we found this particular one interesting because it was with a fellow Nigerian team.
And it was indeed interesting. Beyond interesting. Tough.
The motion for that particular round was; “This house Prefers a conception of love as grounded in non-sovereignty over one grounded in autonomy”.
Non-sovereignty here is where people loose total control and give all of themselves to love without control. Autonomy here is where you choose yourself first, grounded in identity, and self-awareness first.
We argued for autonomy because you cannot give what you don’t have. You have to own yourself first before you can love without control. Autonomy here is a safety net as human beings are unpredictable and potentially dangerous. We said it prevents toxic relationships.
This was when the other team tossed their coins higher. They said toxicity does not exist in their own world because people stay in toxic relationships because of many other factors that’s not love which was the context of the debate. People stay in toxic relationship or marriages maybe cos of culture, or societal expectations, or religion (Catholic for eg is against divorce), or cos of kids. We were not able to refute this on time and I think that slight margin gave them an edge over us.
While we didn’t make it to the finals, we are thankful for this opportunity. It was my first in an international debate competition. I learnt a lot and I feel the experience I and my team got matters too.
Very much thankful for Favour (the fair guy) for his fine speeches, for his ability to perform and defy pressure (story for another day), for his critical thinking, boldness, and resilience.
Also thankful for Chikaodili, the lady and the Queen of our team for her fine rebuttals, provision of tactics that helped our team many times, rapt attention, resilience, and logical coherence.
And then, to myself for my resilience spirit too and for bringing the opportunity to our doorstep.
It was indeed a fine one. Cheers to the milestone thus far and for many other wins to come.🥂
©️ Nurse Derex
