The competition, the Season X Virtual Schools Debate Competition will be held on Nov. 3 in Lagos.

Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, the Commissioner of Education, on Friday said that the competition was aimed at developing students in the art of public speaking/oratory.

She said it was aimed at boosting their self-confidence, thereby preparing them for leadership positions in the future.

Adefisayo said that this year’s edition of the debate would be held virtually, and implored parents/guardians to enable their children have access to the competition via Zoom and Facebook.

She said that students representing Education Districts and various schools across the state had already competed at the preliminaries for a place in the grand finale.

According to the commissioner, viewers can watch via live streaming on Lagos State Ministry of Education’s Facebook page @lasgeducation or YouTube @Education LASG.

Also, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs Abosede Adelaja, said the virtual initiative was in line with the Education and Technology agenda of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

“The adoption of technology has further enhanced teaching and learning process in Lagos State,” she said.

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Trump, a Republican, adopted a more restrained tone than he did during the chaotic first presidential debate in September, when he repeatedly interrupted Biden.

But Thursday’s clash still featured plenty of personal attacks between two men who evince little respect for each other, and Trump kept fact-checkers busy by leveling unfounded corruption accusations at Biden and his family.

The televised encounter in Nashville, Tennessee, represented one of Trump’s last remaining opportunities to reshape a campaign dominated by a pandemic that has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States.

Trump has trailed Biden in opinion polls for months, though the contest is tighter in some battleground states likely to decide the election.

“Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America,” Biden said.

Trump defended his approach to the outbreak and said the country could not afford to close businesses again, even amid fresh surges.

“We’re learning to live with it,” said Trump, who has played down the virus for months. “We have no choice.”

“Learning to live with it?” Biden retorted. “Come on. We’re dying with it.”

Trump asserted that a vaccine was potentially “weeks” away. Most experts, including administration officials, have said a vaccine is unlikely to be widely available until mid-2021.

Several U.S. states, including the election swing state of Ohio, reported record single-day increases in COVID-19 infections on Thursday, evidence the pandemic is accelerating anew.

Trump, whose instinct remains to run as an outsider, portrayed Biden as a career politician whose nearly 50-year record was insubstantial.

But Biden returned again and again to Trump’s nearly four years as president, pointing to the economic damage the virus has done to people’s lives.

After an opening segment on the pandemic, Thursday’s clash pivoted to rapid-fire exchanges over whether either candidate had improper foreign entanglements.

Trump repeated his accusations that Biden and his son Hunter engaged in unethical practices in China and Ukraine.

No evidence has been verified to support the allegations, and Biden called them false and discredited.

Trump’s effort to uncover dirt on Hunter Biden’s Ukraine business ties led to the president’s impeachment.

The president and his children have been accused of conflicts of interest of their own since he entered the White House in 2017, most involving the family’s international real estate and hotel businesses.

Biden defended his family and said unequivocally that he had never made “a single penny” from a foreign country, before pivoting to accuse Trump of trying to distract Americans.

“There’s a reason why he’s bringing up all this malarkey,” Biden said, looking directly into the camera.

“It’s not about his family and my family. It’s about your family, and your family’s hurting badly.”

He accused Trump of avoiding paying taxes, citing a New York Times investigation that reported Trump’s tax returns show he paid almost no federal income tax over more than 20 years.

“Release your tax returns or stop talking about corruption,” Biden said.

Trump, who has broken with decades of precedent in refusing to release his tax returns, said he had paid “millions.” He again said he would release his returns only once a longstanding audit was completed.

The candidates clashed over healthcare, China policy and – after months of anti-racism protests – race relations, with Biden saying Trump was “one of the most racist presidents” in history.

“He pours fuel on every single racist fire,” Biden said. “This guy has a dog whistle as big as a foghorn.”

Trump responded by criticising Biden’s authorship of a 1994 crime bill that increased incarceration of minority defendants while asserting that he had done more for Black Americans than any president with the “possible” exception of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s.

Biden criticised Trump’s effort to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the sweeping healthcare reform passed when Biden was vice president in President Barack Obama’s administration.

“People deserve to have affordable healthcare, period,” Biden said, noting that the law prevented insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

Trump said he wanted to replace the ACA with something “much better” that would offer the same protections, even though the administration has yet to propose a comprehensive healthcare plan in spite of a promise to do so for years.

During a segment on climate change, Biden said his environmental plan would “transition from the oil industry” in favour of renewable energy sources, prompting Trump to go on the attack.

“He is going to destroy the oil industry,” Trump said. “Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania?”

Relatively few voters have yet to make up their minds, and Trump’s window to influence the outcome may be closing.

A record 47 million Americans already have cast ballots, eclipsing total early voting from the 2016 election.

The contentious first debate, when the two men traded insults, was watched by at least 73 million viewers.

Trump passed up another planned debate last week after it was switched to a virtual format following his COVID-19 diagnosis.

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Biden, the Democratic Party candidate, made the promise at his last debate with his Republican challenger and incumbent President Donald Trump, on Thursday night.

“Within 100 days I am going to send to the U.S. Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people and all of those so-called Dreamers.

“They are going to be immediately certified again to be able to stay in this country and put on the path to citizenship.

“The idea that they are being sent home by this guy [Trump], and they want to do that, is that they are going to a country they have never seen before,” he said.

Noting the contributions of undocumented immigrants to the development of America, Biden said the country owed them.

According to him, no fewer than 20,000 of them are serving as first responders during the COVID-19 crisis, saving lives.

Responding, Trump said Biden had eight years as Vice President to do what he promised but failed, and rather built “cages“ to keep children in.

The Trump administration has been widely criticised for its policy of forcefully separating children from their undocumented immigrant parents, especially at the U.S. border with Mexico.

No fewer than 4,000 kids were separated and kept in detention facilities under the policy in late 2017.

Although, Trump has since reversed the zero-tolerance policy, the parents of 500 of those children cannot be located.

Asked how he planned to reunite the affected families, the president dodged the question and tried to turn the conversation to detention facilities.

He said the children were brought to the U.S. by bad people who used them to get into the country.

He argued that the “cages” in which the children were kept were built by the administration of former President Barack Obama under which Biden served as Vice President.

Biden fired back, noting that the children detained by Trump came over with their parents and that the policy was making the U.S. a “laughing stock”.

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The televised duel will take place from 9-10:30 pm (01:00-02:30 GMT) on Friday in Nashville, Tennessee.

The commission responsible for organising the debates has changed the rules for the last match-up, muting one candidate’s microphone so the other has two minutes of uninterrupted time to initially answer the moderator’s questions.

The remainder of each 15-minute segment will be open discussion.

Organisers hope the new rule will prevent the chaos and frequent interruptions that marked the first presidential debate in August.

Trump comes into the final debate trailing Biden in the polls.

The president has repeatedly attacked the debates commission, characterising the event as unfair and accusing moderator Kristen Welker of favouring Biden.

The NBC News reporter has chosen to discuss topics including climate change, national security and the coronavirus.

Trump has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic, which has resulted in more than 221,600 deaths in the U.S.

Biden could face questions about his son’s past business dealings as Republicans have levelled unverified corruption allegations against him.

The second presidential debate, which was meant to take place last week, was cancelled after Trump declined to participate when it was moved to a remote format due to his coronavirus diagnosis.

Although millions of people have already cast their ballots in early voting, the debate could still change some voters’ minds.

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Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill on Wednesday during plenary, Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi announced continuation of the budget consideration by the lawmakers.

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege recalled his contribution during the 2020 budget debate said, “for us to be able to achieve this 1.86 million barrels per day, certain things must be in place.

“We must have peace and maintain peace in the Niger Delta region before we can achieve this.

“Mr. President, when I say this it begins to sound as a broken record.

“Every day we hardly sleep, we are very worried because these are the people that lay the golden egg that take care of this economy but they are jobless, there is nothing for these youth to do.

“That is why we maintain that the youth in these communities are engaged and the only way they can be engaged is for these oil companies which explore oil in these communities in the Niger Delta help in creating jobs.

“The thing they should do is to have their headquarters of their businesses located in the region.

“The infrastructure that we have in the region is in serious state of decay, major road connecting Delta and Edo is being cut in half and journeys that take about 30 minutes from Warri to Benin now take hours.”

Omo-Agege said that it was bad enough that the economy was in its present state but there was need to maintain the available infrastructure so that those in the Niger Delta would cease to agitate.

He added, “it is clear that the only two sources identified in this budget are the revenue from oil for the most part, and borrowing, both local and foreign.

“But Mr President, we also have other sources or potential sources that are not being looked at.

“We keep talking about leakages; why even go into leakages when we can go directly into solid minerals sector.

“This is an area we must develop because there is revenue there that will take the burden from international borrowing,” he said.

Similarly, Sen. Bima Enagi (APC-Niger) commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the total expenditure of about N13.08 trillion for 2021.

He said the estimate is about 21 per cent above the 2020 budget in spite of the contractions in the second quarter and the possibility of the economy going into recession.

“I consider the budget conservative and achievable.

“To have made the budget conservative in nature, the President and his team have shown a very good understanding of our people and country.

“The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is estimated to rise from N5.84 trillion to N8.43 trillion which represents about 44 per cent increase from that of last year.

“One could say that this is ambitious but it is achievable if the revenue generating agencies like NNPC, Nigeria Custom Service, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) transmit as expected of them.”

He, however, said that as laudable as the appropriation was, there were areas of concern “considering the worsening insecurity,.

“One expects the country to spend more on security so as to confront the evil challenge that is facing the country.”

“Our annual allocation to agriculture has remained below three per cent negating our commitment to the Malabo Declaration of not lower than 10 per cent of the annual budget.”

While making a case for Nigerian roads, Enagi appealed to the Federal Government to tackle the country’s deplorable roads headlong.

“We really need to declare an emergency in the road sector. All is not well and Nigerians are suffering.

“I’m seriously worried about Nigerian roads, I’m seriously worried about Baro Port in Niger as commissioned by Mr President in January last year. But up till now, the port is not functional.

“The Nigerian roads must be improved upon; the Baro Port must be made functional. In the whole northern Nigeria, there is no any inland water port,” he said

Also, Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi) reiterated that there was no way the over 600 roads across the country could be funded by budgetary provisions alone.

“I propose that the National Assembly should come up with a workable solution on how to fund infrastructure in the country.

“For that reason, I recommend Public-Private Partnership to fund road infrastructure,” he said.

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The Senators during plenary took turns to make submissions on the budget.

Our correspondent reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Thursday, Oct. 8, presented the proposed appropriation bill before a joint session of the National Assembly.

Buhari said the Budget tagged: ”Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience” will address key economic issues as the country tries to recover from the impact of the coronavirus and the oil price drop.

Contributing, Senate Leader, Sen. Abdullahi Yahaya Abubakar said that the bill was deemed to have been read the first time by virtue of its being laid before the Joint Session of the National Assembly.

“This Bill seeks to authorises the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N13, 082, 420, 568, 233 only for the year ending on Dec. 31 2021.

“Today, we are in interesting, difficult and tumultuous times, not only in our country but throughout the world.

“We have arrived at a watershed; a crossroad in history when we cannot afford to make any grievous mistake that could plunge our nation and our people into turmoil and self-destruction.

“It is a time for sober judgement, reflection and statecraft.

“Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, we are all witnesses to the cacophony of voices and opinions of some leading members of our society, our compatriots who out of genuine concerns, frustration, sense of entitlement or sheer political bravado, call for the dismemberment of this nation.

“The constitutional reform process is there in the National Assembly to satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians for restructuring and reshaping our federation to make it an inclusive and all-embracing polity.

“We as Senators of the Federal Republic, should not contemplate the dangerous and destabilising temptations of dismembering our federation.

”We must stand by the honour of our status, our convictions and our oath of office which is to preserve and protect the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians, as a whole.

“We are obliged to place the social and economic challenges we face today in their proper historical perspectives with a view to determining the best course of action for our people and our nation at this point in history.”

Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe said that “this budget is nothing but the same.

“We have a budget based on unrealistic expectations. We are not also so sure what the oil situation is going to be.

“If the budget is based on assumption, I agree but we are not assuming properly. I want to go ahead and say it does not reflect the understanding of the fundamental challenges of today.

“This budget is nothing but old news. Every time the same old news, nothing new,” he said.

Also, Sen. Gabriel Suswam (PDP-Benue) said that “the budget is themed economy recovery and resilience. It means something has gone wrong and you want to repair something that has gone wrong.”

He said that the issue was not a partisan one but was about Nigerians.

“Most of the time, when you do domestic borrowing, you crowd out the private sector. Mr President’s intention of creating jobs is not actualisable.

“We are literally violating the laws we have set out. The leader mentioned in page 4 that the budget is not sustainable. The deficit has gone beyond three per cent.

“For every N100 earned, N60 goes to debt servicing. When will borrowing end?

Similarly, Sen.George Sekbio (PDP-Rivers) noted that the budget of N13.08 trillion had a deficit of N5.20 trillion.

“How can the capital project be lower than the deficit? I hope when we get the money, it is properly utilised,” he said.

Sen. Ike Ekweremadu (PDP-Enugu) said that for the first time, the debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was over three per cent.

“I want the Committees on Finance and Appropriation to find a solution to this.

“I have been very worried about the way we are going in terms of borrowing. I am concerned on the loan being given by China.

“They will not let you go off any of the debt because all the monies are for specific projects and if they are not done they take over.

“The other issue is the issue of social intervention. We have spent a lot of money on it but we still have young men who are looking for jobs.”

Ekweremadu a former Deputy Senate President said that the real issues had to be dealt with by investing in Information Communication Technology and modern agriculture.

“We must create life style centre around agriculture and in modern farms. Until we do that, it will remain unattractive to our young people.

“The last issue is on value to cost. The government is making certain expenditures on health centres but what has happened is that those health centres are not put to use because there are no doctors or nurses.”

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“I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” Trump, who’s recovering from COVID-19 at the White House, said in an interview with Fox Business.

“I’m not going to waste my time with a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate, that is ridiculous,” Trump said.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced on Thursday morning that the second Trump-Biden encounter, scheduled for Oct. 15, “will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations.”

The town meeting participants and the moderator, it added, would be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida.

Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, said in a statement that “there is no need for this unilateral declaration,” referring to the change to the debate format.

“The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head,” said Stepien, who also recently tested positive for COVID-19.

“We’ll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead,” Stepien said.

The presidential candidates met for their first debate in the race in Cleveland, Ohio on Sept. 29, two days before the incumbent tested positive for COVID-19. Biden has undergone multiple tests since Trump’s diagnosis, with each one returning negative.

The former vice president has said the second debate should not be held if his Republican opponent still has the virus.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said on Thursday that the Democrat intended to take part in the virtual debate next week.

“Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people and comparing his plan for bringing the country together and building back better with Donald Trump’s failed leadership on the coronavirus that has thrown the strong economy he inherited into the worst downturn since the Great Depression,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the CPD, told CNN that the panel spoke with both campaigns “just before” it announced the decision to hold the Miami debate virtually, but did not consult with them about the decision.

Fahrenkopf said that the decision had the support of the Cleveland Clinic, the commission’s health advisers, while also acknowledging that it was fully within Trump’s right to decline to debate.

“There is no law requiring any presidential candidate to debate,” he explained, adding: “So it is up to every candidate to decide whether they want to debate or not.”

Trump returned to the White House on Monday, where he continues to receive COVID-19 treatment after a three-day hospitalisation.

Speaking to Fox Business on Thursday, the president said he was feeling “perfect,” while appearing eager to hit the campaign trail as Biden’s lead over him in national polls continues widening.

“I think I’m better to a point where I’d love to do a rally tonight. I wanted to do one last night.

“I feel perfect. There’s nothing wrong,” Trump said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that individuals self-isolate for at least 10 days after the onset of symptoms from COVID-19, which has infected more than 7.55 million people and killed nearly 212,000 in the U.S.

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The Commission on Presidential Debates had earlier announced that the second debate between Trump and Biden scheduled for Oct. 15 would now hold virtually.

In a statement, the commission said the decision was taken to “protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate.”

The announcement followed Trump’s diagnosis with COVID-19 on Oct. 1.

Reacting to the announcement, Trump said he would not participate in a virtual debate, saying the idea of sitting in front of a computer to debate was ridiculous.

Speaking to newsmen on Thursday morning before boarding a flight to Arizona for a campaign, Biden said he would follow the recommendations of the commission.

“We don’t know what the president is going to do, he changes his mind every second, so for me to comment on that now would be irresponsible.

“I’m going to follow the commission’s recommendations. If he goes off and he’s going to have a rally, I don’t know what I’ll do,” he said.

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In a statement on Thursday morning, the commission said the decision was taken to “protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate.”

“The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations.

“The town meeting participants and the moderator, Steve Scully, Senior Executive Producer and Political Editor, C-SPAN Networks, will be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida.

“The White House Pool will provide coverage of the second presidential debate,” the statement said.

Our correspondent reports that the decision is a fallout of the president’s diagnosis of COVID-19.

It comes a week before Trump and Biden were scheduled to square off at the Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, on Oct. 15.

Reacting to the announcement, Trump told Fox News that he would not participate in a virtual debate.

“The commission changed the debate style and that’s not acceptable to us. I beat him in the first debate, I beat him easily.

“I will beat him in the second debate also. I’m not going to do a virtual debate. I’m not going to waste my time at a virtual debate,” he said.

The president said the idea of sitting in front of a computer to debate was ridiculous, adding that the commission was trying to protect Biden.

Trump triggered concerns about the safety of the second debate on Oct. 1 when he announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.

He spent three days at the Walter Reed Medical Centre near Washington before returning to the White House on Monday.

In a tweet, the president had said he looked forward to debating Biden on stage in Miami, adding that it would be a great idea.

Biden said he and the president “shouldn’t have a debate” as long as Trump remained COVID positive, and if it must hold, strict guidelines had to be followed.

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Unlike the Sept. 30 clash between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden that was marred by interruptions and insults, Wednesday’s was civil and to a large extent orderly.

However, Pence and Harris dodged a number of questions and spoke beyond their allotted time during the 90-minute debate moderated by Susan Page of USA Today.

Consequently, Page has come under fire on Twitter for allowing the candidates to get away with it.

Opening the night on what would Biden do differently in the COVID-19 response, Harris slammed the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic.

“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” she said.

She accused the Trump administration of hiding important information about the disease from the public after being well briefed on Jan. 28.

Harris said the administration still had no plan, and went further to highlight Biden’s which include contact tracing, testing and administration of vaccine.

“Frankly, this administration has forfeited their right to reelection,” she said.

Responding, Pence defended the administration’s response, including restriction of travel from the pandemic epicentre in China, a move he said Biden opposed.

The Vice President, who heads the country’s presidential taskforce on COVID-19, dodged a question on why the U.S. death toll was higher than that of other wealthy countries.

Instead, he highlighted steps taken by the Trump administration to manage the virus, saying that Biden’s plan was part of what the administration had been doing “every step of the way”.

“And quite frankly, when I looked at their plan that talks about advancing testing, creating new PPE, developing a vaccine, it looks a little bit like plagiarism,” he said.

When asked whether she would take a COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Trump administration before the Nov. 3 election, Harris said she would only if approved by prominent U.S. public health professionals.

“If the public health professionals, if Dr Anthony Fauci, if the doctors, tell us to take it, I would be the first to take it, absolutely.

“But if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I am not taking it,” she said.

Pence replied, saying he thought it was unreasonable for her to continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine that would save people’s lives.

Turning to Harris he said: “And, senator, I just ask you, stop playing politics with people’s lives,” he said.

Pence also dodged a question on whether he had reached an agreement with Trump on taking over the presidency in the event of the president’s disability.

Instead, he elected to go back to the issue of vaccine, even when the moderator urged him to move on.

Harris, who avoided the same question, dug into her biography and pointed out that Biden choose her as running mate because they had a lot in common.

The candidates also clashed on racial justice, the economy, climate change, China, health, among others.

On racial justice, Pence noted that while the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25 was shocking, there was no justification for the rioting and looting that followed.

He said Biden’s stand that America was systemically racist and that law enforcement had an implicit bias against minorities was “a great insult.”

Responding, Harris slammed Trump for refusing to condemn white supremacists during the Sept. 29 debate.

Harris dodged when asked whether Biden would expand the number of seats of the Supreme Court, which has had nine justices for a century and a half.

Pence pressed her twice on the question, but she rather spoke about Trump’s current judicial nominee, Amy Barrett.

The Vice President parried a question on how the Trump administration would provide medical insurance for sick Americans.

He also ducked when the moderator asked whether he would want his home state, Indiana, to ban abortion.

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