Ibadan University Female Student Wins Money Laundering Speech Contest

An Ibadan University student of Communication and Language Arts, Ms. Omeghie Oluwadamilola Okoyomoh, was last Friday adjudged winner of the maiden Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA's) Inter-Universities Speech contest in Accra.

She beat her other four contestants from the West African English speaking countries – Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia with a 75.5 per cent score to annex the Director-General's $1,000 award.

In addition, Omeghie received a computer laptop, plaque and a certificate of participation.

She was closely followed by Gabriel Bangura from the University of The Gambia who polled a 73.5 per cent score.

He also received $750 plus a computer laptop, plaque and a certificate of participation.

The third position was clinched by Robert J. Jasper from the University of Liberia. He scored 72.5 per cent and took home $500, a computer laptop, plaque and a certificate of participation.

While their Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian colleagues, Alimamy Kamara and Veronica Akowuah who placed fourth and fifth, kept tallies of 69 and 65 per cent in that order.

They were both consoled with a mini laptop each, plaques and certificates of participation.

All five contestants derived their speeches on the impact of money laundering and terrorist financing on economies of West Africa from the theme: “The Youth Force and the Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering in West Africa.”

The contest has been fashioned out to serve as a platform to promote knowledge of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes while exchanging ideas on topical issues for the development of ECOWAS member states.

And in GIABA's quest to effectively fight economic and financial crimes such as money laundering and terrorist financing, citizens especially, the youth have been targeted to be included in the process and be empowered to curb the canker.

Each contestant had 15 minutes to do a presentation while the judges looked out for correctness of information provided, the extent of research work including references, the overall sequential of thoughts, confidence and impact of the presentation on the audience.

Meanwhile, the speech contest was born out of GIABA's first Annual Public Lecture Series in 2011 to expand its awareness creation within the sub-region.

GIABA's Director General, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, whose key note address was read by Timothy Melaye, underscored the importance of the Inter-Universities Speech contest, indicating that “this is not a contest just for the sake of scoring points and winning prizes. Rather, it is established so that by your interlocutions, you can proffer solutions to the challenges of corruption and money laundering in our society.”

Believing further that “even after this event you shall continue to discuss further on what you, the youths of West Africa could do to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.”