The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • UNILAG students honour Ngozi Agbo

    The second Memorial Lecture in honour of the former CAMPUSLIFE Co-ordinator, the late Mrs Ngozi Agbo, has been held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). The lecture, which was organised by the Press Club of the university, took place in the board room of the Faculty of Social Sciences with the theme: Becoming a successful campus writer.

    The guest lecturer and the Editor of The Nation, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, spoke on how students can be successful writers. He was represented by Wale Ajetunmobi, the Co-ordinator of CAMPUSLIFE.

    Ajetunmobi , who recalled how he met the late Mrs Agbo, noted that CAMPUSLIFE is a life-transforming platform floated by the newspaper.

    The Industrial Chemist turned journalist said the late Mrs Agbo carved a niche for herself in discovering and building the youths for a better future, saying there would not have been a platform where undergraduates would converge to air their views if the honouree did not initiate CAMPUSLIFE project.

    He described campus journalism as a nascent form of journalism being practiced by students of higher institutions across the world. He added that campus journalists write on issues related to campus life and people, including student-lecturer, student-student, lecturer-lecturer, student-management and student-host community relationships.

    He said: “To be credible, a campus writer must discharge his role within the purview of campus with courage and openness, without compromising his responsibility to the students on whose side he must always be.”

    According to the speaker, the ethical code binding a professional journalist, such as objectivity, fairness, openness, credibility and accountability, also applied to a campus journalist, which he described as interface between the students and management. He, however, cautioned that campus journalists should not write to paint the management as the devil all the time.

    Mr Damilola Ademola, a graduate of Microbiology, UNILAG, and former CAMPUSLIFE reporter, who is a post-graduate student of Mass Communication in the university, took the audience through his adventures and the reasons why he left the field of natural sciences to pursue a course in journalism at the post graduate level.

    According to him, the late Mrs Agbo inspired and nurtured him through CAMPUSLIFE platform during his undergraduate days. Ademola said the inspiration he got from the gesture prompted his decision to veer into journalism.

    The event was attended by students and some staff of the university.

     

  • Candlelight for NANS Five

    It was an emotion-laden scene last Wednesday when students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State gathered to mourn five officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), who died in an auto crash on their way to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, to mediate the crisis at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO).

    Donald Onukaogu, a student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and Senate President of NANS, on June 14, died alongside Abdulazeez Kabir Oladimeji, University of Ibadan (UI); Jerry Sorkaa, Benue State University (BSU); Japhet Duru, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede (NEKEDE POLY) and Asa Ejiate, Delta State University (DELSU).

    Joined by NANS officials from other campuses, the students held a candlelight procession for their fallen leaders. The procession started at the OAU gate with a minute silence. Afterwards, the mourners moved round the campus, singing dirges.

    Student-leaders and NANS officials from OAU led the tributes’ session, which made the procession emotional.

    NANS President Yinka Gbadebo of OAU was absent, but he was represented by the Secretary General of the association, Daniel Momodu, 300-Level Political Science OAU.

    In his tribute, ‘Daniel said: “Their death is our collective loss and it is on this note that we call on all Nigerian students and our colleagues at the University of Uyo to always remember these martyrs, who lost their lives in efforts to protect the interest of the students.”

    The mourners urged the Federal Government to compensate the families of the late students’ leaders, because “their death is irreparable”. The deceased were described as heroes, who fought for the oppressed.

    The National Co-ordinator of Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Taiwo Hassan, said the students’ death should be seen as a nudge for NANS to unite and convene a national congress to tackle what they called police brutality against students.

    Present at the event were Samuel Adegbola, former president of Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), his successor, Aderemi Ojekunle, chairman of OAU Students’ Union Transition Committee, Ayo Shedrach, and Steven Olajide, General Secretary of the committee. Others were Sheyi Babaeko, Tunde Badmus, Jamal Oladapo and Oluwatobi Omisakin, among others.

  • Man arrested for distributing nude photos on internet

    A man who kidnapped and stripped naked a 22- year-old female undergraduate student of the University of Lagos State, Akoka, for refusing to date him
    has been arrested by operatives at the Lagos State Police command.
    The suspect, identified as Babajide Bashorun, 22, a dog breeder, also allegedly raped the student and took snaps shot of her nudity.
    It was gathered that few days after the incident, the pictures were all over the internet.
    The pictures allegedly had the girl’s name and surname, her university, age and department.
    The Nation learnt that the victim did not know of the internet post until other students on campus who saw it started telling her of her nude
    pictures which they saw on the internet.
    Sources said some of her relations abroad saw the pictures and called her parents, who were unhappy about the incident.
    The matter was reported at Adeniji Adele Police Station from where operatives moved in and arrested Bashorun.
    Detectives are also hunting for two other students of the institution, identified as Aje Mayowa and Babajide Ademuyiwa, both 400 level students
    in the department of Architecture, for their involvement in the crime.
    Our correspondent gathered that during interrogation Bashorun said after he took the snap shots of the girl, sent them to Mayowa, who in turn
    forwarded it to Ademuyiwa.
    He said the latter (Ademuyiwa) was responsible for the pictures’ distribution on the internet.

  • Logo contest’s winners get cash prizes,tutorial

    Logo contest’s winners get cash prizes,tutorial

    They came for their token cash prizes but Olugbenga Adejoro and Oluwaseyi Ayoade – the winner and runner-up respectively in the Sonala Olumhense Syndicated column logo competition – got a bonus.

    Competition Judge,  Ogbenyi Egbe, creative director of Harpostrophe Limited (organisers of the competition), acknowledged in Nigeria’s computer graphics sector as a whiz,  before handing out the cash – $300 to Adejoro and $200 to Ayoade – gave them what could qualify as a master class.

    Ayoade, who was the first to arrive, was told, among other things, to consider a focus on infographics: “Being a mass communication student (of Bowen Student) and interested in graphics, it makes sense to begin, if you have not already, to take more than a passing interest in infographics.”

    Infographics “are graphic visual representations (through maps, charts, graphs, etc) of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.”  He was further told: “So, when your counterparts are telling stories in words, you are communicating same in graphics. That’s your competitive edge.” He was advised to find newspapers such as the USAToday, which have perfected the art, and learn from them.

    Adejoro, a master’s student in industrial design at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was advised to “think out of the box for solutions to Nigeria’s challenges which you can apply industrial design to.”

    He was advised to acquire knowledge beyond the four walls of the university: “read books, teach yourself, join discussion groups, watch documentaries and features on innovations.”

    A good example:  CNN’s Inside Africa  recently featured a young Nigerian architect, Kunle Adeyemi, who designed and supervised the building of a floating school at Makoko, a coastal slum in Lagos. Inside Africa also recently featured Ruganzu Bruno, an Ugandan eco-artist who built a playground for children from using recycled materials. Bruno’s words should be an inspiration to anyone with innovative inclinations:  “I think a man will always be remembered by his work.”

    The Sonala Olumhense Syndicated column is expected in July

  • FG to ‘foot’ NANS leaders’ burial

    FG to ‘foot’ NANS leaders’ burial

    The Federal Government will foot the bills for the burial of five leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students who died last week in a ghastly motor accident in Abia State.

    The NANS executives, who were travelling to University of Uyo to mediate in the crisis rocking the university, died when their bus collided with an oncoming truck. Seven other persons were seriously wounded in the crash.

    Speaking in Umuahia when she visited the surviving members of the executives, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, said the federal government has concluded plans to take care of the burial expenses of the dead NANS leaders as well as the medical bills of the surviving victims.

    Rufai, who is in the state to ascertain the condition of the crash survivors, said that she was happy with their recovery rate and extended President Goodluck Jonathan’s condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.

    Responding on behalf of the crash survivors, Benjamin Adekunle, thanked President Jonathan for showing concern to their plight and the gesture he has extended to them since the accident occurred.

     

  • ‘Govt can’t enforce rationality’

    ‘Govt can’t enforce rationality’

    Can government or any other entity enforce rationality on humans without affecting the course of justice? The poser was subject of the discourse at the Forum for Intellectual Entrepreneur organised by African Liberty Organisation last Sunday. The seminar was held in the hall of Methodist Primary School, Oshodi, Lagos.

    Emile Phaneuf, a libertarian from the United States, who delivered a paper titled Defending liberty against arguments of human irrationality, believed that by nature, humans are rational and are free to be irrational, saying government did not have a right to help people think rationally in choosing choices. He said if people could choose from ranges of options without interference from the government, why would any entity or authority claim to possess a right to enforce rationality.

    He said rational model of decision in International Relations held that all levels of decision-makers made decision rationally by weighing options, calculating risks and competing interests, from which best or the least bad option would be chosen. The framework, he said, should be used as model to predict human behaviour at all levels.

    Phaneuf dismissed the argument put forward in Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness co-authored by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, that it is possible to steer people’s choices in the direction that will improve their lives. He said influencing people’s choice would make them lose their freedom to choose independently.

    Using drug addiction to explain rationality, Phaneuf said a drug addict preferred a short-term pleasure to a long-term health, adding that nobody could contest the choice because the drug user would have weighed various rational options before taking to drug.

    He said: “If human are irrational, then it could be said that governments are run by irrationally-behaving humans and factions with many competing interests. Why then do government officials want to force irrational decision on other?”

    Concluding, Phaneuf noted: “When government operates outside the boundaries of protecting justice, justice itself is sacrificed. Life, liberty and property are sacrificed. If man was irrational before, try allowing any person or entity including government to think for him for a decade or two and then grant him his freedom, you will find that irrationality becomes more normalised than ever.”

    Earlier, the convener, Mr Dayo Thomas, said the seminar was held to promote entrepreneurship among the youths, stressing that without freedom to choose, there would not be liberty and justice in the society. Participants at the seminar included Corps members, students and industry professionals.

  • ‘The police came to kill us’

    ‘The police came to kill us’

    Thick smoke billowed in the air as some properties were torched at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) in Akwa Ibom State, following the death of a student during a protest last week. KAZEEM IBRAHYM, SAM IBOK and JOY RIMAN report.

    It was a black day last Wednesday at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) in Akwa Ibom State, following the death of a student during a protest. The demonstration started as a solidarity rally by students early in the morning. It continued into the afternoon. But, before evening, it degenerated into full-blown violence, following the student’s death on the arrival of riot policemen invited by the management to disperse the protesters.

    The students were protesting what they called “bad policies” of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Comfort Ekpo. They were protesting, among others, the introduction of N2,000 General Study (GST) course fee and the hike in transport fare from mini campus on Ikpa Road to the permanent site at Nsukara Offot in Nwaniba, Uyo. The university management jacked up the fare from N100 to N200.

    The students went round the campus, calling the authorities’ attention to their plight. The protest turned violent when the riot policemen arrived. The police fired teargas canisters and shot sporadically to disperse the protesters. In the melee, a 200-Level Zoology student, Kingsley Umoette, died.

    On learning about Kingsley’s death, his colleagues went wild, destroying school properties worth millions of naira. Private properties were not spared.

    The students and the police have been trading word over what led to Kingsley’s death.

    A member of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), who pleaded not to be named, said a security agent shot Kingsley. He said Kingsley’s “killing” drew the ire of the protesters who torched the offices of the VC Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (VC) (Academic) and Records.

    A visit to the city campus showed that 12 vehicles, some of them owned by the university, were destroyed.

    Other properties destroyed included equipment in the Exams and Records Unit, Finance and Accounts, Internal Audit and Cash Office. The Computer Maintenance Department was vandalised and hard discs and other facilities removed.

    “We were only throwing pebbles, sachets of water and bottles but it was obvious that the police only came to the scene to kill us. They (the police) were shooting sporadically and firing tear gas at us. They fired teargas canisters into the female hostels. Many of our female students got injured. Their bullet killed Kingsley,” the anonymous SUG official said.

    But the police said they could not explain what killed Kingsley because his body was brought from the campus to the road where they were stationed during the protest.

    Police spokesman Etim Dickson said more than 45 protesters, including UNIUYO students and their colleagues from the Federal Polytechnic, Bida (BIDA POLY) and Madonna University, were in custody for the riot.

    “It has been established that one student died during the (last Wednesday) protest by University of Uyo students. A 200-Level Geology student died. We were able to get this from the students who brought the body from inside the campus to the road.

    “You know we cannot enter the campus, we have to be outside. It was the protesting students who brought the body to us on the road and it was collected from them.

    “The mother of the deceased has come to us. She made a statement. I want to say one 200-Level student died. The cause of the death we don’t know yet.

    “Also, about 45 other students coming from different universities were arrested. Some of the students arrested during the protest came from BIDA POLY and we also have some from Madonna University.

    “What killed the boy from inside the school we don’t know. They only dropped the body on the road because they said they wanted to carry the body to Government House and we told them not to do so; it is not their duty and we collected the body from them.”

    On the students’ claim that a trigger-happy policeman shot their colleague, Etim said: “Let the students find out who shot the boy and at what point. They will claim but investigation will prove. Even there is a big charm tied to the left wrist of the body. I don’t know whether it is a modern wristwatch.”

    A former Dean, Faculty of Arts, UNIUYO, Prof Des Wilson, blamed the management for allowing the protest to fester till the evening.

    “I also believe that the management of the university did not do the right thing because I am told that the protest started in the morning before 8am. Why was it allowed to fester till late in the evening because I was told that the students started burning things around 5pm.

    “What happened? What was going on between the students and the management? I suppose there were lapses along the line that made such destruction possible. I am unhappy about the loss of a student’s life,” he said.

    A student from the Faculty of Science, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “We resumed for second semester only to hear that we will now be receiving lectures at the university’s permanent site. We were told that the management had brought in a private firm to handle transportation from the mini-campus to the permanent site but at the rate of N200. They also asked us to pay N2,000 for GST. Why such unholy increment?”

    While conducting Governor Godswill Akpabio round the vandalised properties, Prof Ekpo said the school introduced the fare on the recommendation of a committee. The panel members discussed and agreed on the payment of new transport fare by the students, she said.

    Prof Ekpo said the school decided to increase the transport fare from N100 to N200 from the mini-campus to the permanent site after students on the committee brought a transporter to the school authority for approval. She wondered why the students later went on protest.

    Akpabio called for “full investigation” into the riot to bring the perpetrators to book. The governor described the riot as “criminal, targeted and pre-meditated.”

    He observed that miscreants took advantage of the disagreement between the school and the students to wreak havoc, saying that it was a pre-planned arrangement by the miscreants who pretended to be students of the institution.

    Akpabio said: “This act is a disaster. My observation here is that the destruction of the buildings was targeted at the 20-year-old school records and examination results. It was a pre-planned arrangement by miscreants, who are ‘professional students’ using the opportunity of the peaceful protest to raze buildings where the school’s academic records were kept.”

    Speaking during the visit of the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Chairman, Inter-ministerial Committee on Campus Safety, Prof Adebisi Balogun, decried destruction of properties by protesters. He said the protest that claimed a life was beyond increment in transport fare.

    He said: “Since this university came to being in 1991, we have never experienced this type of destruction unleashed on the school. Therefore, a lot of things must have gone wrong. We don’t want to pre-empt any investigation but definitely we cannot say because of N100 that a whole campus is burnt down. No. There is more to it than meet the eye.”

    He appealed to students to always employ the option of dialogue.

    Monday Jimoh, 200-Level Agricultural Engineering, told CAMPUSLIFE: “The policemen, who were supposed to calm the situation, were the people shooting at students.”

    “We were not armed but the police came with all sorts of ammunition to a peaceful protest embarked upon by the students,” Victor Albert, a final year Engineering student told our correspondents.

    The university has since been shut.

  • The supermarket dialogue (2)

    The supermarket dialogue (2)

    One prominent feature about our nation – which we all identified during our discussion – is our “fear” of facts and figures and using them to solve problems. We simply abhor these and prefer to use emotions and ethnicity to confront fundamental issues. If the power situation is deplorable, get a generator; if there’s no water to drink, sink a borehole (that is for those who can afford it); if our hospitals are “mere consulting clinics” (apology to the late Gen Sani Abacha), fly abroad for your treatment; if our education standard has fallen, go abroad and get quality education. This can go on and on. Just like I concluded last week, we all agreed it has almost everything to do with leadership failure.

    I thought by now the Federal Government would be using the facts and figures in its mid-term report in which it set the exams, marked the question paper and gave itself a pass mark with its unique marking scheme to argue this point. But, rather, its spokesman is busy using uncouth language against the opposition. All of a sudden it appears the government has jettisoned the report for the next item on the agenda.

    Another example is in carrying capacity of our tertiary institutions. The Federal Government recently announced plans to set up what it called “mega-universities” in each of the six geo-political zones. Under the scheme, a designated university will be upgraded to increase its absorptive capacity, such that it could admit between 150,000 and 200,000 students yearly. This means that the six mega-universities will absorb up to a maximum of 1.2 million students.

    And what is the logic behind this? Prof Ruqayyatu Rufai, the Minister of Education, complained about the limited admission spaces for the 2013/2014 session, which we all know about. It is on record that 1,735,720 candidates sat for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in April. It is estimated that only 520,000 students will finally be enrolled. Good statistics, but that is not the whole story. Was the government expecting the whole 1.7 million candidates to pass the examination? To try to answer this question, it would be appropriate to allow the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) have the last say from the results of their “marking script”.

    A breakdown of the results released by the examination body showed that 80,419 results were withheld for possible disciplinary measures and 40,692 were cancelled for not answering the questions properly. Only 10 candidates got high score of 300 out of 400 obtainable (did you get that, only 10!); 628 scored between 270 and 299 points; 571,298 scored between 170 and 199; 103,489 scored between 160 and 169; while 127,017 scored less than 159 points. Just as 704,622 scored between 200 and 249, 33,115 also scored between 250 and 269 points. If we are to follow this reasoning, is the “mega universities” the solution? What we are dealing with is chronic systemic failure and not infrastructure. And don’t for one minute get me wrong, I am for infrastructural development as anyone who follows this column knows. But the issue we are grappling with here has to do with quality and not quantity. Somebody somewhere is definitely missing a fundamental point; it is not all the 1.7million candidates that have the requisite entry qualification for admission. Again, this is beyond the tertiary education sector; we should be looking at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) whose results often paint gloomy pictures of our educational sector.

    Nigeria has 129 universities, comprising 40 federal, 38 state and 51 private institutions. Besides, there are many Colleges of Education running degree programmes that are affiliated to universities as well. Given what I pointed out earlier, it is obvious that government’s preference is on quantity, not quality. But it is glaring that it is quality that made varsities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, the Sorbonne and others of global renown. Viewed against the backdrop of inadequate funding of universities, the mega universities idea simply misses the point.

    This issue of quantity was also what informed the recently released cut-off mark for Unity School released by the Federal Ministry of Education (FME). I put it forward to my fellow supermarket discussants, but one of them accused me of cooking up figures or being plain satirical; but it is a fact. For the avoidance of doubt, I’ll run readers through the entire state by state list.

    According to the FME statement, pupils who scored above the following cut-off marks (in the last common entrance examination) based on their state of origin and are eligible for admission into Unity Schools: Abia–Male (130), Female (130); Adamawa:–Male (62), Female (62); Akwa-Ibom:–Male (123), Female(123); Anambra:–Male (139), Female(139); Bauchi:–Male (35), Female(35); Bayelsa:–Male (72), Female(72); Benue:–Male (111), Female(111); Borno:–Male (45), Female(45); Cross River:– Male (97), Female (97); Delta:–Male (131), Female(131); Ebonyi:–Male (112), Female(112); Edo:–Male (127), Female(127); Ekiti:– Male (119), Female (119); Enugu:–Male (134), Female (134); Gombe:–Male (58), Female (58); Imo:–Male (138), Female (138); Jigawa:–Male (44), Female (44); Kaduna:–Male (91), Female (91); Kano:–Male (67), Female (67); Kastina:– Male (60), Female (60); Kebbi:–Male (9), Female(20); Kogi:–Male (119), Female (119); Kwara:–Male (123), Female (123); Lagos–Male (133), Female (133); Nassarawa:–Male (58), Female (58); Niger:–Male (93), Female (93); Ogun:–Male (131), Female (131); Ondo:– Male (126), Female (126); Osun:–Male (127), Female (127); Oyo:–Male (127), Female (127); Plateau:– Male (97), Female (97); Rivers:–Male (118), Female (118); Sokoto:–Male (9), Female(13); Taraba:–Male (3), Female (11); Yobe:–Male (2), Female (27); Zamfara:–Male (4), Female (2) and FCT Abuja:–Male (90), Female (90).

    Dear readers, how ridiculous can we get in this country? That a score of less than 10 out of 200 total marks would secure admission for candidates from Sokoto, Yobe, Taraba, Kebbi and Zamfara states whereas even a score as high as 130 is not enough for candidates from Anambra, Enugu, Delta, Ogun, Imo and Lagos states is beyond comprehension. Remember also that it is from this list that we have the raw materials for our universities.

    Again, I’d like to state emphatically that I’m fully in support of assisting states that are educational disadvantaged to help bridge the gap with their advanced counterparts, but policies like this do not begin to address that. It only opens the door wide for the highest form of mediocrity that does not have a place in the national, not to talk of the global arena. Yet, we want our students to compete on the global scene. Do our policy makers know what globalisation actually means? Boundaries have since collapsed and everyone is expected to play by global standards, principles and best practices, not emotion! I simply cannot fathom this sort of absurdity in which a mark of two (can you beat that!) will secure admission for a boy from Yobe while his counterpart from Anambra would need a score of 139 to gain entrance into the same school!

    The lacuna we have in leadership, which policies like this has thrown up, has to do with human capital development. John Gardner, an eminent educator and political reformer, whose belief in society’s potential was his guiding force, once said: “In questions of mind, there is no medium term: either we look for the best or we live with the worst.”

    Indeed, the reality in Nigeria has been that since we abandoned looking for the best, we have had to live with the worst. If you can recollect that a military head of state once told us that the best candidate may not win the presidential election in Nigeria, then you will understand why we have had, in the words of Gardner, to live with the worst.

    I listened to a radio interview with Mr Femi Falana (SAN) recently where he pointed out that most Nigerians have still not come to terms with the leadership crisis we have in the country which has permeated all facets of our system. He mentioned in that interview that the case of forgery against some journalists from Leadership newspaper brought by the Federal Government was thrown out of court because some prosecutors in the Federal Ministry of Justice charged the journalists in the wrong court! That is how low we’ve sunk.

  • ‘My dream is to outshine Chimamanda’

    ‘My dream is to outshine Chimamanda’

    When did you discover that you can write?

    I cannot really remember because writing is a passion that I have been nursing since I was in primary school, even though the environment I found myself did not encourage me then. I remember when I was in Primary 6, I cut cardboard papers into different sizes and started drawing pictures on them; I used that creatively to design the cover-pages for my books. With this memory being the earliest and freshest, I will say that was when I discovered that I could write because I could do so many things back then.

    Which was your first book?

    My first book was Tackle Your Obstacle.

    What prompted you into writing the book?

    I will say my passion gave birth to the book. In fact, when I was a freshman in my department, I realised that creativity was going into extinction and there was little or no student-writer. This and my strong desire to be an author prompted me to write and to tackle every obstacle that stood on my way to publishing my first book.

    What informed the theme of the book?

    It is a motivational and inspirational book that deals with the major facets of life, success, failure, greatness, friendship and others. Many people can do so many things but because they see some barriers before them, they may think their dream is not achievable. This book is written to give such people inspiration to achieve their hearts’ desires.

    What can you tell us about Sunset At Mid-day?

    It is an anthropology of Nigerian poets, which I co-authored with three other young writers. It is a poetry collection that preaches hope, relief, calmness and coolness to the worried youths and elders in the midst of political instability, religious strife and kidnapping in the country.

    How did you get sponsors for your book?

    It was God that helped me in that aspect. He opened the doors without which sponsors would not have come in. Also my church helped in no small measure. In fact, my publisher is from my church and that made it a lot easier for me as a young writer. My parents, Mr and Mrs Kingsley Nwanne, also played a very crucial role in sponsoring the work.

    Who is your role model?

    My role model is the late Prof Chinua Achebe. Since his death, Chimamanda Adichie has taken his place simply because her style of writing, majorly her power of description, inspires me to think that Achebe is still alive. I intend to take over from Chimamanda in years to come.

    What are your plans after graduation?

    I intend to go into full-time writing and public speaking. I will attend seminars and conferences to promote the art of writing and creativity.

    Who are the target audience of your works?

    There is no particular target audience for the books because they deal with problems facing people in life generally. As far as you are part of this planet, the book is mainly for you. But I must say that Sunset At Mid-day is particularly for those who appreciate and understand the language of poetry.

    What is your advice to budding writers like you?

    I want them to know that with God, all things are possible.

  • Corps members donate facilities to school

    Corps members donate facilities to school

    Three Corps members, who recently completed their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, have donated facilities to their place of primary assignment as parting gifts. The beneficiary school is the Government Junior Secondary School, Lafia, Nasarawa State.

    The facilitates included a staff room with furniture built by Abdullahi Rabi Umar, a single classroom block built by Kolawole Olajide, and a four-room toilet block built by Hakeem Adebumiti.

    One of the Corps members, who spoke on behalf of his colleague said: “The main reason why we embarked on the project was our desire to effect change in our places of primary assignment. We believe that we must leave our footprints on the sands of time. We thank God that our dreams were fulfilled before leaving this place. We also appreciate the host community for its co-operation during our service year and in the course of these projects.”

    On how the project was funded, Kolawole said: “We got funds from individuals, corporate bodies, government ministries and Lafia East community. The school was also supportive of the project he submitted.

    On the challenges of the project, Rabi said: “The major challenge was in the area of getting sponsors to finance the projects. Yes, we had good intentions, but if there were no sponsors for the projects, it would have been the end. So, let me seize this medium to appreciate all those who contributed meaningfully to the success of our projects.”

    While inaugurating the project, the Nasarawa State Commissioner for Education, who was represented by the Director, Administrative and Supply in the ministry, Mr Thomas Ogiri, praised the Corps members for distinguishing themselves in their service to their father land and the state.

    The Principal of the school, Hajia Asabe Audu, who eulogised the Corps members for their initiative, said the school and the community were witnessing such development for the first time.

    The NYSC Co-ordinator in the state, Mr Stephen Alabi, who was represented by the NYSC Head of Community Development Service, Mr Emmanuel Atoh, thanked the community and the school for their support towards the success of the projects.

    He said: “Nowadays, there are many fraudsters, who may want to hide under the guise of doing personal project, these three Corps members have proven their integrity that they could be entrusted with public funds.”