Category: Campus Life

Youths’ Digest Magazine, organisers of the yearly campus journalism awards, in partnership with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has announced the launch of Campus Journalism Dialogue (CJD).

The magazine is also calling for applications from student-writers and campus journalists.

According to a statement, the initiative formed part of efforts to address challenges facing student- journalists.

It stated that the dialogue would feature student-writers and campus journalists across tertiary institutions in the Northwest to participate in the maiden edition of the dialogue come April, this year.

“Youths Digest in partnership with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) is calling on student-writers and campus Journalists across all tertiary institutions in Northwest geo-political zone to participate in its maiden ‘Campus Journalism Dialogue’ (CJD)”

The thee-day event, which would educate participants on issues such as hate speech, fake news, defamation, libelous publication and brown envelope syndrome in contemporary journalism practice, among others, called on students of Mass Communication, student-writers and campus journalists to start sending their published works for application.

“Students of Mass Communication, gifted students with flair for creative writing from other departments and campus journalists can send their opinion articles, literary works, news reports, among other genres of publications to youthsdigest@yahoo.com, with ‘My CJD application’ as subject,” the statement further emphasised.

All applications are to contain applicants details; name, school, level, contact, email address and passport photo with titles and weblinks of their published articles, creative writings, and news reports attached on or before Thursday ,February 28.

The statement added that successful applicants would be fully-sponsored to attend the dialogue. Also, gifts and cash prizes have been lined-up for participants who produce quality, authoritative, edifying and top-notch writings during the event.

“Fifty applicants will be shortlisted and fully-sponsored to attend the CJD after a panel of judges comprising  seasoned journalists, accomplished academics and prolifics writers, have assessed all entries.”

Nineteen-year-old Usman Daniel, a Federal University of Lokoja (FULOK), Kogi State fresher, had looked forward to resuming with his colleagues in school next month. But that is not to be. He was killed by a stray bullet while attempting to exercise his franchise during the last weekend’s elections. ISRAEL AROGBONLO reports.

• Lokoja varsity student gunned down by stray bullet

The late 19-year-old Usman Daniel, like every other Nigerian, woke up last Saturday with a desire: to exercise his voting right for the first time since he attained suffrage age. He earnestly looked forward to that day, which, unfortunately, was his last on earth. Usman, who just got admission to study Physics at the Federal University Lokoja (FULOK), was killed by a stray bullet. He died during the pandemonium that broke out at the Atejashi polling unit where he, with many others, went to cast their votes.

All of a sudden, and from nowhere, gunshots by some political thugs, which had voters scampering for safety, hit the young man and cut short his dream of being a graduate of Physics. His lifeless body lay in a pool of his blood.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that a campus journalist named Jeff Friday announced Usman’s sudden death on social media in the early hours of Saturday.

According to an unnamed source,  the deceased was said to be a victim of circumstance. “He (the deceased) was standing on his own at the polling unit when some political thugs came and started shooting sporadically into the air. At this point, we all took to our heels as the shooting heightened. Unfortunately, he died as a result of a stray bullet that hit him while he was about escaping the scene of the incident. The security operatives on guard could not even help the matter as everyone left the poor boy helpless for hours. It was really an eyesore,” the source said.

A family friend of the deceased, who identified herself as D’Taigress, described the incident as strange and pathetic: “Daniel was my good friend. He just gained admission and was supposed to resume fully next month (March) when he lost his dreams to death (sobs).”

Though FULOK is on strike till date, Thomas Emmanuel, the Students’ Union (SU) Public Relations Officer of Kogi State University (KSU), on whose domain Usman was gunned down, described the incident as an infringement on the fundamental human rights of students. Thomas urged youths to shun electoral violence.

“For me, I don’t think Daniel was wrong for going out to exercise his voting right,” Thomas told CAMPUSLIFE in a phone conversation.

He continued:“Though his death is painful, I have nothing much to say than extend my condolences to the family for this great loss. This was a boy who posted on his Facebook timeline a few hours to the election that youths should shun violence, not knowing that he would die by what he preached against.  My advice to the youths is to disengage themselves from electoral violence in subsequent elections so as to improve on our democracy. They should also desist from being used as thugs by politicians to fulfil selfish desires,” he said.

A student of the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Ikupolati Stephen Sunday, also gave his own side of the story. “This guy (the deceased) was neither a political thug nor a ballot box snatcher. He was only trying to exercise his franchise and in the process paid the supreme price.  The Nigeria Constitution guarantees the right of association and political affiliation; so, why this killing?”

Ukpojo Dorcas, a church member of the deceased, described him as God-fearing and easy going, adding that he was committed to church activities during his lifetime.

A sympathiser, Philipina Okeke, praised the deceased’s high level of patriotism. “He (the deceased) paid with his life because he went to exercise his civic right. If he were at home, they would have questioned him for refusing to vote. Now that he went to exercise his franchise, he paid with his life. My condolence to his family members and loved ones. Adieu to one of the greatest youths of our time,” she said.

The deceased’s friend Emmanuel Egorp expressed his heartfelt grief over the incident. “Very sad story indeed!” Emmanuel posted on his facebook page.

He continued: “And the most painful is that because it was carried out by some political thugs, the security personnel around will claim ignorance and would not do the needful to bring the culprits to book.”

CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the deceased’s remains have been taken to his home town, Ankpa area of Kogi State as at the time of filling this report.

A security operative told CAMPUSLIFE that investigation has already commenced on the matter, adding that whoever is found culpable would face the music.

Good day Sir, please can you buy food for my family? Since yesterday we have not eaten anything. Nothing is too small, even one cup of garri. I am sorry to stress you, but have mercy on my wife and children. Account name… (Details withheld). You are our last hope now and we are looking at you as our small god, even one plate of food will help us. I am still looking for a job, security or even houseboy…”

I receive SMS like this regularly; sometimes, I strive against my will to ignore them for obvious reasons. But at other times I’m compelled to call the number that sends such message because of the tone. In those instances, I often find people who are genuinely in need and are seeking for help from any source whatsoever. What this should tell us is that people – maybe newspaper columnists themselves – are really going through tough times in our country.

I know some reading this today might find it difficult to comprehend that there are people in our country who do not know where their next meal is going to come from. I’ve recounted this story before on this page before in the past but it needs recounting to drive my point forcefully home. During one of her numerous trips to our village, a relative approached my mother and gave her his eight year old daughter to keep her company as long as she desires. He complained that he could no longer provide food for her and her siblings and the most sensible thing to do is to “share them out.” The poverty levels in most of our villages are beyond comprehension!

Unfortunately, this eight year old girl has a terrible habit of scaling the fence to go out. My mother did all within her powers to reform her but to no avail. Whenever she takes her back to her father in the village, she always meets a tearful response of “so how do I feed her?” But fearing the repercussions of something evil happening to the girl and her taking the blame, my mother had to painfully let go.

There are millions of cases like these in our country and what this tells us is that poverty is on the rise and the current economic realities has further exacerbated it, especially now that poverty has made Nigeria its headquarters. Why are some people so poor that they can’t feed themselves? Why are there no safety nests in our system to cater for the vulnerable citizens in our midst? What is the nexus between corruption and poverty? Can good governance tackle poverty?

According to the World Bank, the major indicators of poverty are: lack of freedom of action and choice; lack of adequate food, shelter, education and health; vulnerabilities to ill health; economic dislocation; maltreatment by public agencies; and exclusion from key decision-making processes and resources in society. Poverty is also the result of economic, political, and social processes that interact with each other and frequently reinforce each other in ways that exacerbate the deprivation in which people live. In essence, poverty is multidimensional.

In their 2015 extensive report on corruption and poverty in Nigeria, ActionAid Nigeria delved into the issue of poverty and the role corruption plays in its continuous rise. Relying on the then National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figure, they put the percentage of Nigerians living below the poverty line at 69 per cent (112.47 million). It stands at close to 90 per cent today.

The report titled “Study of the Relationship Between Poverty and Corruption in Nigeria” examined the relationship between poverty, corruption and social crisis. It analysed how corruption affects different segments of the society; and the implication of these findings for social development.

“Given the country’s enormous resources,” the report stated, “it is puzzling that such a huge portion of the populace lives in poverty. This vast incidence of poverty in the midst of plenty has severally been linked to the endemic corruption in the country, as it involves the massive stealing of resources that would have otherwise been invested in providing wealth-creating infrastructure for the citizens.

“This perception is reinforced by an accepted position that corruption is a global incidence that tends to retard the growth of countries where it manifests. Corruption is also taken as having the tendency to exacerbate and cause conflicts, promote poverty, and impact negatively on the best use of human and natural resources. Some previous studies have shown that corruption remains a major hindrance to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”

Nigeria is considered one of the poorest countries in the world because it has some of the poorest human development indicators. In trying to tackle poverty successive governments have rightly focused on rural development. These interventions – which date back to the 1970s – include the National Accelerated Food Production Programme and the Nigeria Agricultural and Cooperative Bank (NACB) by the Gowon administration in 1972 and 1973 respectively.

The first Obasanjo regime came up with Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), an integrated rural development strategy proposed by the United Nations in 1976 which was followed by the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS) in 1977.

The civilian regime of Shehu Shagari came up with the Green Revolution Programme, with the main aim of curtailing food importation and boosting crop and fibre production in 1979. The Buhari/Idiagbon regime rolled out the Back to Land Programme in 1984. Others are: The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), The Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), People’s Bank of Nigeria (PBN), Sure-P, YouWin, etc.

In the end, these programmes failed to have substantial impact on poverty levels and some, such as the Green Revolution, DFRRI, NDE were criticised for serving as conduits for enriching senior civil servants and military officers who acquired large tracts of land (for the Green Revolution) at the expense of peasant land owners. The present regimes Social Investment Programme include N-Power, TraderMoni etc.

Intended to reduce poverty in the country, most of these interventions had faulty designs and implementations. For instance, while some lacked targets, others had extremely ambitious targets which failed to consider technical capacities and budgetary limitations. In addition, the targeted beneficiaries had either very limited or no participation in the planning and implementation of these interventions. Because some of these intervention programmes lacked focus, they ventured into too many activities and became unsustainable.

Tackling poverty has been an age old battle, while others make inroads in this battle, the lack of sincerity and purpose has been our bane. Policies were rolled out as avenues to siphon public funds and not to really help the poor. The GIS programme of the last administration where names of fictitious graduates were used to fleece Nigeria is a classic example.

China has shown that it is possible to genuinely tackle poverty. It lifted 600 million of its citizens out of poverty within three decade. How did they achieve this? China invested in agriculture to reduce poverty and successful agricultural projects were built up from the grass roots. These were not top-down solutions. The Chinese government and World Food Programme selected the successful agricultural projects and implemented them throughout the nation.

Data from the latest survey in the China Household Income Project shows that China has all but eradicated urban poverty. For a country with huge numbers of poor people streaming into its cities, many of whom living initially in conditions of abject misery, this is an extraordinary success. It has been achieved, in large part, because of a government subsidy paid to urban dwellers to bring incomes up to a minimum level of 4,476 yuan ($700).

The question now is whether the government can repeat this success and eradicate extreme poverty entirely. The current economic and social five year plan (the country’s 12th) aims to eliminate all poverty by 2020 (10 years ahead of the newly agreed UN Sustainable Development Goal poverty eradication target.

Since China has lifted more people out of poverty than anywhere else in the world isn’t it high time we critically study, analyse and learn how this was done with the foresight to domesticate such policy in Nigeria?

Management of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has threatened students, who refuse to pay their school fees before the deadline with ‘no payment no lecture’ policy.

The information was contained in a Memorandum signed by the Acting Registrar, Mrs. Olayinka Adeniran-Ajayi, last week.

The university management had earlier directed all returning and fresh students to pay up their sundry fees on or before Sunday, albeit with short notice.

The memo read in part: “The school management reiterateds that failure to comply with the directive will attract payment of a penalty fee of Five Thousand Naira from Monday, 25th February to Sunday, 10th March 2019 and continued failure to comply may lead to forfeiture of studentship.”

Furthermore, management warned that it would enforce the directive, adding that only students with evidence of payment of school fees would be allowed into lecture halls.

The memo urged all students to ensure strict compliance of the information.

The school’s Students Union President, Awodola Oluwaseun, aka Unique, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE,  reiterated the commitment of his government to students’ welfare, urging his colleagues to keep paying before the stipulated deadline.

“Our students should keep paying the fee. We are not blind to any issue on ground. The same way we have been supportive in helping every single situation on ground. When the time comes, we will cross the bridge and we won’t keep mute about the welfare of students”

Attempts to reach the Dean of Students Affairs, Dr Dosu Malomo, for comments proved abortive.

anagement of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has threatened students, who refuse to pay their school fees before the deadline with ‘no payment no lecture’ policy.

The information was contained in a Memorandum signed by the Acting Registrar, Mrs. Olayinka Adeniran-Ajayi, last week.

The university management had earlier directed all returning and fresh students to pay up their sundry fees on or before Sunday, albeit with short notice.

The memo read in part: “The school management reiterateds that failure to comply with the directive will attract payment of a penalty fee of Five Thousand Naira from Monday, 25th February to Sunday, 10th March 2019 and continued failure to comply may lead to forfeiture of studentship.”

Furthermore, management warned that it would enforce the directive, adding that only students with evidence of payment of school fees would be allowed into lecture halls.

The memo urged all students to ensure strict compliance of the information.

The school’s Students Union President, Awodola Oluwaseun, aka Unique, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE,  reiterated the commitment of his government to students’ welfare, urging his colleagues to keep paying before the stipulated deadline.

“Our students should keep paying the fee. We are not blind to any issue on ground. The same way we have been supportive in helping every single situation on ground. When the time comes, we will cross the bridge and we won’t keep mute about the welfare of students”

Attempts to reach the Dean of Students Affairs, Dr Dosu Malomo, for comments proved abortive.

The new 40-bed hospital of the Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, Rivers State, has been gutted by fire.

Though no life was lost, property worth millions of naira was destroyed by the inferno before the incident was noticed by a passerby. The hospital is located at the permanent site (Campus II) of the college.

The cause of the fire was not ascertained as at the time of filing this report. It took the intervention of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited, OB/OB fire fighters and other sympathisers hours to put out the fire. However,  the building has been badly destroyed by the inferno.

It was gathered that the fire, which occurred after workers had left for Presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled for February 16, 2019, was said to have started from the hospital’s right-wing before it spread to other parts.

The college provost, Dr Emmanuel Ikenyiri, who was at the scene of the fire, was visibly angry and shocked. He described the incident as sad, unfortunate and a monumental loss to the institution. He, however, thanked Almighty God that no life was lost.

The Provost commended the Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited fire service for their swift intervention. According to him, if not for their gallant efforts, the fire would have touched other buildings.

He, therefore, appealed to the Federal and Rivers State Governments, TETFUND, the NNPC, SPDC, NAOC Ltd, NDDC, Total Petroleum and other corporate organisations and individuals to come to the aid of the institution by rebuilding the destroyed hospital.

The Provost and Management thanked all those who sympathised with the institution for the fire outbreak.