The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • IT gadgets for security outfit

    The management of University of Calabar (UNICAL) has donated a set of computers to the Calabar airport division of the Police Neighbourhood Security Relations Group. The donated computers included one HP desktop computer, Mercury Uninterrupted Power Supply appliance, one Laser Jet Printer and a Mercury 2000W stabilizer.

    Speaking during the presentation, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof James Epoke, stated that the gesture was a demonstration of the institution’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and partnership in joint welfare and security assurance initiative.

    The VC, who was represented by his deputy on Administration, Prof James Utsalo, explained that crimes were bound to happen in any community made up of people from different backgrounds. He appreciated the efforts of the team in combating crime around Etta-Agbor-Airport axis and hoped that both parties would benefit maximally from the partnership.

    Responding, the chairman, Community Safety Partnership Community Policing, Dr Awak Anam, noted that the partnership was an off-shoot of the community policing project launched by the Federal Government in July 2004.

    Anam explained that the project was aimed at bringing the police to partner with genuine members of the public for effective crime control and prompt service delivery. He disclosed that sensitisation workshops with members of the public started after about 14 internal workshops intended to partner the community chiefs, elders, youth leaders, churches, schools, neighborhood support groups as well as hotels and motor park operators.

    He enumerated some achievements by the group to include checking police brutality and lack of respect for human rights as well as unlawful arrests and detention of citizens.

  • NYSC group trains pupils

    The Peer Educators’ Trainers Club (C-PETs), a group of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, has held a reproductive health workshop for students of El- Shadai International Secondary School, Ikirun.

    The workshop with the theme HIV education: A panacea to teenage pregnancy effects among secondary schools was held to underscore the importance of adolescent reproductive education among teenagers.

    According to Michael Ashang, the coordinator of the community development group, HIV education was pertinent to prevent and manage the epidemic among teenagers. The club spoke on different topics, aimed at providing factual information on adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.

    Ashang spoke on the myths, misconceptions, and meaning of the deadly disease, adding that out of 100 per cent incidents of HIV/AIDS, about 80 per cent were teenagers and adolescents with age ranging from 13 to 19 years.

    Sule Olanrewaju, the organising secretary, spoke on the socio-economic impacts of HIV/AIDS and its management. The publicity secretary of the club, Peace Echendu, spoke on the transmission, prevention, and symptoms of the viral disease.

    At the end of the workshop, a director at the school, Pastor O. Oladimeji, praised the group for considering the school for the programme. Oladimeji said the seminar would help teenagers in the school to increase their self-esteem and make decisions that would affect their lives positively.

     

  • The final act

    The final act

    When they were admitted into the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), they were eager to identify with their departments. But, after they wrote their final exams, they all chorused: “we have conquered”. They employed different sobriquets in renaming their departments to announce their impending graduation from the school.

    The graduating students of English called themselves “the connoisseurs”. The inscription on their customised t-shirts read: “Great Ife just unleashed a connoisseur. Me!” A lecturer in the department, Dr E.T. Babalola, on sighting the students, exclaimed: “The outside world should be ready for an impending invasion.”

    That was the excitement at the OAU, last week, when graduating students moved round the campus to bid their junior colleagues farewell.

    After their final exams, songs of celebration wafted in the air as the students moved out of the exam halls. In groups, they moved from one hostel to the other, singing and dancing with live bands trailing them.

    They chanted songs such as Mobo lowo won (I have escaped from their traps) and Four years don waka (Four years have gone), which were sung by popular hip-hop artistes, D’banj and Eldee. They also sung the school anthem and gospel songs. They waved to their junior colleagues amidst cheers, telling them to “read your books”.

    The traditional ‘baptism’ was not missing. Male students residing in Fajuyi and Awo Halls came out with buckets of water to “baptise” their graduating colleagues. The departing students were drenched in all sorts of liquid.

    For Agriculture students, their final exams marked their departure from the bush. They called themselves Cabaleros, Spanish for conquerors. For those in Zoology, it was time to fly out of the zoo. They nicknamed themselves the Aquila Chrysatos, a species of eagle. The list goes on.

    “It was a long walk to freedom”, said a student of English because the final exams were supposed to have been written last year.

    Oladele Madamidola, a former president of the National Association of Students of English and Literature (NASELS), described his experience on campus as great. He said: “A lot has been said about my department but I must add that the place is like a refinery; you pass through it and you become a refined gold. You never remain the same.”

    John Odeyemi, a former Editor-in-Chief of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), said: “It has not been easy but we give glory to the Almighty God. But I am not going back home the way I came here. I came here as an innocent, but I am no longer one. I came here as a gentle boy but I have turned to an agitator.”

    A graduating student of Microbiology, Joseph Oluwaseun, said he would never forget arriving for 8am lectures by 4am to avoid standing during the classes. Ifeoluwa Olojede, Fine and Applied Arts, said he would not forget roaming the length and breadth of the campus for seven days before he finally got to his department for registration.

    On what the labour market holds for them, Samuel Adegbola, the outgoing president of Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), said the onus lies on the graduating students to showcase what they were taught in school.

    “OAU has deposited something valuable in us, which will make us stand tall among our contemporaries; we have been prepared not only to handle responsibilities with a touch of success, but also to always make our alma mater proud of us,” he said.

    To Dara Olajide, OAU is a platform for self-discovering. “This is a place where you shape your destiny. The department of English has been both challenging and dream-shaping for me. I will miss all my classmates, especially the ones that have impacted positively on me.”

  • ‘How to make democracy work’

    ‘How to make democracy work’

    It was not all academic activities at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria last week. On Saturday, the Faculty of Law hosted the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar. The labour leader was the guest speaker at a public lecture organised by Human Rights Club, a students’ organisation in the faculty, which promotes students rights on campus.

    As early as 9am, the expansive hall of the Centre for Islamic Legal Study (CILS), the lecture venue, was filled to the brim. The Law students sat neatly with staff of the faculty, awaiting the labour leader’s arrival.

    As Omar stepped into the hall, students stood up to catch a glimpse of him. He was received by members of executive of the club.

    In his lecture entitled: The role of Nigerian Labour Congress in the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria, Omar noted that the establishment of the labour organisation predated Nigeria’s independence. NLC, he said, was formed in 1912; the amalgamation of Southern and Northern protectorates came two years after.

    During the struggle for independence, Omar said the labour union was at the front of the vanguard that fought the British colonialists, adding that the organisation had been a pressure group since its establishment over a century ago.

    He said but for labour’s struggle, the country would not have gained freedom at the time it did. The comrade paid glowing tribute to Michael Imoudu, the first president of the labour organisation, whose contributions, he said, led to the independence of Nigeria from foreign rule.

    According to Omar, the NLC played a prominent role in the sustenance and deepening democratic practice in Nigeria. He said the organisation fought the military regime to a standstill including the regime of Ibrahim Babangida.

    “It was the Labour Union that came out openly and said no to military rule in Nigeria. The NLC fought strenuously against Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced by the Babangida regime,” he said, adding that corruption remained the scourge making democracy impracticable in Nigeria.

    “When Mrs Farida Waziri was appointed the chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), she visited me. During our discussion, she showed me the list of corrupt individuals in the country. She said Nigeria needed prayers to free it from the shackles of corrupt individuals that prevent its progress,” the NLC leader quipped.

    Omar said the establishment of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) by government was to weaken the power of NLC, adding that successive governments had tried to create parallel labour unions in states to check the “legitimate activities” of the NLC. If this is achieved, Omar said, the labour union would be at the mercy of governors.

    The comrade noted that for democracy to work in Nigeria, there was need to expunge Section 308 of the Constitution which shields elected public officers from prosecution while in office. He said the NLC was not only fighting for the increment of salaries of Nigerians workers but it was also playing A role geared towards strengthening the economy of the country.

    Dr Kabir Issa, a lecturer from the Department of Local Government and Developmental Studies, ABU, who also spoke at the programme, said only revolution could save the country from the monster of corruption. He said Nigeria was lagging behind among its peers in termS of development and economic growth.

    In his address, the Secretary General of the club, Usman Ashafa, said: “It is a true assertion that Nigeria democracy lacks the true internal mechanism of democracy. We hope that after today’s lecture, everyone here will adorn himself in gown of struggle to fight for freedom.”

    Mustapha Katsina, 400-Level Law, said: “We as students are really surprised by Omar’s appearance in person at the public lecture. We are now forced to erase our misgivings about him. We were able to grasp some pivotal issues, which ordinarily we cannot think of. He is indeed a man of virtue and valour.”

    Muhahammad Abdulkadir, another Law student, said: “The lecture of NLC president exposed to a lot of controversial issues. I must say that personally I feel privilege to hear him speak.”

     

  • Paradox of faith-based institutions

    Paradox of faith-based institutions

    A few months ago, the media was awash with the report that the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) has completed its university – Mountain Top University. This is somewhat cheery news for Nigeria, especially the Christian population. The burgeoning youth population is in urgent need of more institutions to satisfy the desire to acquire tertiary education.

    It is often argued that many faith-based universities are better equipped than public institutions. Backed by churches with deep pockets and sincere commitment to improving the society, no expense is spared in the bid to acquire state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for the universities. The efforts have paid off as some universities are now ranked higher than many government-owned schools.

    Faith-based universities are also unique from another perspective. They profess to focus on the simultaneous development of the mental, spiritual, moral and physical make up of students – setting themselves apart from secular universities, which have no business catering for spiritual needs of their students.

    However, in the long run, this emphasis on spiritual training may prove to be their undoing. Public universities are training schools in moral and mutual respect. Apart from providing academic training, students – many of whom have lived with their parents all their lives – are brought in close contact with people from diverse backgrounds and belief systems.

    Sharing rooms and bunks with Christian northerners and Muslim southerners, for instance, facilitate a better appreciation of the diversity that exists in Nigeria. It creates room for respect and integration of people with strict backgrounds into society.

    Students in public schools are exposed to the many challenges of time and finance management, which help them to see how their choices directly affect the quality of their lives and how their choices affect their grades.

    However, this, to a large extent, is not the case in many faith-based universities. In a bid to ensure spiritual and moral development, the administrators of these institutions have taken over the business of making personal choices for their students. Young adults, who should ordinarily be left to decide how to spend their time and to take responsibility for their choices are made to live regimented life.

    Students in some of these universities only have access to school-controlled phone lines; they do not dare to be seen talking to ladies or holding hands in public. Exit from school premises is strictly controlled, and some of them attend up to seven services a week.

    This, in my opinion, defeats the very purpose of university education. University graduates are expected to have learned some wisdom by themselves in order to live independently in society. They must be balanced people, who can tolerate and live with people of different backgrounds and beliefs. They must be responsible people, who can make informed choices and live with the consequences.

    There is a need to strike a balance. The desire to provide faith-based qualitative education must be balanced with a healthy appreciation of the need to train responsible and tolerant graduates. Until this balance is reached, faith-based institutions will continue to contribute to the imbalance in the society.

  • Are they worth dying for?

    Recently, “Bieber trend” hit the Twitter social media. Some fans of Justin Bieber, a teenage American pop star, were cutting their body parts and uploading pictures of the injury on Twitter with the tag cutforbieber. This was in an effort to stop the pop star from smoking marijuana.

    Bieber was allegedly caught by the Paparazzi’s camera, smoking Indian hemp with another pop star, Lil’ Twist, who was an artiste on Young Money music label. Bieber’s fans, knowing the implication of this behaviour, took actions to stop him in a rather ridiculous way, hurting themselves in the process.

    A few days after, it was reported that a camera man was crushed to death while he was trying to take a picture of the pop star. Bieber, probably, did not care whether someone had died because of his abnormal act.

    Late last year, a video of Nicki Minaj’s tour surfaced on the Internet. A fan was videoed trying to touch her waist, a move that prompted one of Nicki’s bodyguards to attack the fan with punches. The artiste looked on, showing no sign of emotion. The video reminded me of the late Michael Jackson’s immortal song, All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us.

    A few months back, 19-year-old Sonia Jumbo was suspended indefinitely from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana where she is studying. The reason was not unconnected with the erotic pictures she posted on Twitter, which showed herself and Davido, a Nigerian hip-hop star in a compromising position.

    People have been stampeded to death, fainted, or injured at concerts where their favorite artistes performed. Ladies have thrown caution to the wind, offering sensitive body parts as surfaces for autographs of morally-deficient artistes. In the process, they make themselves cheap and voluntarily allow the perverts to have a taste of the ‘forbidden fruit’.

    People hurt themselves and injure others over sweat-soaked shirts, shiny wristwatches, free musical compact disc and other useless souvenirs thrown by artistes at concerts. Just recently, at the much-publicised Koko Concert, people were asked to pay N15,000 to take pictures with their favorite artistes. A VIP table went at a higher price. At the Summer Jam Festival last year, it cost Nigerians a staggering N500,000 to sit on the same table with Rick Ross, an American rapper.

    This piece will not be complete if I forget to condemn the manner tweeps – as Twitter users are called – beg artistes for “follow-backs” and abuse others on issues related to their favorite artistes. However, the fact remains that these artistes do not care if these people exist.

    The artistes, on their part, see themselves as tin gods of sort, basking in the attention and generally feeling as if the world revolves around them. Some even see their position as an opportunity to dole out insults to fans that would not lick their feet and tell them what they want to hear.

    An allegiance to any cause, whether music or art, is good but when it turns to obsession then something is wrong somewhere. Going to concerts to support one’s favorite artiste is good but when one does to his own detriment, then it is not worth it. Entertainment is a good thing but when one’s favorite artiste sees himself as more important than God, then one must back down.

    When a fan’s life-savings is given out to sit at the table with Rick Ross or to purchase VIP ticket, then such a person needs help. It is the people that attach importance to these artistes. They are not supernatural human, but we are wont to see them in that manner.

    Imagine, Cross River State government reportedly paid $200,000 for Nicki Minaj to perform at the recently-held Calabar Carnival. That is approximately N30 million. Our own Eva Alordiah would put up a nice performance if paid around 15 per cent of that amount. Now, I understand the reason there are more Akpans and Ekaettes earning their living by working as house helps.

    Let us think of the children that can be taken off the street with $200,000. Let us think of infrastructure that can be put in place. Let us think of scholarships that can be given out to the less privileged. Let us think of the widows, the impoverished and the sick on hospital bed.

    Chris Brown recently stormed Nigeria after he was paid almost $1 million. But our countrymen and women continue to suffer for lack of basic things. Must we live fake lives? Who are we trying to impress? Davido’s musical career continues to soar but Sonia’s educational career is dangling. Who is at a loss here? Are these artistes worth dying for?

     

    Adebisi, 200-Level Language Arts,

  • Language as barrier to Africa’s progress

    Language as barrier to Africa’s progress

    If the technologically-advanced countries of the developed world were to introduce stringent trade agreements against countries, which do not have the technological knowhow to power their economies, what would become of countries on the continent of Africa which depend so much on these advanced countries for its technologies?

    I pray that such does not happen because majority of countries in Africa would be thrown back to the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Africa is a consumer and not a producer of technology. Most of the technologies we use to power our ‘developing’ economies are imported from the developed countries. In fact, Africa won’t exist again when it comes to world technology.

    It dampens my spirit to know that there has been no meaningful, sophisticated, widely-acknowledged technology that my fellow African created. How do we, then, change the notion that our continent is the dumping ground for faulty technology? What do we do to develop our own technological identity in this scientific epoch?

    Pundits have suggested various measures, which governments in African countries can execute to enhance the development of indigenous expertise. Some people have accused African governments of not showing interest to support individuals who have shown ability to invent simple gadgets. It is often said that such gifted individuals are usually discovered by the whites, who provide them with resources in abundance to produce high-tech gadgets, which, in turn, will be sold to Africa at higher cost.

    However, it should be known that there are many whiz kids in our continent, who are ready to shock the world with their skills and invents. But the fact that many of them did not go to school or understand English language limits their capabilities to bring out innovation in them.

    It is no news again that one of the basic problems that bedeviling the continent of Africa is language. Language, as has been seen in certain countries, is the basis of development. The language of instruction in most African countries is a European language. This is likely to create problem for many pupils, who may have wanted to be taught in their mother tongue.

    Professor Babs Fafunwa, in his research, was able to prove that a child learns better when taught in his or her first language. His discoveries were considered by the Federal Government and were incorporated into the curriculum for primary school pupils. According to National Policy on Education (NPE), pupils should be instructed in the first three years of their education in their mother tongue or a language of wider coverage in their area of domicile.

    This policy is not effective, especially in private schools where the teachers always instruct pupils in English language. In such schools, pupils are even compelled to communicate with one another in English; students who are caught speaking vernacular (as Nigerian indigenous languages are often referred to) are punished. Some public schools also engage themselves in this reprehensible practice. This is usually done in order to make sure that the pupils are able to speak English fluently, thereby increasing enrolment in such schools.

    Most students do not understand theoretical ideas explained to them by teachers in school. They only cram them to pass their exams and this is the reason why they cannot use the knowledge to produce any meaningful thing. The ideas of how to develop meaningful technologies of our own are with us on this continent but we have not yet adopted them.

    How do we make students understand ideas coded in foreign languages and use them to invent meaningful technologies? How do we make the ideas incorporated into our various cultures? How do we blend complicated foreign ideas with ours, which would make us to create beautiful things? The road to this end is language.

    Many have argued that African languages cannot express scientific ideas, claiming that the majority of the ideas are not found in Africa. These people often claim that most of the terms used in the science do not have equivalents in African languages.

    To me, as a student of language, this argument does not hold water. First, ideas do not need to be found in a society before they become part of it. Secondly, words of a language do not need to have equivalents in another language before they become part of it. Words like ‘algebra’, ‘alcohol’ (both from Arabic), ‘afara’ , ‘agogo’ and ‘fufu’ (from Yoruba) were not rooted in English lexicography. But now, they have been adapted and incorporated into the English dictionary.

    All of the terms used in the sciences could be made to have equivalents in African languages, if the leaders of the continent are ready for this daunting challenge. It has been proven in linguistics that there is no one-to-one correspondence between language and what it expresses. If this is true then we can use any word to refer to anything. So, the ideas that African languages do not possess equivalent scientific terms in English should be dropped.

    To make African students understand science in African languages, both the African governments and the people, especially academics have crucial roles to play. Lecturers in tertiary institutions, especially those in language discipline should focus their researches in this area.

    The governments should also make necessary efforts to make every student learn their indigenous language at every level of education. African languages should be included in the curriculum of education. In my opinion, it is only when scientific ideas are effectively adopted in our culture that we can begin to make progress in indigenous technology.

  • Ekiti students inaugurate leaders

    Ekiti students inaugurate leaders

    The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife chapter of the Federation of Ekiti State Students’ Union (FESSU) has inaugurated its new executive. The ceremony, which was held last week, was attended by members of the federation, who thronged to the venue.

    The incoming president, Temitope Orebe, promised to promote the welfare if the members. Temitope, who is a native of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government and 400-Level Law student, advised students to take their primary assignment seriously, urging members to uphold what Ekiti State is known.

    He promised to carry out programmes, which would address the needs of the member, assuring that bursary and scholarship allowances would be paid regularly.

    Though, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bamitale Omole, whi is a native of the state, was absent but lecturers from Ekiti State were present including the immediate past president of the association, Dada Oluwasheyi.

  • Music dept holds conference

    Music dept holds conference

    The second biennial National Conference of Music and Performing Arts (NACOMPA) will take place at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) between May 6 and 11. The conference, according to a statement by the Head of Music and Performing Arts department, Dr Sam Chukwu, will feature arts review, writings, concepts, theories, model programmes, performances, research and social events of the past in order to understand the present.

    The conference, which is being organised with the theme Passover pedantry: Contesting the state of musical arts in Nigeria will be used as a reference to project the future of the musical arts and life in Nigeria.

    The organising committee observed that it was becoming obvious that what transpired in national life in the past decades was no longer a reliable guide to today’s occurrence. The organisers said as the exponents of the musical arts in Nigeria, there was need for new frameworks to understand changes around in the society. They posited that old views of issues remained the impediment for people to adjust to the imperatives of today.

    Other activities of the event will include paper presentations, workshops, poster presentations and musical concerts.

    In a related development, the annual International Biotechnology Conference of the International Scientific Board of the UNN was held last week.

    The coordinator of UNESCO Biotechnology Centre Project in UNN, Prof Jerry Ugwuanyi, noted that stakeholders and experts in Biotechnology from the region and beyond addressed critical issues on food security and disease research in Africa.

    The keynote speaker was Prof M. Nalecz, Director Basic Sciences and the Executive Secretary of the International Basic Science Programme (IBSP), who came from Paris, the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

     

  • College matriculates freshers

    College matriculates freshers

    Freshers admitted by the Ekiti State College of Health and Technology, Ijero Ekiti, have been matriculated. The ceremony was held last week on the campus. The programme, which started at 10:30am, had families and friends of matriculating students in attendance.

    The Provost, Pastor Bayo Ojo, in his speech, urged them to promote good conduct within and outside the school. He said: “You are not only here to be built academically but morally and mentally. It would be best if you behave yourself as worthy ambassadors of your respective families and this institution.”

    The Acting Registrar, Mr R.S. Aluko, who administered the matriculation oath on the students, said the freshers should count themselves lucky because “you being here is an opportunity which I advise you to handle with care”.

    “There are a lot of people out there, who are seeking admission into the college. Over 2,000 applicants applied to study various courses but we found only 778 of you worthy,” Auko stated.

    The Ajero of Ijero-Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Adewole, welcomed the students to the Ijero community. He urged them to shun all vices that would disrupt peace in the community, stating that members of the community were always helpful to students.

    Chinedu Best, an indigene of Anambra State, who was admitted into Medical Laboratory Technology department, said: “I am happy to be here. I chose the college because of its standard and the dedication of Ekiti people to academics. I urge the state government to put more effort in the area of infrastructure on the campus.”

    The ceremony ended with parade by returning students of the college.