The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • Management’s decision stuns students

    Management’s decision stuns students

    Rising from an emergency meeting last Monday, the Senate of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) took a decision that shocked students. The university, according to its Senate, will run its current academic calendar with the 2013/2014 session.

    This decision has been generating ripples among students, who believe it could prolong their graduation.

    Running a new session with the current calendar, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, may increase credit load of many students, especially those that have many courses to offer in the current semester.

    The university, which could have ended its first semester last July, had just resumed after five months it was shut because of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

    Following the suspension of the ASUU strike, the students may have heaved a sigh of relief and hoped to resume to complete the session. However, they are shocked by the decision of the management, which they said would subject them to stress.

    To compound the students’ woes, the new calendar stipulated that freshers would resume with their returning colleagues, who are yet to conclude the 2012/2013 session.

    Muhammad Tukur Lamido, a 300-Level student, said he was shocked by the management’s decision, saying he would prefer that the semester is concluded before freshers resume. “The decision is totally unexpected. But it will be better that the management allows us finish the current session before asking the new students to resume,” he said.

    The current calendar accommodates two weeks break, but to Al-Mukthar Shata, a 200-Level student, wanted the management to cancel the break to abridge the calendar.

    Abubakar Atiku, another student, noted that the resumption of freshers while the returning students are yet to conclude the session would create transport and accommodation challenges on campus. “I am only concerned about accommodation and transportation to and from campus if freshers are allowed to join us. I know how expensive squatting is; where are they going to keep the new students?” he quizzed.

    Mubarak Ibrahim, 500-Level Agricultural Science, urged the management to show concern for returning students, saying: ”If the management’s aim is to consider the admitted students, they should let them wait until after we finish the current session before they resume; the idea of a concurrent session would be unbearable for us.”

    Despite the concern by students, the authorities believed that the new calendar was fixed in the best interest of the students. The Dean Students’ Affairs (DSA), Dr Ibrahim Magawata, said running two sessions would not cause academic chaos, noting that decision would only affect the freshers.

    “The decision of the management would not cause confusion and I can assure you that it will only affect the 100-Level students because of lectures. Moreover, the management has awarded contracts to build more lecture halls to cushion the challenge of lectures,” he said.

    On whether the institution would encounter accommodation and transportation challenges, Magawata said the university would do its best to reduce the problem, adding that provision of accommodation by the authorities was a privilege for students.

    He said the agreement signed by the Federal Government and ASUU made provision for new hostels to be built in all universities, adding that UDUS would benefitted from the policy when government starts implementation.

    Magawata said: “A standard semester has 16 weeks of intensive lectures, which is what we are doing here. Go outside the country, that is how it is done and we are not going to compromise this.”

    Meanwhile, Students’ Union Government (SUG) has promised to do everything within its capacity to ensure the calendar is reviewed. The union president, Usman Maizare, said that he would do everything to prevail on the management to amend the calendar.

    He said: “One of the steps I have taken is to mobilise all the student leaders in the school to write letters concerning this development to me, which we will then forward to the authorities. On the semesters that are to be run simultaneously, I have not been officially informed about this. We can only deal with fact and note hearsay.”

    Hauwa Ibrahim, a 300-Level student, urged the management to review the new calendar to prevent transportation problem that may arise. She said: “Now that the road to campus is under reconstruction, students will have to go to school through Illela route. But how would those coming from town not miss lecture? The management should review the calendar for us to finish by April.”

     

     

  • UNILORIN student wins competition

    UNILORIN student wins competition

    A student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Muhammed Abdullahi, has won the tertiary institution level of an essay competition organised by the Glorious Islamic Centre (GIC) in Lagos State.

    Abdullahi got an iPad for his performance, which was decribed as sterling.

    He thanked GIC for the opportunity, saying the communication gadget would aid his studies.

    “I am so happy because this is coming from an islamic organisation. It is quite encouiraging and I urge my fellow students to engage in such profitable ventures, especially like this type of comnpetition,” he stated.

    Adediran Farouk from Wings Private School, Iwo, Osun State also won a laptop for emerging the overall best in the Secondary School category while Abdulqadir Abdulsabur from Fadlu Omar Primary School got a Samsung Notebook for the Primary School category.

    The event, which took place at Adeniyi Jones Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos, also featured an yaerly lecture and graduation of some students of the GIC Skills Acquisition Centre.

    President of the organisation, Akin Laguda, said the competition was aimed at rewarding and encouraging brilliant students in higher institutions, urging governments at all levels to give education the priority it deserved.

    “We are using this competition as our own little way of making students useful to their society and I am glad that the turnout has been impressive over the years,” Laguda said.

    He called on well-meaning Nigerians and corporate organisationsto support the projects of the centre.

    He said the objective of the organisation was the promotion of peace, tolerance and the values of Islam by offering educational, medical and social services to the needy.

    A Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos, who was the guest lecturer, Dr Usman Ismail Akin, urged participants to stop worshipping money and fame.

     

  • Rector promises to improve on first term gain

    Rector promises to improve on first term gain

    The Rector of the Federal Polytechnic in Ado-Ekiti, Mrs Theresa Taiwo Akande, has begun a second term in office, following her re-appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited her office, she highlighted her achievements and challenges in the last one year, urging students should expect more from her.

    She appealed to the Federal Government and corporate organisations to support the polytechnic’s vision.

    For Nigeria to achieve sustainable industrial growth, she said, a high premium must be placed on technical and vocational education through funding.

    She said her administration in built infrastructure, trained over 700 staff in local and international capacity building programmes, improve staff welfare, got accreditation for all courses offered by the institution, developed entrepreneurship, raised the Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR), digitalised the school’s library and renovated classrooms and hostels.

    The Rector said the polytechnic signed an agreement with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, for an exchange programme for staff and students, noting that lack of fund remained the polytechnic’s challenge.

    She said the administration was ready to consolidate on its past achievements, saying that she was ready to listen to the needs of students.

    The Deputy Rector, Dr Nnamdi Aboloma, urged staff and students to join hands with the administration to realise the objectives of the institution.

    AN NDI student of Quantity Surveying, Aanu Omolara, praised the Rector for the massive renovation of the institution’s hostels and classrooms, saying the adminsitration should build more female hostels to accomodate the growing students population

  • 9000 applicants write ABU test

    9000 applicants write ABU test

    DESPITE the icy harmattan , no fewer than 9,000 candidates thronged the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, for screening for the 2013/2014 academic session.

    The four-day computer-based exercise held at the Faculty of Social Sciences, was not without hiccups. The institution’s computer exam facility could not accommodate all the candidates at once.

    CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the exercise was conducted amid tight security provided by security agencies, including Nigeria Civil Defense Corps (NCDC), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), policemen from anti-bomb squad and the university’s security personnel. Also, medical personnel were on hand to attend to emergency.

    On its first day, the exercise lasted for over 20 hours. The candidates arrived at the venue at 7am but the exercise ended at 4am of the following day. There were technical hitches, which stopped the examination for more than five hours. Citigrade Technologies Limited, an Information Technology company that conducted screening exercise on behalf of the university.

    Hauwa Musa, a candidate, who wrote exam for 14 hours, said: “The exam was okay, but it was held for too long.”

    Another candidate, Joel Phillip Bishop, said the exam was “okay”, but added there was a delay because of improper planning. Joel got to the centre at 6am and left the hall a few minutes before 9pm. He said: “Every candidate was psychologically disturbed because of the stress they passed through before the exam.”

    A parent, Mallam Mohammed Sanusi Ahmed, who brought his son for the test said the technical challenge that marred the exercise was not unexpected, saying: “ABU cannot plan to fail; that no matter how one plan, things might go wrong.”

    He advised the ABU management to analyse the exercise to identify what went wrong and how they could prevent reoccurrence of the problem in future examination.

    However, things changed in the subsequent exercise. Candidates that took the test on second and third day finished the exercise on time.

    Veronica Ejeh, who wrote the test, on second day, said: “The exam was good and the organisation was okay. There was no technical problem. The only problem I had was time; 20 minutes was not enough to answer 20 questions.” Veronica’s test lasted for one hour.

    Mohammed Nasir, another applicant, said: “There was no time wasted unlike the first day.”

    While some of them experienced hiccups while writing the test, accommodation was, however, made available to all candidates by the management. Suleiman Hostel, Amina Hostel and gymnasium hall of the university accommodated majority of the candidates that came from outside Kaduna State.

    The Students’ Union President, Abubakar Aliyu Rafindadi, monitored the sales of materials and food to the applicants to check vendors who may want to take advantage of the exercise to hike their charges.

    The Students’ Union Government (SUG) Consumer Regulatory Task Force patrolled the campus to prevent exploitation of the candidates.

    Meanwhile, the management has asked returning students to resume last Monday. The decision was taken at the university’s 459th meeting, during which 2013/2014 academic calendar was approved.

    The university was about to start second semester examination when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike started.

    The examination has been scheduled to start on January 13, this year. It will last for three weeks.

  • The dearth of quality research (II)

    In the past weeks, news media have been awash with the letter former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan. Hardly any day passes without reference to the content of the controversial letter. After digesting the content of OBJ’s letter, Jonathan replied, addressing some of the issues raised by the former president.

    My major concern here is not about the letter or its content, but on research, as the title of my piece portends. I had to stand this concluding part down because of the more crucial issue of the faceoff between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government on the state of our varsities; thankfully, the issues have been resolved, at least for now.

    I concluded the first part with these words: “Years of sowing mediocrity later manifested in dearth of quality research and scholarship as we started reaping the ‘reward’ through flawed leadership in almost every facet of our national life.” I had no idea then that the issue of controversial letters would give this article more potency. Why am I saying this?

    As a communicator, I have closely observed the way we do things here without weighing them on the scale of time – as far as we are concerned, the past does not matter. How many of the president handlers – I wonder – knew that on September 25, 2005 Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, former ‘firebrand’ governor of Abia State, once wrote an angry letter to Obasanjo? As a writer and historian, I recollected that the letter was published in some newspapers – as the present letters were. It is instructive to note that to date no response came from the former president or his aid; I however stand to be corrected if there was a response.

    The charges Kalu levelled against the former president included a call for him to explain why he revoked the contract for the building of the National Stadium in Abuja, which was approved to be built along with a five-star hotel attached among other allegations. The paucity of researchers in the presidency and the response shows clearly where we are today.

    In 1975, Eugene Garfield, founder of the Institute for Scientific Information came out with the Impact Factor (IF) module; the IF of an academic journal is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to recent articles published in a journal. It is frequently used as a proxy for the importance of a journal within specified fields. Journals with higher impact factors are deemed to be more important than those with lower ones. Since 1975, IF are calculated yearly for journals that are indexed in the Journal Citation Reports. Although high impact factored publications are hard to obtain, they are the closest objective means to access the productivity and promotion of researchers globally.

    As the citadel of advanced learning, research plays a fundamental role in the university system, in fact it is its lifeblood as lecturers are promoted by meeting research requirements. It is however worrisome that some Nigerian Universities have carried on to promote lecturers – sometime up to the cadre of professors – without serious consideration to this important global measure of scholarship. In some of these varsities, promotion had been based on the volume and quantity of printed articles mostly in local journals often reviewed by associates of the author. Are some of the researches published in these local journals relevant to the nation? This question is apt because it appears lecturers are only interested in having their ‘papers’ published oblivious of whether it makes an impact on the society or not.

    There is therefore a correlation between low quality education and the productivity of University graduates. The attenuation of quality invariably implies low quality graduates who cannot contribute substantially to the productivity of the economy. Today, millions of graduates in Nigeria are not employable because they lack employable skills and talents needed for a dynamic economy in the 21st century. As the graduate unemployment index soars, the indication is that the state of university education is worsening. This ugly trend is worsened by the fact that Nigeria has not defined her position in a fast globalising economy.

    If we have to play on the global scene therefore, we have to conform to global standards because barriers have been broken down and one standard applies to the world. For instance, indices used in assessing the best Universities in the world include: teaching strength and research; international reputation; teacher/student ratio; research impact which is calculated by measuring citations in bolometric indices per faculty member – that is a measure of articles published in international journals by Lecturers of the Universities -, and the proportion and percentage of international Students and international Staff on the Undergraduates and academic Staff roster of the Universities. How many of our varsities can boast of meeting these requirements?

    I will now try to situate where the problem lies. Innovations come from research that is why advanced economies spent money on research. But Nigeria spends a pitiable 0.1 per cent on research and development. Federal Universities spend about 1.3 per cent of their budgets on research. The implication is that technological breakthrough or development for that matter cannot happen without engaging in basic applied research.

    In advanced and serious economies also, most research is funded by the private sector; as such research results may be commercialised for profit maximization. It is little wonder then that it constitutes a veritable catalyst for economic development and advancement, but we have unfortunately neglected this critical aspect of quality education. Today, no Nigerian university is on the list of the top 1,000 schools around the world in terms of publication of research output. In this age of the internet, it is quite appalling that most university websites are drab and uninspiring.

    One of the critical issues in the last ASUU/FG faceoff was the challenge of under-funding the University system. But beyond this, it is clear that lack of research skills in modern methods, dearth of equipment/materials for carrying out state-of-the art research will remain with us for some time.

    Lecturers are often overloaded with teaching and administration schedules which leave them with very little time for research. Besides, most Universities have difficulty in accessing research funds, and the young lecturers in the Universities have little or no mentorship because the senior professors have been forced out of the system because of the harsh environment.

    Yet we are playing on a world stage where the key indices used in measuring varsities, according to the World Economic Forum, are growth competitiveness index (GCI) and public institution index (PII). In GCI, Nigeria ranks 12 in Sub-Saharan Africa (SAA), and 87 in the world. In terms of PII, Nigeria ranks 20 in SSA and 98 in the world. GCI uses hard data and survey data for ranking educational institutions. On the other hand, the PII indicates the state of the country’s public institutions. Nigeria ranks below such less endowed countries as Cameroon, Namibia, Ghana and Senegal. The general perception is that Nigerian Universities are not well positioned to contribute effectively to productivity, growth and the national economy.

    In the USA, a typical ratio of research and development for an industrial company is about 3.5per cent of revenues; this measure is called “R&D intensity.” A high technology company such as a computer manufacturer might spend 7 per cent. Although Allergan (a biotech company) tops the spending table with 43.4 per cent investment, anything over 15 per cent is remarkable and usually gains a reputation for being a high technology company. Companies in this category include pharmaceutical companies such as Merck & Co. (14.1 per cent) or Novartis (15.1 per cent), and engineering companies like Ericsson (24.9 per cent).

    Where is our private sector in all this? Yet, the main importance of research is to produce knowledge that can be applied outside a research setting. Research also forms the foundation of program development and policies everywhere around the universe because it solves existing problems of concern, tons of which we have here.

  • Prince William goes to school

    Prince William goes to school

    Ostensibly worried that a 2:1 Master’s degree in Geography, a three-year career as a helicopter pilot and a great deal of gap year foreign travel might not quite equip him for running the 130,000 acres of land spread across 23 counties that make up the Duchy of Cornwall, Prince William is going back to college.

    Almost three centuries after his ancestor, George III, was nicknamed Farmer George and mocked for his interest in agricultural improvement and his herd of pedigree sheep, William, second in line to the throne and heir to the Duchy, will be heading for Cambridge University next week to become a full-time student of Agricultural Management.

    Although he will have up to 20 hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials a week, on top of essays and field trips, it will be a long way from the years he spent at St Andrews, becoming the best-educated royal in generations. The course, specially designed for him at the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, where his father is patron, will last for just 10 weeks.

    Will he be burdened with a student loan? A spokesman at Kensington Palace said the cost of the course would be met privately, adding that Prince William was greatly looking forward to commence the programme.

    The course, which does not lead to a formal qualification, is specifically designed to help him with running his estates, but will also take in wider agricultural issues.

    “The executive education programme of seminars, lectures and meetings will draw on the strengths of academics across the university,” the spokesman said, adding: “It will start in early January and run until mid-March, and has been designed to help provide the duke with an understanding of contemporary issues affecting agricultural business and rural communities in the United Kingdom.”

    Despite the busy lecture schedule he may face at resumption, it was learnt that William will still carry out a number of royal engagements.

    The prince, whose mother Diana famously described herself as “thick as a plank” and left school at 16 after failing her O-levels, studied at St Andrews – where he met his future wife, Kate Middleton – from 2001 to 2005. He left St Andrews with a 2:1 Master’s in Geography. His father was the first heir to the throne to obtain a university degree, but only managed a 2:2 from Cambridge.

    After university, Prince William completed 44 weeks of military training at Camberley in Sussex, and was commissioned as an army officer in 2006. He received his Royal Air Force (RAF) Wings in 2008, but left the service and his home on Anglesey in September, after completing his tour as Flight Lieutenant Wales, a search and rescue helicopter pilot. He is described by the palace as having “a transitional year” before deciding his next public service role.

  • Scholarship for pupils

    Scholarship for pupils

    AYouth Corps member serving in Cross River State, Kalu Amarachi, has awarded scholarship to two pupils of Salvation Army Secondary School in Calabar as part of her personal Community Development Service (CDS) projects.

    The recipients, Joy Asuquo and Daniel Eyang, got the awards after emerging overall best in their classes. The scholarship would cover their tuition throughout their primary education.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Amarachi, a graduate of Anambra State University (ANSU) said the event was organised to fulfill one of the Millenium Deveopment Goals (MDGs), which encourages universal basic education , adding that the gesture was aimed at reducing the burden on parents.

    “I conducted an MDGs NEEDS assessment in the school and discovered that about 30 percent of the pupils were orphans and lack adequate financial resources to cater for their learning needs. Hence. I decided to take up the challenge of funding their primary education through this award of scholarship,” she stated.

    Other projects executed by the corps member during the event included the donation of MDGs branded notebooks and noodles to pupils. She also taught the kids proper handwashing skills.

    She said the projects were successful because of her partnership with telecommunications giant, Globacom, Ene Akojom Foundation, Junior Chamber International (JCI), among others.

    Headmistress of the school, Mrs Odo Bassey, thanked the corps member for the gesture.

  • Ilaje students mark Eja Day

    Ilaje students mark Eja Day

    The National Association of Ilaje Students (NAIS) has marked its annual Eja Day in a ceremony held at the multi-purpose hall of Ilaje High School in Igbokoda, Ondo State. Ilaje students from across the country attended the event.

    Eja Day is a yearly event organised to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Ilaje people of Ondo State and to also educate youths who have lost touch with their culture.

    The event started with Ilaje anthem and an address by the national president, Segun Ekudehinwa, who praised his colleagues’ effort to make the day memorable. The president, who spoke on the history of the Ilaje people, said: “The primary occupation of Ilaje people is fishing. It is inherent in our blood. We are here today to show the world what we do.”

    The audience was entertained with cultural display by the association’s troupes from different campuses. A boat regatta was also performed amid folksong by Oluremi Ayeyemi, an undergraduate of Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, Osun State.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Komolafe Egbowon, a graduate of Edo State Polytechnic in Benin City, said the Eja Day was to give an insight into values Ilaje people espouse. He described the day as symbolic to the existence of Ilaje people.

    Olarotimi Omomuwasan, 300-Level Law student of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), said the day was a home coming for Ilaje students to promote their culture. He said: “It gives us the opportunity to sit with our political leaders to chart a new course. It is also an opportunity where some of us can meet our future spouse.”

    Making closing remarks, the Senate President, Taiwo Odidiomo, advised students not to forget their origin because of their exposure to other cultures. He urged the students to team up with the association to develop Ilaje land.

  • Awka North as food basket

    Awka North as food basket

    During the 46th annual meeting of National Committee of Heads of Colleges of Agriculture and Related Disciplines (NACHCARD), which was held in the Anambra State College of Agriculture, Mgbakwu in Awka North Local Government Area, the participants, among other things, reviewed the success and challenges of the nation’s agricultural industry.

    However, the forum, which observed the importance of agriculture and its immense benefits to the nation’s economy, took a note that the country’s food industry has not fared better in recent times.

    Dr Balarabe Magaji Jahun, Provost of College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, who was part of the meeting, regretted that despite the enormous resources in the country, Nigeria is still importing agricultural produce, a development affecting the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) negatively.

    He was quoted as saying: “We import about N2 billion worth of rice every day in this country. Our agricultural imports are worth about $11 billion yearly. God has given us everything we need to stop importation of agricultural produce and products in this country. We have the requirements to stop importation. And half of the importations of agricultural products stand at about 40 per cent of our GDP.

    Should we continue like this?”

    Another participant, Dr Paul Nwadukwe, regretted that Nigeria had not faired any better, noting that our agricultural sector had declined rapidly. He stressed that if urgent attention was not taken to arrest the situation, the country could experience massive starvation.

    Certainly, one does not need to be told that the forum was not happy with the lukewarm attitude of the Federal Government towards the very important sector of the economy. A critical study of agricultural development in Nigeria’s geopolitical zones shows that each zone has something peculiar about it.

    For instance, the North still maintains its groundnuts, beans and cattle production. The East can boast of having palm fruits, rice and others while the West specialises in cocoa farming. At the lower level, there is no place in the country that subsistence agriculture is not practiced. And this is where the state governments, with the support of the Federal Government, should give adequate attention, at least, if not for any other thing to reduce hunger which is currently ravaging greater population of Nigeria.

    There are numerous ways to achieve this. Looking at the local councils, it would be discovered that there are some of them faring better in agriculture. Their influence in the state economy would be glaringly indispensable. Certainly, when the agricultural potentials of these areas are harnessed, it would not only reduce hunger in and around the locality, but it would also reflect in the country’s economy. Employment opportunity would equally be opened for the energetic and enterprising youths, thereby reducing crime in the process.

    One of such areas endowed in agricultural potentials is Awka-North Local Government Area. In terms of land mass, the council has got a chunk of fertile land with adequate manpower for every productive task. Stories about the council need not be told much as the area has carved a niche for itself. There is no household in Anambra State (and possibly beyond) that food crops produced in Awka-North do not reach.

    Yes! They are farmers and one should be proud to belong to the set of people who feed the nation. In the United States, a few farmers that produce food for Americans have a special place in their heart because without them, the country may lose grip of the position its occupies in the world.

    Aside the food crops, some of the communities have natural ponds that produce about 33 per cent of fresh water fish being eaten in the state. Amanuke community alone has about 3,021 large ponds. The neighbouring community of Ugbene which has Ezu River, while Ebenebe, Amansea, Awba-Ofemmili, Ugbenu all have ponds including large rivers.

    There are too may benefits which can be gotten from Awka North. Little wonder the state government moved its College of Agriculture to the area, perhaps, for it to help train agricultural extension workers that would assist the zone in that regard. The government has been working to ensure that the school is equipped to serve not only the need of the zone but the state.

    In the words of Dr. Foluke Oluwatoyinbo, the chairperson of NACHCARD, who visibly was amazed at what Governor Peter Obi is doing in the school, said: “We are highly impressed by what the Anambra State Government is investing in this place. And we want them to know that it is an investment that is worth it because it’s going to yield fruits.”

    Certainly, it would yield fruits if the management of the school wants it to. It is equally laudable that the governor has brought the Songhai farms at Urum community. Aside the benevolence of the governor, more could be done to harness in its totality the agricultural potentials of Awka-North. The Federal Government can also utilise the opportunities offered by this council.

    Small scale agro-allied companies can be built. Fertilisers should be made available to the farmers while low-interest loan should be made available to the interested farmers. Agricultural extension workers should be sent to educate the farmers, while quality seedlings should be made available to them. International Agencies which are interested in agriculture should find their ways to this zone. If these and more are done, the agricultural potentials of Awka-North Local Government area can be harnessed for the good of all.

     

    •Mmduka is a student of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

  • Honour for student-broadcasters

    Honour for student-broadcasters

    The reward for hard work, according to the saying, is more work. For the student-volunteers working for the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) Radio 94.1 FM, more work awaits them as they were honoured for their excellent contribution to the development of the radio station.

    The students were rewarded with gifts and cash prizes during 2013 Day of Excellence programme organised by the media outfit. The week-long event was also to celebrate success of the UNIZIK 94.1FM, which recently won Best Campus Radio Station in Nigeria.

    The activity began with courtesy visits by staff and student-volunteers to media houses in the state, including Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), Silverbird Rhythm 95.7FM and Purity FM.

    The ABS General Manager, Pastor Ginikanwa, said the feat was well-deserved, adding that he would suspect foul if the station had not won. He promised to initiate partnership between the ABS and UNIZIK FM, while praising Vice Chancellor, Prof Boniface Egboka, Director of the station, Prof Kate Omenugha, and the radio’s Manager, Mrs Ify Obi, for their efforts in achieving success. He urged them to put in more efforts to maintain the achievement.

    At Rhythm 95.7, the Head of News Department, Andrew Thomas, who spoke on behalf of the station, hailed the campus radio’s achievement, saying it was big feat for the six-year-old media organisation. The Purity FM management showered praises and encomiums on the campus station.

    The UNIZIK FM hosted the Rhythm 95.7 FM to a novelty football match, where staff of both radio stations engaged themselves in a physical exercise. The match ended 3 – 0 in favour of the Rhythm FM. Thomas, who featured in the match, said the game was about forging partnership between radio stations in the state.

    Penultimate Friday, all roads led to the UNIZIK’s Mass Communication Complex where members of staff of the campus station were rewarded for their contribution to the development of the outfit.

    The chairman of the event, Chief Dike Ibemesi, a broadcaster and lecturer of the department, said the success of the radio station should not be seen as its best, urging the staff to remain committed to excellence and keep the station at the top.

    Prof Omenugha appreciated the Vice-Chancellor for supporting the station. The Head of Mass Communication Department, Dr Ify Dunu, said she was excited by the station’s feat for beating stations such as University of Lagos (UNILAG) FM, which was established long ago before the UNIZIK station and better equipped.

    Mrs Obi announced the moment everyone was waited for. She told Prof Omenugha and the General Manager of Purity FM, Mrs. Miriam Menkiti, to present the awards.

    In the Best Programme category, Literary insight anchored by Elochukwu Ezeumeanya and Ekene Ezeumeanya was adjudged the best. Best English Presenter went to Ikenna Nwokedi while Best Igbo Presenter went to Elochukwu Ezeumeanya.

    Other winners included Benjamin Ani (Best Disc Jockey), Benjamin John (Best English Newscaster), Chibuzor Okoye (Best Igbo Newscaster) and Chidiebere Ndukwe (Best News Editor).

    The Best Reporter prize went to the duo of Benjamin John and Oby Okeke, who had a tie. Award for Most Consistent Programme went to Good Morning UNIZIK anchored by Pilot 1.

    The award for Most Resourceful Volunteer went to Chiagozie Udeh, while the star prize of the day – Most Reliable Volunteer Worker – went to Chidiebere Ndukwe. He won a brand new laptop, who was given out by the Vice-Chancellor.

    Mrs Obi congratulated all the winners, urging them to continue to work hard for the success of the station. Those that did not win were advised not to relent in contributing their quota to the development of the station.

    The winners expressed gratitude to the management for recognising their efforts, stressing that the honour would spur them to make more sacrifice for the development of the station.