The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • Case for corporate governance in capital market

    Corporate governance refers to the system of administration of a company by its board and managers, which engenders accountability to the benefit of the shareholders and the customers. It involves regulation of the firm’s operation and defining the role and relationships of each arm. By so doing, the firm is strengthened. The goals are also clearly defined.

    On the other hand, capital market, according to Oxford Business Dictionary, is a market in which long-term capital is raised by corporate bodies, the government and local authorities. The money comes from private investors, insurance companies, pension funds and bond.

    The origin of the Nigerian capital Market dates back to the colonial era. The recognition of the role of capital in the production process and economic performance of the nation led to the effective and efficient combination of factors of production to ensure sustainable economic growth. To meet with the growing financial need in the administration of the then fledgling nation, the colonial masters decided to expand the frontiers of revenue generation.

    In the bid to make fund readily available, it was necessary to establish a self-sustained financial system domiciled in Nigeria. By the end of 1957, the colonial administration had promulgated the General Loan and Stock Act and Local Loan (Registered Stock and Securities).

    On March 19, 1996, the Federal Government of Nigeria appointed the panel on the review of the Nigerian capital market – the Odife panel – which was billed with responsibility to examine the state of the Nigerian capital market and formulate a framework towards improving on the its achievement.

    Today it is believed that the development of the Nigerian capital market can be catalysed through good corporate governance. This will bring out innovative vision, processes and structures to make decisions that will be beneficial to it on long-term basis. Thierry Buchs said: “Good corporate governance is the glue that holds together responsible business practices, which ensures positive workplace management market place responsibility, environmental stewardship, community engagement and sustained financial performance.”

    The application of the principle of corporate governance will take the Nigerian capital market to a greater height. This will provide avenue for the right and equitable treatment of shareholders. This principle of corporate governance will provide practical guideline for best practices, including protection of shareholders, board, investors and other stakeholders.

    The Nigerian capital market provides veritable avenue for private enterprises to raise investible head start for the expansion and opening of businesses. Entry of private firms into the market will continue to make a difference in terms of economic development, which was why the stock market was deregulated many years back.

    Though, the capital market, like other sector of national economy, has been beset with many problems. These problems are both endogenous and exogenous. The exogenous challenges resulted due to the external control of the market. Over the years, the stock market has been seen as a pawn in the hands of politicians. This has affected the smooth operation of the stock market, which is supposed to be insulated from the influence of politics.

    The endogenous problems are those that are internally-induced in the market. But the challenges are amenable to change with improved operational procedures including the adoption of information technology through corporate governance.

    Some of these endogenous and exogenous problems are: the small size of the market; it has been traced to apathy of Nigerian entrepreneurs to go public due to the fear of losing control of their business. But if the principle of disclosure and transparency is applied these entrepreneurs will freely join the market there by solving that problem.

    Problems of the Nigerian capital market include the slow growth of securities market. This is due to lack of cooperation between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The recent accusation by the SEC Director-General, Mrs Arunma Oteh, against the former boss of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Prof Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, shows that the two market bodies are not working in tandem.

    Oteh accused Prof Okereke-Onyuike of mismanagement. The latter, in response, attributed the capital market crisis to the unwholesome activities in SEC and some commercial banks. She also told House of Representatives committee hearing the crisis that the “Rolex wristwatch” allegation by Oteh was diversion to justify the illegal invasion of the NSE by SEC in August 2010.

    To a discerning mind, all these developments are pointer to the fact that corporate governance principle, integrity and best ethical practice, are lacking in the operation of the capital market in Nigeria. Adequate application of integrity and ethical behavior rooted in the culture of corporate governance will help the two commissions to work together for the betterment of investors, economy and generality of Nigerians.

    The coming of Mr. Oscar Onyema as the NSE Chief Executive Officer, and Oteh as the DG of SEC must improve the deplorable state of the Nigerian capital market, which has been hobbled by financial meltdown and weak corporate governance. If it is ensured that visions, processes and structures play role in its operation, the capital market will continue to court development and growth.

    Ekene, 200-Level Optometry, IMSU

  • Why we honoured Akintola, by Oyo Students

    The Federation of Oyo State Students Union (FOSSU) and its Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso chapter, have explained why they held a post-humous award in honour of the former Premier of the defunct Western Region, late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola.

    The national Vice President of the union, Abdullahi Adeyemi, said the programme was to recognise the contribution of the late Akintola to the development of Southwest. Corroborating him, the president of the LAUTECH chapter, Ibrahim Oladele, said Akintola’s legacies as Premier and a role model to the youth in defending the unity of the nation must not be left to fade away.

    They spoke at the post-humous award organised in honour of Akintola. The programme took place in the expansive MKO Abiola Lecture Theatre in LAUTECH.

    The students also hinted the commencement of S.L. Akintola Distinguished Lecture, which will feature personalities who have excelled in their discipline. They said they would ensure the lecture begins this year. Abdullahi said it was disheartening that since the establishment of LAUTECH, there had not been academic lecture in honour of the late politician.

    The students honoured Akintola’s family represented by Ambassador Yomi Akintola at the event attended by the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Sulaimon Gbadegesin, Senator Ayo Adeseun, Oyo Central, chairmen of Ogbomoso South and Surulere Local Government areas , Hon. Olanrewaju Oladeji and Hon. Ibrahim Gbadeniyi respectively and Prof O.B.C. Nwolise, head of Political Science department, University of Ibadan.

    In his lecture titled Politics and good governance in temporary Nigeria: The role of the youth in ensuring good governance, Nwolise listed public education, enlightenment and mobilisation, campaigns, constructive criticisms and educative excursion as role of youth in nation building.

    The junior Akintola said he was proud of the students for considering it necessary to honour his late father. He equally promised to support the students’ cause and the actualisation of the Distinguished Lecture.

    Ladoke Akintola, a lawyer and politician, was born on July 6, 1910 in Ogbomoso and died on January 15, 1966 during the first military coup. He was the 13th Aare Onankakanfo of Yorubaland.

  • Law students win prizes in oratory contest

    The Liberty Chambers, one of the six chambers in the Faculty of Law of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, held her annual oratory competition last Friday. The contest, held in the faculty’s moot court, was attended by legal practitioners, Students’ Union officials and lecturers from various faculties.

    The exercise commenced early last year with the preliminary competition. The 12 participants got seven legal and quasi-legal topics assigned to them. After the preliminary, six contestants scaled through for the final phase of the competition.

    The chamber’s Director of Litigation, Uche Anichebe, told CAMPUSLIFE that the programme was envisioned two years ago during the tenure of Lord Chancellor Maduka Onwukeme. “He successfully organised the first-ever oratory competition in the history of the faculty. Then, it was wholly sponsored by Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru (SAN). That vision has taken a whole new form, because what started out as an inner chamber activity has now become an inter-chamber competition. This is unlike the maiden edition, members of all other chambers participated in this edition,” she said.

    The six participants made presentations on two contemporary topics: “State creation: Panacea to the underdevelopment of the South Eastern region” and “Euthanasia as an offence: To be or not to be”. The programme was divided into three parts, the first being the presentation on the first topic, the second was a lecture by Dr Elizabeth Orji, Staff Adviser of the chamber, and the third was the final presentation of the second topic.

    The finalists were at their best, thrilling the audience with their diction and oratory skills. The audience clapped intermittently as the finalists took on the topic. They were allowed to speak for six minutes.

    In her lecture on Sovereign National Conference (SNC), Dr Orji noted that the quest for the confederation of the SNC was an age long quest in Nigeria and several other nations. According to her, such quest begins after the breakdown of the prevailing system. She pointed out that the SNC may not be the magic wand that would salvage the Nigerian polity because “nothing guarantees the success of a revolution.” She said SNC had no sure guarantee for success, adding that the conference might encourage the breaking of Nigeria.

    After the lecture, the final segment of the contest commenced. The hallmark of the event was the announcement of the winners by the panel of judges and presentation of prizes to the contenders.

    Promise Mmaduboubu, 300-Level student in Equity Chambers, came first in the competition. She was presented with a certificate and brand new LG television amid applauses by the audience. The first runner up, Queen Agulefo, and the second runner up, Paschal Onyejelam, were presented with a brand new refrigerator and generating set respectively.

    Other contestants were given consolation prizes, which were Law text books and novels. Dr Orji congratulated the winners and encouraged the contestants who lost out. Promise said: “I thank God for making my dream come through. I am very grateful to Liberty Chamber for this wonderful platform given to me and other contestants to develop our public speaking skill. This is a very wonderful experience for me.”

  • Tony Blair’s moral burden on peace initiative

    Last November, the trio of Mr Tony Blair, former United Kingdom Prime Minister and founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Bishop Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury-Designate, and Ghazi bin Muhammad, Jordan’s monarch, launched a new faith-based programme to encourage reconciliation between Christian and Muslim communities in Nigeria.

    According to the trio, there have been deep divisions and tensions between communities in the country recent time. The main cause of the friction, according to them, included challenges of poverty and barriers of ethnicity, class and religion. This, to me, is a well-diagnosed problem not uncommon to the African continent.

    However, the solution does not lie on Mr Blair’s Faith Foundation because of certain reasons peculiar to this crisis. The challenge lies with our leaders to find solution rather than paying lip services to these fundamental problems confronting our dear continent. They are Africans, and this fact will make them to be able to tackle the problem from the African point of view.

    The foundation decides to embark on a plan of action with local Christian and Muslim faith leaders and young people to work together to build a sustainable co-existence through joint leadership and education. By this, the founder intends to break down religious and ethnic barriers, and give these communities the knowledge to resist extremists’ voices and ideology, and work towards a long-term peace in Nigeria.

    They intend to achieve this by bringing high school pupils together in 19 countries so they can learn from each other directly, learn to respect differences – not fear it – and ultimately replace conflict with cooperation.

    Generally speaking, this is a lofty and perhaps laudable project so to speak. We stand to benefit as Africans. Particularly, communities in Nigeria stand the chance of taking part in this project. However, this writer’s concern, as a critic of this project, stem from the fact that a person cannot approbate and at the same time reprobate.

    Where this happens, the character of the personality in question is in serious doubt. Taking a retrospective account of the political activities of Mr. Tony Blair in the last decade for instance, in relation to international politics, one wonders the moral standing of this leader. Etymologically, religion means bind together, oneness, togetherness and co-existence even as espoused by Mr Blair. This means whatever the difficulty, whether in politics or religion, dialogue remains indispensible method of settling differences.

    I recall the sad story of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the United States. Thousands of innocent people were maimed and slain that sunny afternoon. It was alleged that Osama Bin Laden and his al–Qaeda network claimed responsibility of that heinous attack on the American soil.

    After the attack, it is quite logical that a nation like US could not fold its arms without doing anything to bring the perpetrators to justice. President George Walker Bush and Blair, as UK Prime Minister, after the attack took a unilateral decision to go to war in Afghanistan, the purported hide out of Osama Bin Laden, defiling all international codes of ethic and diplomatic measures of the UN.

    The ideology of the war was to eliminate all forms of terrorism in the face of the earth. However, the posture and the impression created by the war-mongering West seemed to berate the people in the Arab world as worse terrorists who must be annihilated.

    To set the record straight, Osama Bin Laden and his Al–Qaeda network were only few among multitudes of Muslims, who knew nothing about the war and have been killed even with the Taliban forces of the defunct Taliban Government in Afghanistan who had fought not as accomplice of Osama Bin Laden but as forces safeguarding the territorial sovereignty of their dear nation Afghanistan.

    The insinuation this war created, to me has, to a large extent, pitched Muslims against Christians in the Arab world and by extension some parts of Africa. Had Mr Blair obeyed the wise counsel of the world leaders, the world would have avoided shedding the blood of the innocent souls, who are still crying in their graves.

    Lest we forget Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Messrs Bush and Blair accused Saddam of building “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, which, if given the chance, he would have destroyed the world. The forensic investigation led by then International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chairman, Mr. Hans Blics, and his team of eminent experts, showed that there was nothing to believe that Saddam was developing nuclear arsenal with which to destroy the world.

    Let us ask Mr Blair whether he has actually satisfied the legal Latin principle of “affirmantin non negantin incumbit probatio”, which means literally, he who asserts the existence of a particular fact must prove? The same Mr Blair who was one of the two alter ago of those evil deeds against the peace-loving Iraqis has come with a massage of peace in Nigeria. The man, who thinks that Muslims are not worthy to live with and has over the years through his conduct, hiding under the canopy of anti-terrorism agenda killed Muslims around the world, is here with the free gift of peace. How I wish our leaders would hold him responsible in this part of the world. The innocent souls of the helpless Iraqis are crying to the enemy of Islam – Mr Tony Blair.

    I must say that it is disheartening that today, little attention is given to people whose moral character have question mark. Blair and his foundation have probably come with huge sums of money to induce us into believing that he is a Sacred Cow. The question is: if Mr Blair knows Christians and Muslims are meant to live in solidarity with one another, why did he support the killings of Muslims for more than a decade?

    Who knows whether David Cameroon and Obama have him as the Biblical John the Baptist to come and prepare the way for another war in Nigeria because of the presence of Boko Haram in some parts of the Northern Nigeria? Please I urge Nigerian leaders to take a drastic step to engage in critical dialogue with the sect in an effort to seek a lasting solution to the problem instead of waiting for Mr Tony Blair and his counterpart gay rights believer, Bishop Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury Designate, to complicate matters.

    Frances is a Ghanaian student studying Law at UNILORIN

  • Surviving first year in higher institutions

    Surviving first year in higher institutions

    The higher institution is a different world which cannot be compared with the secondary school.

    It’s an academic environment where your parents have limited access to monitor you. You mix with other students from different family backgrounds, religious beliefs and orientation.

    In real terms, one is faced with the first pressure of life and only the fittest survives because a lot will depend on the ability to cope with the new reality of life.

    As a ‘fresher’ (a newly admitted student), it will take some time to adapt to the new academic system. It is a responsibility that you will have to live up to because education is one of the necessary requirements for success in life.

    The institutions have their rules and regulations which you will have to obey. You will be exposed to certain behaviours and attitudes by some students and it takes somebody from a good family background to identify the good students and emulate them.

    You will have to adjust to another kind of lecture hours which is different from that of the secondary school. Life in the higher institutions is a journey that requires from you a sacrifice (your time and energy), focus, and commitment.

    It is advisable that you should move with the right friends. Friends will make you succeed and they can make you fail as well, so the choice is yours not your parents’ or your lecturers’.

    Ensure that you attend classes always and do not depend wholly on recommended text books. Though you must read them, but the lecturer’s explanation gives you a better understanding of the text books. Make sure you read ahead; get the course outline so that you will know the next topic to be treated.

    Find materials that will be useful to you. Take seriously your tests and an assignment which is sometimes 30% of your mark and the exam is 70% depending on your institutions’ policy.

    Make use of the library on a regular basis. Reading is not just enough but understanding what you’ve read. You should also have your own timetable and follow it at all time. Don’t read alone, read with your friends, and share ideas to expand your scope on what you already know. You will be amazed when others share their own understanding with you.

    A secret that you should get used to is that you should not dislike any of your lecturers. Your attitude towards them matters a lot. Have the right respectable attitude towards them.

    For the female students, you should not grant any lecturer unethical requests. Do not depend on their promises. Maintain your stand and don’t be used.

    Cultism in our higher institutions has led to the untimely death of some students. Others have become criminals through their involvement in the cult groups.

    You don’t need to be a member of any cult group to succeed in your academic pursuits. It is your character and behaviour that can attract or repel them. If you get involved in cult activities and you are caught, you might be rusticated and it will be difficult for you to get into another institution. Stay focused!

     

  • Who killed them?

    Who killed them?

    Just as it is with the larger society, unresolved murder cases also litter campuses nationwide. According to reports, no fewer than 60 students were killed last year by yet unidentified gunmen. Will their killers ever be found? WALE AJETUNMOBI asks.

    When they were admitted into institutions, the likes of the late Chimaobi Venamtius Mbaegbu perhaps would have gathered family members and friends for thanksgiving as well as parties to celebrate their admission. They would have dreamt of a better future.

    But before they could complete their studies, they were killed. In an ironic twist of fate, many who had gathered to celebrate their admission again converged to mourn their death.

    Some were killed almost immediately they entered school; others were murdered in their second and final years of study.

    The late Emmanuel Uduak was in 400-Level Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT MINNA) when he was killed last May. The late Uduak, who hailed from Akwa Ibom State, was to have gone on six months Industrial Training after the first semester exams before he was killed.

    In July, nine students of Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH), Yola, murdered their colleague, Emmanuel Aklahyel Shallangwa, a Diploma student of Computer Science, for allegedly stealing N11,000 belonging to one of them. The incident happened in Sangere village in Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

    There were conflicting accounts of who stole the money as some students insisted it was Adamu Dawarki, Emmanuel’s host, who stole the money but Emmanuel admitted to the stealing because “he didn’t want problems for Adamu.”

    Samuel Ikwuji, 300-Level Agricultural Economics, recounted how Emmanuel was murdered: “At about 11:30pm, on the fateful day, a group of students, armed with knives, sticks and broken bottles, stormed the hostel and started beating the late Emmanuel and his host, Adamu Dawarki, who is also a Diploma student. They continued beating the boy until blood started dripping from his nose. This was after Emmanuel had produced N5,000 and promised to bring the remaining N6,000 the next morning.”

    At Girei Police Station, where the matter was reported, an officer, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed police had made some arrests.

    Police are yet to unravel the circumstance that led to the death of Wunmi Adebayo, 100-Level student of English at Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ijebu Ode. Wunmi was allegedly killed by robbers that attacked Golden Estate, where she went to visit an acquaintance. But there was a rumour that she was murdered by her boyfriend after the deceased caught him and his gang with guns.

    The Public Relations Officer of Ogun State Police Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a text to our correspondent, confirmed the arrest of Wunmi’s boyfriend but denied that the suspect had confessed to the crime. He said investigation was still on.

    On Independence Day, students reading for their second semester exams at the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi (MUBI POLY) were called out one after the other and killed by yet unidentified gunmen. Thirty three students were killed in a mid-night attack in Wuro Patugi area of Mubi. Though it is believed that the assailants were Boko Haram extremists, some linked the incident to Students’ Union election.

    Five days after, the social media went viral with the video clip of the lynching of four University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) students. The gory incident showed the kind of relationship between students and their host communities.

    Mr John Odewale, whose 19-year-old son, James Ayodele, ND II Electrical and Electronic Engineering, was killed in MUBI POLY, said he was still in shock. He condemned the Federal and Adamawa state governments for not visiting the bereaved families.

    Speaking to our correspondent from Yola, Odewale said: “My son was tall, brilliant and a promising student, who was serious with his studies. I was ready to spend my last kobo on him before he was killed by wicked people, who don’t deserve to live among men.”

    “Since the death of Ayodele, I have not been myself because of the shock. I am just leaving hospital now and my wife has not been able to do anything since they killed Ayodele. You will be surprised that government, whether state or federal, has not issued a statement consoling the families of the victims. This is insensitivity because the students were killed over their inability to manage the security of the country. The only people that visited us were the management of the polytechnic, who brought N30,000. Is this a country?”

    On some campuses, many students have been killed by local militia groups but the killings have been kept away from the public. Even investigations into some of the reported cases have either not been concluded or abandoned by the police. The government has also been unable to arrest and prosecute those involved in extra-judicial killings.

    Months after the killing of these students, their bereaved parents are still weeping, especially as some of the suspects are believed to be walking the streets free. But the poser for the government and the police is: “who killed these students?”

  • Ripples over pimps on campuses

    Ripples over pimps on campuses

    When I wrote my piece on pimps last week I never anticipated the responses that followed, it came in torrents through SMS, emails and personal calls even though the instruction was for readers to send in SMS. Those that called apologized and said they will express themselves better through personal calls than other means; and in some of the instances, I had to put my phone on speaker so that I can take down notes from their reactions. While it will be difficult to accommodate all the responses in one write up, we’ll be having an open house today so that readers can have their say on this very thorny issue.

    Wait for this: have you heard of sale of kidneys racketeering by students of Nigerian Universities? They recruit their clients to foreign hospitals to ‘donate’ their kidney for a fee. They engage in rituals using their girlfriends on whom they lavish expensive gifts and money. One was competing with the Vice Chancellor of his University in the type of cars he rode as a student now he is a school proprietor in Southwest. Our value system has collapsed.

    Sola Akinwande

    Thanks for the enlightenment. “I don’t know” as an answer to a crucial question is always a safer way to dodge the obvious. Education is crucial in the lives of the citizenry and the economic development of a society. The government has continuously shied away from this fact and fails to establish the enabling system mechanism to ensure that things work out commensurate to the developed world. What do you expect of a student from a society with income per capital of less than $2.00 a day?

    When I attended tertiary institution in Nigeria in the 80’s, things had started falling apart and they were never checked. I have been one of the “Andrews” and things are totally different for me at present. Now the government is toying with educational deregulation! According to President Obama, things will get worse before they get better. For Nigeria, they will always be worse except the government wake up from its slumber and conduct the country’s business according to the dictates of a good constitution.

    In all the rambling and happenings, the government is to be blamed because as students and human being, survival is at the apex of their life matrix. According to Peter Drucker, the economist (1909-2005), carrot and stick management method is where the Nigerian government is missing the point. The business of government should be to create and enforce the laws. The laws should always be changed and revised to meet the challenges of the time. If there were student loans for tuition and living, strong laws to punish offenders, things will be better on our campuses.

    Prostitution has not been adequately categorized as an illegal activity in our society; though it is in the code, people who have been found to contravene it are treated with kid gloves. Professors, lectures and law makers are guilty of this. A product supply that has no demand will die naturally within the economics of demand and supply chain. Everybody should be accountable to the system!

    Parafima

    The problem of pimping in our tertiary institutions has come to stay. I am a staff of Ebonyi State University and I know there is nothing anybody can do to reverse the situation, at least in the next ten years as long as the forces that compel our youths to play the game are very much around us. Pimping as well as other social vices like kidnapping, armed robbery and terrorism is the unfortunate product of education without a basic foundation in simple morality. No wonder then that your anonymous caller saw nothing wrong in making millions out of pimping. Your column is an interesting one.

    S.O

    Mr. Agbo, I just read your column and I must say that even though pimping is not a business or profession anyone can be proud of, I do know that the majority of Nigerians have no moral high ground to criticize what these pimps do. Their clients are the so-called “role models” of society, Governors, senators, bankers etc. Are any of these corrupt people in private and public sector proud of the funds they steal? Would any of them be proud if their daughters are unknowingly brought in as one of these high class prostitutes?

    I think Nigerians should worry more about a society that would gather round an ex-convict to celebrate his release from prison for stealing public funds. These are the role models of these youth today or in the future when they enter the real world and realize their country has no jobs for them. How many people are proud of the jobs they do? I have a friend that has “pimped” his sister; I have another who said the last profession he would join is the Police. Not only is he in the Police as a recruit, he hates every minute of it.

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    Our leaders (both past present) are to be blamed for the moral decadence in our society. Why do they increase school fees arbitrarily, often without considering the poor in the society? Most of these people had free education during their time. How do our graduates survive the unemployment that has become the order of the day? God save us.

    Ojomo Vincent

    Parents are part of the problem. They just dump their children in school, not caring how they live. Some don’t even give enough money to their daughters. But it’s interesting to note that a lot of students still engage in legitimate business around the campuses.

    Jetro

    Sir, I just stumbled on Campus Life and encountered the painful development of aunty Ngozi’s exit. Accept my sympathy and may the good Lord uphold, strengthen and shelter you and the child she left behind. Amen.

    Be that as it may, the issue raised in your article on “pimps” is not only a terrible dimension of decadence in tertiary institution but a monster that is worse than HIV/AIDS. I’m pursuing my second degree in Law in UNILAG and I can sadly confirm and affirm to you that all hope seems largely lost on the issue at stake. I’m not a prophet of doom but as long as materialism and acquisitive disposition continues, pimping or whatever it is called would continue unabated. May the Lord be with you.

    Awopeju Idowu

    Why blame past leaders alone in this national malaise and disgrace. People given to blaming others for their situation are lost. It is a purposeless exercise to blame others for your predicament. Where were the people when these leaders were bastardising the system? They fold their arms and looked unconcerned.

    Have the leaders changed their ways of running every institution aground? No. So what have we done in spite of this? Nothing. Will things change on their own? Of course not. Will wailing and complaining change anything? No of course. This sort of situation can only take place in a film or in an animal kingdom.

    Let the blame game and complaining continue. To image what the future will hold for everyone is like a jackboot stamping on a face forever.

    Olawale Yinusa

    It’s nice and refreshing reading your article on university students and pimping. I am confident most Nigerians are not shocked or surprised about it. This is a practice that has been going on for years in this sector. I have used and have been invited to participate in the services and I can confirm that I am a happy customer. Moreover the students in question are” adults”. I am not sure what the fuss is all about.

    George Mbanefo

    I can say categorically that this doesn’t happen in the best university in The South west! Girls may prostitute but they don’t have pimps! Guys do runs but they don’t Pimp.

    Sir K

    The fact remains that our rulers and some of our parents are to blame for the moral decadence in our society, but that does not mean that we don’t have self-discipline students. May God help us.

  • A year of murder, protests and woes

    A year of murder, protests and woes

    For many students, 2012 could largely be described as the ‘year of the locust’, given the unsavoury events on some campuses. Will 2013 be different? WALE AJETUNMOBI writes.

    For many students, 2012 was an eventful year. It came with the good, the bad and the ugly.

    The year was heralded by a nationwide protest over the removal of fuel subsidy. Students played a frontline role in the demonstration at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota, a Lagos suburb, forcing the government to reduce petrol price to N97 per litre.

    But as the popular Yoruba saying goes, morning shows the day. At the dawn of 2012, many campuses were shut because of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

    The union declared an “indefinite” strike on December 4, 2011 to press the Federal Government to fuflfil the 2009 agreement it reached with the union.

    Some of the contentious issues include adequate funding of universities, assistance to states’ universities, increase of annual budgetary allocation to education 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020, increase in lecturers’ pay package, and amendment of the retirement age of academics on the professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years.

    Others are establishment of lecturers’ pension fund administration, reinstatement of illegally dissolved governing councils, setting up of research and development units in all universities, provision of laboratory equipment and classrooms among others.

    The lecturers called off the strike, 60 days after it started. Students returned to their campuses in excitement after weeks of being idle.

    As campuses settled down for academic business, students studying in the southern part of the country were welcomed by men of the underworld. Armed robbers laid siege to some campuses. On February 29, 2012, two robbery attacks at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) and the Babcock University jolted the students like a thunderbolt.

    Seven heavily-armed robbers invaded the sleepy town of Ilishan Remo in Ikenne, Ogun State to rob some banks and waylay students in Babcock University. Though no student was hurt in the incident, the robbers were said to have freely used deadly weapons, such as rocket launchers, sub-machine guns and dynamite, to break into the new generation banks on the campus.

    “It is an unbelievable experience, I don’t know how the boys came in. They carried big rocket launchers and dynamite. Before anyone knew what was happening, they had swooped on us, asking all of us to lie down. One of them even slapped me because I tried to look at his face. I cannot say the actual amount they carted away, but a rough estimate will be millions of naira,” an official of one of the robbed banks stated.

    On the same day, a new generation bank opposite UNIPORT main gate was attacked by robbers. A student of the university, who was using the bank’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at the time of the robbery, was shot and allegedly died later in a hospital. However, the police spokesman in Rivers State, Ben Ugwuegbulam, said he could not confirm if there any death was recorded in the incident but said “only one person was injured.”

    For months, banks in Ogun State did not open for operation, a situation that made students to nearby states to get cash, thereby increasing their risk to road accident.

    At the University of Lagos (UNILAG), a cab with registration number LM 162 AAA conveying students to their hostels exploded. The incident happened at the roundabout between Moremi Hall and the Department of Mass Communication. This upset the tranquility on the campus as students scampered for safety while others waited to put out the fire.

    Barely a month after ASUU called of its strike, the Non-Academic Staff of University (NASU) closed down the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) over non-payment of salaries. Academic activities were disrupted. The striking workers carried a casket to the office to force the then Vice-Chancellor to accept their demands.

    On July 13, the presidents of Students’ Union Government (SUG) of three higher institutions – Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Ondo and Ondo State School of Midwifery – were killed in an auto crash near Emure-Ile on Owo-Akure Road.

    The union leaders, whose name were given as Oladapo Awopegba (FUTA), Abiodun Akintola (ACE) and Oyinkan Olotu (School of Midwifery), were returning from the “Best Governor” award ceremony organised by a faction of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to honour Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko.

    The student leaders with other colleagues were travelling in a bus donated by Governor Segun Mimiko to the Ondo State Joint Campus Committee (JCC). The bus rammed into a trailer coming from the opposite direction. Police said the accident was a result of over-speeding.

    For the first time, a campus of a government-owned institution was ravaged by flood. The Naraguta Female Hostel at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) was flooded after a heavy downpour in August. The incident happened two weeks after scores of people in Jos lost their lives in the July 22 downpour that affected areas such as Angwan Rogo, Gangare and Rikkos.

    There was no death recorded in the UNIJOS flood, which occured in the evening but over 70 students in 19 rooms of Naraguta Hall lost personal effects such as books, food items, mattresses, rugs and carpets to the flood, which was caused by overflowing drainages in the front of D Block in the hostel area. Most of the affected students were either sleeping in their rooms or reading when the flood started.

    From May to November, 2012, campuses across geo-political divides witnessed unbridle savagery, which resulted into mindless killing of students by their fellow students, cultists, robbers and gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram sect members.

    In Maiduguri, multiple bomb blasts made students of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) to desert the Gwange area, where off-campus residences are located. At the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), students were waylaid by suspected Fulani herdsmen, who were armed with daggers and other sharp objects.

    There were also protests in UNIJOS, Lagos State University (LASU), Benue State University (BSU), Abia State University (ABSU), Uturu and University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) over non-accreditation of courses and fee hike.

    Students may have heaved a sigh of relief as the “year of locust” ended three days ago. A new year has begun. But given that some of the contentious issues that disrupted the smooth running of academic programmes were not properly resolved, the fledgling 2013 is likely pregnant with so many events that may shape and re-shape education and campuses across the federation.

    Will students have a smooth sailing year given the rumoured plan to hike fuel price? Will ASUU close down campuses again for another round of industrial action to press home its unimplemented demands? Will bombs boom again? Will the killers of MUBI 33 and UNIPORT 4 be brought to justice? Will campus robbery stop? Will managements stop toying with school fees so students can enjoy affordable education? As they say, only time will tell.

  • UNIZIK matriculates freshers

    The management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka has inducted the freshers admitted into various departments in the institution. The main campus was a sight to behold as photographers had a field day clicking cameras and calling clients to patronise them. About 5, 500 students were admitted into the university out of the over 82,000 applicants.

    Speaking, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Boniface Egboka, said: “While the new students are celebrating with their relatives and friends, the purpose of this ceremony must not be lost. I will say this is the luckiest set of matriculating students ever in the history of the school because the screening was based on merit. The new students make good use of this opportunity to study in one of Nigeria’s best institution.

    It doesn’t matter whatever anyone passed through to get admitted, education is for the betterment of the individual. You are a rare group to be among the selected.”

    Daniel Chijioke, 100-Level Mass Communication, said: “I have always dreamt of being here. I feel so excited and lucky. UNIZIK is a great school.”

    Okechukwu Njideka, 100-Level Microbiology, said: “This school is one of the best; I am happy that I made my parents proud by passing the screening test.” Chinelo Okafor, 100-Level Mass Communication, quipped: “The VC’s speech was brief and straight to the point. I feel fortunate to be among the selected.”

    For Steve Ijomah, who was admitted to study Cooperative Economics, one of his dreams had been achieved. He said: “Last year, I got admission to study but not for my preferred course. I feel fulfilled that finally I got the course I wanted.”

  • Law students hold oratory contest

    The Human Rights Chamber of the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin has organised a Freshers’ Oratory contest tagged “The Beauty of Law.” The event witnessed a mass turn-out of students.

    The preliminary stage featured eight participants: Kolo-Manma Joanna, Olawole Olamiposi, Adeosun Nazeef, Apalando Isiaq, Ejiwunmi Abiodun, Abdulmutalib Abdulmalik, Oke Ridwan and Ali Toyin Abdul- who slugged it out in a keen contest. But only six participants made it to the next round. Spokesman of the panel of judges, Oluwasegun Ogundipe encouraged participants to improve on their public speaking and sharpen their advocacy skills.

    The final stage of the contest was administered by Dr. S. M. Olokooba and chaired by Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr. Abikan. Each participant was given seven minutes to give a presentation on the beauty of law. At the end of the contest, Nazeef Adeosun came first with 95 points, Joanna Kolo-Manma emerged second with 94 points, Isiaq Apalando took the third position with 93 points, Olamiposi Olawole came fourth with 91 points and Abiodun Ejiwunmi came fifth with 90 points.

    The guest speaker Mr. A. O. Muhammed (SAN) emphasised the importance of human rights activism and charged to render free legal aid to citizens.

    Dr. Anikan urged law students to give their quota to humanity through vibrant advocacy and human rights activism.