The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • 23 ‘special’ students get scholarship

    To ensure that no student drops out of school on account of financial and physical constraint, the management of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko, has awarded N1.150 million worth of scholarships to 23 students. They were given N50,000 each.

    The scholarship scheme was part of various supports measures given to students by the Students’ Support Centre of the university. The scholarships were given to the physically-challenged students.

    Presenting cheques to the beneficiaries, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, who was represented by his Deputy (Academics), Prof Francis Gbore, reiterated the institution’s commitment to assist the awardees.

    Read also: Foundation’s scholarship for best graduating students

    Responding on behalf of others, a 400-Level student of the Department of Mass Communication Boboye Adeusi, appreciated management’s kind gesture. He appealed for the scheme’s continuation, which he described as a model and ideal initiative that should be emulated by other institutions.

    Earlier, Students’ Support Centre coordinator, Dr Adediran Ikuomola, said the institution values all students as demonstrated through the scholarship. He said the centre would continue to work on the challenges faced by the students and explore more creative ways to make the centre more functional.

  • Ex-CAMPUSLIFE reporter dies weeks to PhD award

    A former CAMPUSLIFE correspondent at the Delta State University (DELSU), Philip Okorodudu Ogaga, is dead. He died days after he was discharged from hospital, where he was treated for a heart-related disease.

    He was 32.

    Before his death on Sunday, the deceased was a doctoral student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he finished his Master’s degree. The late Philip, it was gathered, died a few weeks to the completion of his PhD.

    He belonged to the second-generation of CAMPUSLIFE writers. He started writing for the campus-focused platform in 2011. The late Philip, who was fondly called “Prof”, won several awards for his works, which brought positive developments to DELSU and its host community.

    Some of his peers have described his death as “tragic” and a “big blow”, wondering why the “promising young man” could not have access to quality healthcare.

    Femi Ogunjobi, Philip’s contemporary, said he was yet to recover from the pain brought by his death. Describing Philip as “soft-spoken and brilliant”, Femi said: “He was a guy whose lifestyle would inspire you and make you humble. He was simple and ready to be a friend to everyone. Beyond his writing prowess, he was a brilliant engineering student, who finished on top of his class. We will surely miss him.”

    Head of CAMPUSLIFE Desk, Wale Ajetunmobi, described the late Philip as “the brightest star in the galaxy”, saying the deceased was one of those, who made his task rewarding when he took over the leadership of the desk, following the death of the pioneer Editor, the late Ngozi Agbo (née Nwozor) in May 2012.

    In a tribute to the deceased, who hailed from Urohbo clan of Delta State, Jennifer Umeh, former CAMPUSLIFE correspondent at Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY), Kwara State, wrote: “I still find it hard to believe you are no more. Philip, why did you go unannounced? May your soul rest in the bossom of the Lord.”

    His classmate at DELSU, Ms Eduvie Erivwode, wrote: “I am in pain after learning about your death, Philip. You were too good, so calm, so humble and ready to help. Rest in peace.”

    The late Philip was 32.

  • Leadership blues

    As individuals, we sometimes ‘catch the blues’, especially when the challenges and obstacles before us looks insurmountable. Most leaders catch the blues if they are unable to perfect the balancing act of contending needs. From my perspective, a leader is that individual who has presence, knowledge, the ability to communicate, a moral compass, strong ethical values, concerned for those he is leading and the ability to analyse and act on the dynamics around him.

    In fairness, leadership is never easy. No matter how effortlessly some leaders appear to manage, the path of a leader is one fraught with constant challenges and surprises. However, the leader is not supposed to face the challenges alone. By definition, a leader has a group of individuals working to meet each challenge and achieve each goal. The leader’s job is not to solve every problem alone, but to inspire those he or she leads to solve the problems.

    This aligns with the perspective offered by former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola while delivering a lecture on leadership in Lagos over six years ago. In the course of that lecture, he said leadership is about “solving problems and not identifying them.” To back up his definition of leadership, he cited the example of a Professor of Architecture from the University of Lagos, who after repeated visits to see him was eventually granted audience.

    According to Fashola, the professor took it upon himself to visit places in Lagos with chaotic traffic situation in order to understudy them and proffer solutions. He did this for months and as a true leader he packaged his findings into a document and sought audience with the governor to present the document as his humble contribution toward the development of the state.

    The former governor said he was initially taken aback when the professor brought a comprehensive blueprint on how to redesign some roads in Lagos to ease traffic flow and not to request for contracts as is mainly the norm here. In essence, there were no strings attached to his presenting the document to the government, just a responsible citizen doing his bit toward uplifting society.

    At the time of the lecture the state government had already implemented some of the recommendations contained in the blueprint. The two he mentioned include the road linking Victoria Island from MUSON Centre through Command Officers mess and the underpass linking Magodo and Otedola estate to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    This makes leadership on all fronts is fundamental, not only in solving problems but having the foresight to identify and address them before they emerge. Whether in the home, school, workplace, religious circle and in politics, purposeful leadership is essential for harmonious living and development.

    Mahatma Ghandi, the world acclaimed champion of non-violence said “When leaders exemplify the change in the world they wish to see, they win, and we all win.” The precept cuts across national boundaries regardless of how small or big the country may be. The ripple effects of Gandhi’s leadership in India laid the foundation for what India is today.

    Our main problem back home is our warped view of the entire concept of leadership. If we want to follow on from Ghandi’s statement one will ask what kind of world do Nigerians and her leaders want to see? Is it a world of harmonious relationships and good governance or a world of supporting and bankrolling divisive elements in the society? Is it a world of envisioning where the nation will be in ten years’ time and ensuring that there are plans backed with self-sacrifice to ensure it is achieved?

    But how were leaders in other countries able to exemplify Ghandi’s statement and what are some of the lessons we can draw from them? If you discount the vision and the empowerment qualities of her founding fathers starting with George Washington, the first President of the United States and some of his successors in office like Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, to mention just a few, the United States of America would not have been what it is today.

    Such leaders can be found in every country and in other walks of life and not in politics alone. They are in the academia, news media, entertainment and in the public and private Sectors of every country. They can also be found in the judiciary, Churches, and Mosques. Such leaders always try, as much as humanly possible, to exemplify the change in their world they envision. They are men of principles and convictions who passionately practice what they preach. Most of them drive themselves harder than they do their followers. They are, more often than not, men of steel and iron discipline.

    The smooth transition of power from one party to another, and from one individual political leader to another which has now become the hall mark of America today, could be traced back to the father of the nation, George Washington who had voluntarily given up power after laying a sound foundation that the future generation of American leaders have come to view as the gold standard for leadership in their country.

    George Washington taught American leaders – of his and subsequent generations – to appreciate that power belongs to the people, and that if a leader has to choose between self and national interest, the choice is clear. The youngest American President and the first Catholic ever elected, J. F. Kennedy said that much, when asked, if his faith would not get in the way of his loyalty to his country. His answer was unequivocal.  As far as he was concerned, America and her national interest and stability come first.

    When leaders refuse to be the change in the world they wish to see, they not only lose, their nation lose as well. One thing stands out clearly when you study the lives of  Mao Zedong of China, Ho Chi Ming of Vietnam, Josep Broz Tito of former Yugoslavia, Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Nelson Mandela and F.W  De Clarke of South Africa, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Martin Luther King etc. Their willingness and conviction to truly represent the change in their country they wish to see were glaring. They not only talked the talk, they walked the walk. They truly practiced what they preach.

    Good leaders come to office with a mindset to solve problems and make changes they wish to see. You have to seriously wonder about the success and competence of our leaders when you see that most of the problems we face, some dating back to Independence have remained virtually unresolved. As a matter of fact, some of those problems have gotten worse.

    Take the issue of Education. It was one of the best things going for our country when Nigeria got her independence from Britain. Today it is a different story. The disdain for education by our government is simply amazing. Policy somersaults reveal we really do not have a roadmap. This is why Nigerians spend billions of naira to pursue education abroad.

    We’re all aware our standard of education is nothing to write home about. It is true there are more Universities now, but most of them are struggling, and the caliber of graduates they produce is a far cry from what we were used to. Unemployment has become a major problem thus making politics the most viable “industry” in Nigeria today.

    Electricity, which is the bedrock for industralisation, has only marginally improved making it look like fixing it is rocket science. Prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the country faced power challenges, but it took the government less than six months to fix it before the tourney commenced. No committee was set up or white paper released.

    Newer challenges are with us today. Militancy, farmers/herdsmen clash, terrorism, divisive politics are some of the issues our leaders are grappling with. This however is not a time to catch the blues but a time for creative and innovative leadership, a time for smart economic, social and political solutions to enable us leapfrog into a responsible nation. If Rwanda was able to recover from genocide and is today a reference point why can’t we?

  • Obaseki sets world-class target for Edo varsity

    …pledges more support to boost ranking

    Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has set a new target for staff and students of the Edo State University, Iyamho, promising that his administration would redouble its efforts at making the institution one of the best in global university ranking.

    Obaseki gave the new target while addressing students and staff of the University at the 3rd Founder’s Day Ceremony held at the premises of the university in Iyamho, Etsako West Local Government Area of the state.

    He explained that his administration’s vision for the university is to become a world-class university in ranking.

    “I want the University to strive hard as our bench mark is not the Nigerian standard but the world’s, as I want them in the next ranking to be one of the best in the continent before we go to the next level. As a state, we would continue to endow the university,” he added.

    The governor called on management of the institution to run its affairs in a sustainable manner and have enough resources to self-fund; which he noted is the goal of the founder.

    READ ALSO: Obaseki backs prison reforms

    Obaseki said his administration was still considering the option of partnering with one of the world leading universities in the area of intake, research and in attracting more endowments to continue to sustain the quality of infrastructure and learning at Edo University, Iyamho.

    He explained that similar vision was proposed for the other state-owned university but it met with resistance for fear of affordability.

    “This university was set up along private sector standard. It is the modern way. It will encourage us to see how we can use the model to retool our other universities. It might be expensive but we can as a state put in all sorts of mechanisms and schemes to ease the burden on parents who have children in our universities,” he said.

    The third Founder’s Day Ceremony had a presentation by the Minister for Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adams, who spoke on “Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Sustainable Development.”

    The Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Benin, Prof. Eddy Erhagbe, made a presentation on “Democracy and Meeting the Needs of Nigerian Citizens.”

  • UNN has zero tolerance for cultism, VC tells new students

    Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, Vice-Chancellor of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has warned new students of the institution of its zero tolerance for cultism and other vices.

    Ozumba gave the warning in Nsukka on Saturday during the 45th Matriculation Ceremony of the university in which 10,000 students were admitted for 2018/2019 Academic Session.

    He said that UNN had zero tolerance for cultism; exam malpractice, anti-social acts and any student caught would be expelled.

    “This university has zero tolerance for cultism and other negative misconducts and it will not hesitate to take disciplinary actions on any student found guilty.

    “It is important therefore for you to face your studies, which is your reason for coming to this university, avoid bad company and remain focused, be conscious of your behaviour as leaders of tomorrow,” he said.

    The VC said that the matriculation was historical as it will be the last time he woud be addressing matriculating students as the vice-chancellor of UNN, as his 5-years tenure ends in June.

    “This is my last matriculation address to UNN students as a vice-chancellor, as my 5-years tenure runs out in a couple of months.

    “Let me assure you that this administration considers the welfare of students and staff as an indispensable commitment

    ” I assure you that municipal service will always be given priority in all the campuses of UNN ,” he said.

    The out-going VC also commended parents for investing on their children’s education as well as choosing UNN as the institution for their wards.

    He, however, promised that the university would give their children best tertiary education.

    Some of the matriculated students in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) thanked God who made it possible for them to gain admission into UNN.

    They also promised to make their parents proud by doing well in their studies.

  • ‘Our road is a death trap’

    •MAPOLY staff, students allege neglect of road

    To staff and students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State, the road leading to the school is a death trap. With huge craters here and there, commuting on the road is a nightmare, they say. TAIWO KAFILAT (ND2 Mass Communication) captures the pains the road inflicts on motorists and passengers.

    Lecturers, students and commuters are unhappy with the state of the road leading to the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta. They have  described the  road as a death trap. The deplorable state of the Iyana-Oloke Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Road is of great concern to the people.

    ’ The two-kilometre Panseke to Iyana-Oloke stretch, believed to  have been awarded to a contractor by the state government, has been abandoned by the construction company.

    There have been many accidents involving members of the polytechnic community as well as those who ply their trade in the institution on the road. Many of the campus shuttle buses are no exception, as their drivers daily lament the amount they spend on vehicle maintenance, and the risk passengers are subjected to. The drivers also bemoaned the waste of time spent before arriving their destination.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the Ogun State Government though had mobilised the construction company to rehabilitate the road up to the school gate, no one could ascertain why the project was suspended halfway.

    Although MAPOLY management refused to speak on the matter, the government has repeatedly assured that the road would be completed soon.

    Ogun State Commissioner for Works Lekan Adegbite listed    the road as one of government’s ongoing projects, adding that it would soon be completed. Nonetheless, CAMPUSLIFE has observed that no worker is on site yet.

    Many students of MAPOLY told CAMPUSLIFE how the road has become a pain in the neck over the years, albeit with successive governments’ indifference, a development that they say, also affects learning.

    An HND2 Accountancy student Jubril Odebunmi said, “MAPOLY Road being the only road that links the institution from various areas of the city, is really in a bad shape.

    “The bad condition of the road has made transportation to the school difficult. I have observed that some shuttle drivers now avoid plying the road as they claim their vehicles often get damaged.”

    Similarly, an HND1 student, who simply identified herself as Afolashade, also lent her voice.

    Hear her, “Well, the road is not anywhere near the school standard. It is so disheartening that this road has been like that before I got admission into MAPOLY 2014. It’s a pity it has been like this for many years.

    ‘’There was a day I boarded a bus from Panseke heading to school. A pregnant woman who was also a staff of MAPOLY was on board and she was not comfortable all through. She told me this was the pain she had to go through coming to work everyday. So, I will plead with the government to please help this situation.”

    Another student who pleaded not to be mentioned recounted an unforgettable experience she had.

    ‘’I could not forget that day during my first semester in HND 1,” the student began.

    “My Mum had called me during a lecture period to join her. To make it back to school on time I borrowed a friend’s car key. On my way back to school, the car developed a fault right in the middle of the road in front of Gbokoniyi Church, and I could not make it back to class that day.”

    In addition, Alayinde Esther another HND 1 Banking and Finance undergraduate said the bad road made her miss lectures.

    “It (road) has affected me in so many ways,” she lamented.

    “I miss lectures and test which we may not be able to rewrite. Also, the stress we experience on the road makes me weak before getting to class.”

    Mrs Tolani Sodiya, a nursing mother who sells stationeries inside the school campus, narrated how she almost lost her pregnancy due to the state of the road.

    Said Sodiya: “I remember during my pregnancy, I found it difficult to sit comfortably because of my stomach. Most times when I got home, I ended up having pains.”

    An ND 2 Mass Communication student of the polytechnic, Oluwatobi Odeyinka, said the agony commuters experienced on the road could not be described.

    Odeyinka said: “The road is indeed a death trap. Injuries have been sustained many times by students and to worsen the situation, some of the drivers overload their vehicles. This has led to accident.”

    Another ND 2 undergraduate of Mass Communication Bose Akinkunmi, claimed she often gets terrified by the situation of the road.

    Akinkunmi said: “The road that leads to Mapoly from Iyana-Oloke can best be described as a death trap for the people.”

    Akinkunmi continued, “The road is so bad to the extent that, sometimes,` I don’t feel like going to school because I’m afraid the bus might summersault one day.”

    A trader in MAPOLY, Kazeem Kayode, explained how difficult it has been for him to get to his workplace on a daily basis.

    He said: “We all know that the road is bad because our government abandoned it.”

    Also, a trader who introduced himself as Bunkand, said he spends so much on car maintenance.

    “I have a personal car, and oftentimes, I spend more money replacing my shock absorbers. A learner cannot ply this road, otherwise, he will regret it.”

    In his own reaction, President of MAPOLY Student Union Comrade Owo-iya Rasaq, said the bad road as ‘unbearable’.

    He said: “You can see that the road is in bad condition. One of our promises before we resumed office was to reduce the stress in transporting our students from their various hostels to campus.

    “You will agree with me that, the bad road linking Ojere route from Iyana-Oloke is the main problem of transportation in MAPOLY.

    “Recently, our executives in conjunction with some shuttle and taxi drivers went out to fill the potholes with concrete and sand, just to reduce the stress of drivers.

    “However, we have been crying to the government to help us construct the road.”

    However, the Chairman MAPOLY shuttle drivers, Comrade Adesanya Adeshina, insisted that the condition of the road has made them spend large sum of money on maintenance.

    Adesanya lamented that drivers spend an average of one hour on a journey that would have lasted just  15 minutes, or even less.

    He said: “The roads are bad, we expect the government to repair the road. Government knows how much they earn yearly from this institution.

    “Our shuttles have reduced drastically. Most buses have run away due to the bad road.

    “Most truck that ply the roads struggle with the steering and end up causing accident within the vicinity.”

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that drivers who could no longer bear the hardship of the road have moved to other areas, leaving the students with shortage of vehicles.

    Meanwhile, when approached by CAMPUSLIFE Public Relations Officer of MAPOLY Yemi Ajibola and the institution’s Directorate of Students Affair, Townplanner Luke Adelaja  refused to speak on the state of the road.

  • LASPOTECH showcases invented devices

    Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) has unveiled unique machines, technology devices courtesy of the School of Engineering.

    The innovations include motorised car jack, motorised melon seed shelling machine, manure drier, multi-purpose fruits extractor, and multi-purpose trashing. Others are: cleaning machine, pneumatic can crusher, microcontroller traffic light, turmeric slicing machine, break wear test rig and sensor for tricycles and de-feathering machine, as well as chicken slicer machine, among others.

    Taking reporters on a media tour of its workshops, the Dean of School of Engineering, Michael Ashaolu, said the innovations were borne out of necessity to right certain inadequacies in the available technologies in the society.

    He said the overall advantage of the designs, when subjected to mass production and industrial plants, would lead to massive reduction in importation of less effective devices from the West and China.

    ‘’We have different areas of engineering; but we are showcasing to you today equipment and devices designed and produced by agricultural and bio-environmental, mechanical and electrical/ electronics departments.

    He continued: “One of them is a de-feathering machine, which makes it easy for people to de-feather from chickens. Feather removing is one of the tasks involved in the process of producing ready-to-cook poultry meat in large quantity. Operation of the machine involves dropping of a fowl previously soaked in hot water in the basin and operating the machine at designed operating speed to remove the feather. The machine is capable of de-feathering 5 Kg of fowls within a period of 15 minutes.

    Some of the devices and equipment built by the mechatronics engineering and electrical/electronic  department include motorised car jack and traffic light with sensor for efficient traffic control in the metropolis.

    Ashaolu equally spoke on the essence of the pneumatic can crusher.

    ‘’The pneumatic can crusher was developed and fabricated to crush aluminum waste cans by 80  per cent size reduction. Can Crushers are primarily used to reduce the size of cans for easy transportation for recycling purposes Can constitutes environmental pollution in the society and crushing technique employed in  the machine fabricated will convert the waste material to raw materials for industrial uses. The purpose of this device is to smash an empty can of diameter 65mm and height 120mm to height 25 to 30 mm.’’

  • The drug menace

    I was at a filling station on Monday waiting to fuel my car when a young man came and insisted the fuel attendant must find him “something.” I didn’t have to be told he was on drugs as just one look at his glazed eyes was all I needed. I waited patiently while they haggled until the attendant parted with N500. Immediately he got the money he hopped on a motorbike with two of his colleagues and off they went. Even though I had already made my conclusion I asked the attendant if he was on drugs. He replied in the affirmative.

    While my car was being filled up another attendant approached and I overheard them appealing to the young man after the N500 had been dangled in his face, to go look for a job and stay off drugs. From their conversation, it appears they are or were friends. That incident reminded me of a road trip I undertook to a city in the north a few years ago. It was curious to me during the trip to find National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents mounting roadblocks rather than policemen. The writer in me couldn’t help but ask why this was so after several roadblocks. The other occupants of the vehicle I was travelling in lectured me on the drug problem they are facing up north.

    When I got to my destination, I took out time to conduct my own independent investigation and found their assertions to be true. That trip opened my eyes to the conclusion that we are grappling with a serious drug problem in the country. You may not know the magnitude of the drug problem until you visit some suburbs in Lagos or any of our major cities. We have wittingly or unwittingly raised a generation of youth who are virtually wasting away because of addiction to various types of drugs – both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ drugs.

    A recent survey on drug use in Nigeria has shown that the nation is breeding a wild generation of drug addicts. This gory state of affairs of substance abuse calls for nothing short of a declaration of a state of emergency, considering the fact that the youth population is the fulcrum of national development. The nationwide survey conducted by the United Nation Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) funded by European Union (EU) in partnership with the federal government said 10.6 million Nigerians abused cannabis in 2018, while 4.6 million abused opiods.

    The report said that 2.4 million youths and adults also abused cough syrups with 92,000 more using cocaine. Other drugs commonly abused during the period are tranquilisers and sedatives, solvent, inhalers, amphetamines and prescription stimulants. This survey also reports that one of four drug users in Nigeria is a woman. Adding that the extent of drug use in Nigeria is comparatively high compared to previous global annual prevalence of any drug abuse use.

    According to the survey, highest past-year prevalence of drug use was found in the southern political zones: South-East, South-West, and South-South zones (past year prevalence ranging between 13.8 – 22.4 per cent of the population) compared to the North (ranging between 10 – 14.9 per cent of the population). Basically, youths in the country inhale, inject and consume psychotic and narcotic substances and drugs at will, easily evading the scrutiny of a society distracted by chronic economic challenges at the expense of their future wellbeing.

    Previously dismissed as a distant notion, Nigeria is being consumed by this rising menace of drug abuse. Instead of just being a dot on our consciousness, the tragic phenomenon now cuts across all strata of the society. The threats posed by drug abuse to the society are real and alarming. The least it deserves is a strategic, sustainable alliance by stakeholders especially against the backdrop of record high unemployment figures among the youth.

    At the root of the nuisance is the breakdown in societal values, and the pervasive influence of some negative Western civilisation that eroded in part the strict societal values that bind us together in the past. The result is an epidemic of drug addiction with its attendant human capital waste and health crisis that is starring us in the face. The rising violent crime rate across the country is a clear signal that we are in for the long haul.

    Cannabis, which World Health Organisation (WHO) describes as the most abused drug globally, is also the most commonly used in Nigeria. It is smoked at street corners and neighbourhood kiosks, the dealers, in some instances, given protection by compromised security agencies. Apart from occasional seizures, it has been observed that the law enforcement agencies are part of the problem.

    Cannabis aside, there is equally a growing abuse of synthetic drugs, which were once strange to the Nigerian milieu. Amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, paint, thinner, glue, cough syrup made with codeine, cement and animal excreta are being widely abused today. For instance, between 2010 and 2012, the NDLEA said six methamphetamine factories were discovered in Delta and Lagos states. In Asaba, the Delta state capital, police arrested four Mexicans and their Nigerian partners in crime at their super methamphetamine laboratory in March 2016.

    Ordinarily thought to be things we watch on foreign movies, the culture of drugs and bloodshed has spread fast on our shores. Nigeria has graduated from being just a corridor to a nest of barons who wield enormous influence and financial resources, and tempt the impressionable youths into drug addiction.

    The NDLEA, in 2015, said Nigeria had the highest number of persons serving jail terms for drug-related offences worldwide. It is no longer news when Nigerians are executed for drug offences in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and other Asian countries.

    A Federal Government panel discovered that between 2005 and 2006, 197 drug barons, with the complicity of security agents, escaped without serving their sentences. Many were never taken to prison at all upon conviction. How they manipulated the justice delivery system to achieve their aim is most odious and dangerous for the society.

    As drug abuse grows, criminality does, too. The Ozubulu church massacre that took place in Anambra State where 13 worshippers at the St. Phillips Catholic Church were killed on August 6, 2017 during Sunday service was later traced to brutal fighting over territory from South Africa to Nigeria.

    A former NDLEA director-general, Lanre Ipinmisho, said in 2016 that 40 per cent of Nigerian youths were on hard drugs. “If you take an estimate of 10 boys particularly in Kano, seven will be on drugs,” he said. On October 28 2017, then acting Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Edgal Imohimi, convened an emergency meeting with hoteliers and nightclub owners, where he decried security reports that pointed to “the ease with which our youths are getting access to drugs at clubs, hotels, lounges, beaches and bars.”

    So, beyond the impact on individuals what are some of the impacts of these drugs on society? Experts say that the production of methamphetamine generates toxic waste, which is capable of contaminating underground water within a 500-metre radius. Substance abuse also makes the treatment of illnesses difficult and fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS. For a country battling with poor infrastructure and low budgetary provisions, the health implications are enormous.

    Is there a way out of the menace? Yes, and it is heartwarming that the government has woken up to this reality with the setting up of a presidential advisory committee on drugs led by Brig Gen Buba Marwa (retd). It is expected that the previous shambolic approach will give way to a more strategic and systematic approach which must be well-funded and equipped to carry out its duties.

    For many addicts, drug abuse starts like a game, a fad arising from peer group pressure. Since treatment is long and expensive, parents have to be on the alert to stop their children or wards from delving into the habit. They should imbue their children with a sense of confidence by swaying them from depending on substances. However, the government needs to establish functional rehabilitation centres to cater for those who have already been addicted.

  • Lokoja holds maiden celebrity award

    Students and celebrities in Kogi State have stormed the maiden edition of Kogi Celebrities Awards (KCA) in the capital city of Lokoja.

    The event saw 45 individuals recieving awards.  Of the lot, 27 came under the Hall of Fame category, while 18 awardees were bestowed with Special Recognitions and Impact Awards.

    Meen at Nigeria Media CEO, Amina Idris, organiser of the event, described the turnout as massive and amazing.

    “Wow… the turnout was massive as you can see. I was not expecting the crowd to be this much, but all glory to God. I believe in subsequent editions, this event will be more amazing and impactful. So, expect more from us,” she said.

    At the event, corporate bodies, eminent personalities, government agencies, politicians and celebrities, among others, were honoured for their contributions to their various fields in the state.

    The event kicked off with a red carpet session as celebrities and who-is-who excitedly graced the carpet amid tight security.

    Dignitaries at the event included: Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and KCA  Patron, Dr Paul Ebije; Chairman, Lokoja Local Government, Shiru Lawal; Bin-Ebiaya Shehu Tijjani; Head of Department of Political Science, Kogi State University, Dr. Usman Ogbo; Miss Kogi 2018/2019 Queen Grace Jona and  Miss Ebira 2019 Queen Martina Obari.

  • Shun misconduct, VC tells 569 freshers

    Vice-Chancellor of Benson Idahosa University Prof Sam Guobadia, has enjoined newly admitted students of the institution to desist from all forms of misconduct and embrace the virtues of Godliness and excellence.

    Speaking during the institution’s  matriculation, Prof Guobodia urged the new students to be law-abiding and respect their lecturers.

    His words: “I charge you all to make the most of the opportunity afforded you by your parents and guardians. Kindly ensure that you attend classes, shun all forms of deviant behaviours and other vices, and focus on why you are here. At Benson Idahosa University, we have zero tolerance for any form of misconduct, and we do not hesitate to sanction them.”

    Guobadia also admonished the matriculating students to be security-conscious and be wary of the friends they keep.

    “I wish to assure you of adequate security on both campuses of ours. We, however, plead with you not to hesitate to report any suspicious activities to the Dean of Student Affairs, security officers or indeed, any staff of the university for immediate response.”

    He explained that the institution has lived up to expectation since it was established, adding that discipline and academic excellence with Godliness, have been their watch words.

    Guobadia said the university would continue to focus on its core purpose, which is to change Nigeria. This, he said, would be achieved by instilling the vision and mission of the institution in the students.

    He commended the new students and their parents for choosing Benson Idahosa University for their wards to pursue their chosen courses. Nonetheless, he assued that the management of the university would give them the best.