Category: Campus Life

Youths of today are, according to the Mrs Ngozi Agbo of blessed memory, “stars in a distressed generation”. ‘Stars’ because of man’s discovery which has made what would have been difficult to get 20 to 50 years ago at the grasp of the youths of today and ‘distressed’ because the scenario in which we find ourselves presents us with lots of opportunities to deviate from what is right for that which is wrong.

In her last write-up, leaders in a new media, in which Aunty Ngozi painted a picture of the ideal candidate that should lead Nigeria come 2015, she gave us probably one of the best definitions of a leader which we all as ‘stars in a distressed generation’ should try to imbibe and inculcate.

She noted: “good leaders are made, not born; they develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training and experience.”

At this point in the history of Nigeria, people with exceptional qualities, training, education and experience are needed in key positions to restore the lost glory of our country. The time is ripe for the youth of today to look beyond the “lost generation” that we are presently in and begin to create jobs for ourselves.

The youths of this modern era – Generation Y – can no longer wait for the older generation to create jobs for us. The youth of this era are youths with a difference; youths with a positive mindset, who are determined to excel, the obstacles notwithstanding. We are the youth ready to tread the paths that the older generation dreaded to pass; youths that are ready to bequeath a good legacy to the next generation.

According to James Allen, the author of As a man thinketh, as a being of power, intelligence and love and the Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. This in essence means that because the older generation have branded us ‘lost’ does not in any way mean that we are lost.

We are lost only when we accept that we are lost. Because of the improved technology that we are privileged to have, the youths of today have more potential than those before us, it is high time we took advantage of what lies before us and change the older generation’s perspective about what lies ahead of us.

Ours is a generation in which only a few have enough resources to cater for themselves and their immediate needs. Therefore we must create wealth for ourselves. To create wealth, we must first imbibe the “I Can” principle as stated by Chris Widener in his book, Live the life you have always dreamed.

For us to be stars in our generation, we must not allow ourselves to be used by those in positions of authority, we must refuse to be thugs and militants, we must refuse to accept false doctrines which is aimed at the destruction of our fellow human beings and toe the part of unity, faith in our leaders, peaceful co-existence and the overall progress of our fatherland.

The 2015 general elections is still far away but as Aunty Ngozi noted, we must not vote for neophytes, we must watch all those in positions of authority and be able to point out their antecedent to see whether they can lead us come 2015. We must not go back to the days when the youth vote for someone simply because of his place of origin.

The questions we should be asking ourselves as youth come 2015 should be who among the men or women vying for leadership positions is a Moses? This is because the Nigerian state is seriously sick and we need a deliverer like Moses. For us to be on the right path, we must first get out of our Egypt and for us to get out of Egypt, we need a Moses to lead us across our ‘red sea’, our ‘red sea’ being unemployment, poverty and corruption.

The qualities of the ‘stars in a distressed generation’ discussed above is not for all youth. It is for youth who have refused and still continue to refuse to be used as elements in the achievement of selfish goals. It is for those youth who do not belong or support any cult-related activities, youths who strive for excellence in every field of human endeavour, youth who condemn in strong terms the unwarranted destruction of lives and properties, youths who do not involve themselves in violent protest to drive home their points but embrace dialogue as a means to resolve their disputes

I believe in Nigeria and I believe that many of the youth of today have the potential and what it takes to bring out the stars in them notwithstanding of the events in the past few weeks vis-à-vis the attack on tertiary institutions have shaken our faith of a better tomorrow for Nigeria. In the midst of all these unwholesome acts, the stars in a distressed generation remain resolute in his or her desire to bequeath a good legacy to those behind. I enjoin all the stars in this distressed generation to remain steadfast in times like these and for all those who believe in the youths of today and a better future for Nigeria not to lose faith for ‘after every storm, there is calm’.

Philip, 400-Level Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, DELSU

For two days last week, three ambassadors of the giant online search engine, Google, trained selected students of the departments of Computer Science and Geography and Environmental Management of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) in a programme tagged “UNILORIN Google Mapping event”.

The initiator of the programme, Tayo Fagbohun, is a 300-Level student of Home Economics. He is the Google Student Ambassador on the campus.

The training was divided into practical and theoretical classes. Participants started with the theoretical aspect while they were required to carry out the practical lesson, which was dedicated to the online mapping exercise, with what they learned the previous day.

Facilitators included Faith Adegboye, a graduate of the university, who spoke on entrepreneurship and a project called “I live in Ilorin”. Other were Ayo Adesokan, a serving Corps member and Google map maker, who talked on A crash course in map making; Damilare Oyinloye, Kwara State University Google student ambassador, spoke on Tips and Tricks in Google Map.

In attendance included a lecturer from Geography and Environmental Management department, Dr. Y. A. Ahmed. He tutored the students on Cartography has gone digital. A Google Map Advocate of Nigeria, Abiodun Adepoju, also deliever a lecture during the session.

The e-Learning Centre, UNILORIN, was used for the practical class. Thirty students were prepared for the mapping exercise, which lasted for almost four hours. The students were made to realise that the mapping exercise was continuous and they could do it during their leisure.

At the end of the entire exercise, Tayo told CAMPUSLIFE the rationale behind this project was to make students contribute to the development of Nigeria’s electronic map. “Students may not be able to construct roads but they can contribute their quota to the development of the country by specifying strategic locations on Google map. This will help ease navigation by visitors to the community. We have a fantastic training by involving the students and encouraging them to see the importance of technology to the development of the university and the country as a whole. With the mapping by thirty super mappers including the trainers, UNILORIN is on the global map and my Google team members and I have made history by this,” he said.

Fatimah Adedoyin, a participant from Geography and Environmental Management, commended the programme. “It is a good thing that my university can be located easily on the Google map. I am happy that I am part of this feat. At least, I have a legacy when I pass out from this institution.”

Peter Makafan, Computer Science, said the training would add to his curriculum vitae. “I learn much outside the class today. The certificate will speak well for me in future. It is a worthwhile experience,” he quipped.

Pandemonium broke out late on Saturday at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) following the alleged arrest of some former union leaders by the school’s security operatives.

Many students in their numbers took to the streets. The ex-union leaders had come to sensitise the students on how sustain their union.

Hassan Taiwo, Adeola Soetan and one Yahaya were, according to reliable sources, allegedly stopped by the security operatives after which the Chairman of the OAU Security Committee, Prof Joseph Fabayo, met them at the campus gate. The source said Fabayo told the unionists that they should go out of the campus.

Fabayo, allegedly ordered the security men around to beat all of them after which they were taken to Floor ‘O’ for interrogation. Conscious of the implications, the students immediately around 10pm mobilised themselves and besiege the Senate Building to release the arrest unionists.

Afterward, they moved to the Students’ Union Building, which had been under lock since the union was proscribed last year. About 3am on Sunday, the protesters broke the chain with which the union building was locked and gained entrance into the building. The opening was greeted with the recitation of the OAU anthem.

Students were seen jubilating, saying that the forceful re-opening of the Ken Saro Wiwa Students’ Union Building symbolised freedom and liberation.

Students, who spoke to our correspondent, said there should not have been any protest since those arrested had been released.

At the time of filing this story, students were seen barricading roads while a security patrol van moved round the Students’ Union Building.

The incident happened 24 hours after students protested three-day blackout, which, according to a statements by the management and Directorate of Works and Maintenance, caused by faulty transformers.

It is just about time we started considering the essence of our universities vis-à-vis the number of unemployed graduates in the labour market. Our higher institutions keep churning out thousands of graduates yearly with no commensurate increase in employment opportunities, a situation which has swollen the rank of frustrated youths.

The graduates of polytechnics and colleges of education are roaming the streets everyday for greener pasture. But the pasture didn’t turn green.

Two things may have resulted to this. It is either our universities are no longer in tune with the philosophy of tertiary education or that students did not want to learn again. Students who are not acquiring basic knowledge for survival in their disciplines are making other serious graduates to be useless to themselves and to the society.

So many factors have been linked to this abysmal state ranging from defective academic curriculum, underfunding of our universities, and poor reading culture on the part of the students to the incessant strikes by staff unions in the universities.

A good number of students in our higher institutions are after the certificates they may not be able to defend after completing their studies instead of what they stand to gain from the school thus making them irrelevant in their chosen field. The SIWES programmes in our universities are not meeting the purpose for which it was instituted.

Students are not monitored and they are made to do all sorts of jobs outside their field which is defeating the purpose of its establishment. As a result of this, we keep producing graduates who are finding it difficult to fit in and compete in the field.

Funding is another problem. Our universities are grossly underfunded and thus do not have the facilities expected of an ivory tower. Even the payment of tuition in our state-owned institutions has not helped because the standard keeps falling and yet we feel the solution is to establish additional universities to the list of higher institutions.

There needs to be an urgent repositioning of tertiary education in Nigeria especially the universities. Nigerian universities’ curricula need to be reviewed to reflect challenges faced in the field.

The presence of many unemployed graduates on the streets portends a great danger for a country that hopes to become one of the top twenty economies by the year 2020. This is because education is key to achieve the set goals. Students should strive for the best of in whatever condition they find themselves in the university. All hands must be on deck to reposition our Ivory towers to meet the need for which they were created.

Abiola, 500-Level Veterinary Medicine, FUNAAB Abeokuta

Contributors to the Campus Life pages were rewarded last weekend in a ceremony held at Bespoke Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos. TOMIWA BELLO, ADEBISI ADENIJI, OLIVIA USHIE and MABEL OPARA report.

The road to Bespoke Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos was not smooth for CAMPUSLIFE correspondents last Friday. There was a down pour at the Matori, Lagos corporate headquarters of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation where they had converged in the morning. The traffic gridlock from Lagos mainland to Lekki was something else.

By the time they arrived at the venue, guests were already seated. One after the other, the students alighted from the white Coaster and two Hiace Big Bumper buses that conveyed them.

Welcome to the fourth CAMPUSLIFE award ceremony, an annual event organised to recognise and rewards the contributors to the eight-page pullout.

No sooner had the students gently filed into the expansive hall than the programme started. Basorge Tariah, a popular comedian, was the compere. He opened the ceremony with a joke about the National Anthem.

Afterwards, a minute silence was observed for the departed Campus Life Editor, Mrs Ngozi Agbo, who died during childbirth in a Lagos hospital. In an emotion laden voice, Mr Agbo Agbo, eulogised his late wife, who he described as a complete woman.

In his welcome address, the Communication Affairs Manager of Coca Cola Nigeria Limited, Mr Peter Muruiki, said the company believed in the future of Nigeria, and as such as would continue to sponsor the youth-oriented programmes. He praised the students for using their pens to dig into pertinent campus issues to rid their schools of crime and immoral conduct.

Muruiki, charged the students to impart the values they had acquired through the platform to other youth in the society. He reiterated the company’s resolve to continue to partner with The Nation to deliver a responsible generation that will develop Nigeria.

The Online Editor, Mr Lekan Nation’s Otufodunrin who represented the managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr Victor Ifijeh, said management would continue to nurture young Nigerians to the positive side of life. He praised the students for sharing in the newspaper’s philosophy, which is to defend the freedom of the citizens through credible reports from campuses across the federation.

A Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) expert, Mr. Jamiu Badmos, delivered a lecture on stress management. He highlighted many ways through which stress could lead to unhealthy life and death. He urged, through the lecture, the audience to always take time away from active work to relieve the body of pile-up stress, which he said may lead to untimely death.

Delivering a lecture entitled: The role of media in national rebirth, Dr Austin Tam-George, Executive Director, Institute of Communication and Corporate Studies (ICCS), Lagos, described media as a platform for an endless traffic of ideas and opinion.

He said: “The information we get might be shaped by personal or group ideology, location, experience, structure ownership of the medium itself, class and ethnicity. Therefore, a great deal of media literacy is often needed on our part in order to know the open as well as the hidden motivations behind the news or other information.”

The media, he said, must play its role in exposing injustice, upholding the rule of law, encouraging debate on issues of popular interest, be in the vanguard of the fight against corruption and hold media practitioners to the highest ethical standard among others.

After the lecture, it was time for the presentation of awards. The atmosphere became charged as Otufodurin stepped out to read the modality through which the winners were selected by the panel of judges headed by the Editorial Board Chairman of The Nation, Mr Sam Omatseye.

The award was divided into eight categories, which included Culture Report, Campus Sport, Personality Profile, Opinion Writing, Campus Politics, Investigative Report, Entertainment Report and Campus Life Reporter of the Year. He said the winner in each category was named after the aggregate of scores from the judges was done.

The Culture Report was won by Emeka Attah and Ngozi Emmanual, both of whom graduated from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK). Chisom Ojukwu, a 500-Level Chemical Engineering student of Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), won the Sport category.

Others were Gerald Nwokocha, a Corps member serving in Abuja, won the Campus Politics; Gilbert Alasa, 400-Level Foreign Languages, University of Benin (UNIBEN), won Opinion Writing; Habeeb Whyte, 500-Level Law University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) won the Personality Profile; Uche Anichebe, 500-Level Law, UNIZIK, won Investigative Reporting and Esther Mark, a graduate of Mass Communication at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) won the Entertainment Category.

Gerald, who graduated from the department of Information Technology, FUTO, was adjudged as the Campus Life Reporter of Year. His investigative report on a Corps member killed by soldiers, who mistook the victim for a Boko Haram member, was rated high by the judges. Gerald said he was happy that his efforts paid off but urged well-meaning Nigerians to help the parents of the victim to get justice.

Responding on behalf of the awardees, Chisom urged the campus journalists not to let the dream of the late Mrs Agbo die.

At the event were officials of Coca Cola Nigeria Limited led by the Community Affairs Manager, Mr. Emeka Mba, his NBC counterpart, Ms Yomi Onakoya, Editor of The Nation, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, member of the paper’s Editorial Board, Mr Olakunle Abimbola and the News Editor, Mr Adeniyi Adesina.

Others were the representative of the Rector of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) and the Dean of Students’ Affairs (DSA), Mr O.T. Raheem, representative of Permanent Secretary, Deputy Governor’s Office, Lagos State, Mr Kunle Ajayi, Prof Segun Adekoya of English Department of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and Prof Kate Omenugha, immediate past Head of Mass Communication, UNIZIK, who represented the Vice-Chancellor.

Others were officials of SIFE Nigeria led by Mrs Elizabeth Okwoho and lecturers from Lagos State University (LASU) and University of Lagos (UNILAG).

The desire of most Nigerians, at home and in Diaspora, is to see good governance in motion. But the realisation of it has remained a dream. For years, good governance has eluded us and it is becoming an illusion to even think of the possibility of experiencing it in present day Nigeria. This largely may be attributed to the galloping rate of unemployment, corruption, tribal cum ethnic clashes, among other factors militating against the nation.

No doubt, our journey to nationhood is full of trials, travails and troubles. Several military governments over the years failed to promote people-oriented programmes and policies; they instead created an atmosphere where corruption, nepotism, misappropriation, mismanagement and violation of human rights thrived. Good governance was a dream and least expected.

The 13 years of uninterrupted democracy has been an exciting period yet our nation is still far from development. Internal ‘terrorism’ is on the increase. Over 1,000 people have lost their lives through the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect since it commenced operations in some part of the North.

Media houses, churches, mosques, schools and public infrastructures have been destroyed in the process. The terrorists have introduced a dangerous dimension to their struggle – suicide bombing!

Corruption, which is another scourge ravaging the nation, has continued to grow fat. From the police pension scam, to the fuel subsidy swindle among other abuses of office by politicians, many people are fasting losing hope that Nigeria may still back to its feet in terms of good governance.

One would have thought our leaders would learn from the humiliation of some of the first and second republic politicians who were clamped into detention for fraud and embezzlement. Sadly, not too many people have learn even from the fall of contemporary politicians like the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyeseigha who was sentenced to 12 years for money laundering; former Inspector-General of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun, prosecuted and indicted for obtaining N13 billion through money laundering and theft; former Governor of Delta State, Mr James Ibori who was jailed for 13 years in London for stealing $250 million from the Delta State purse among others.

There are still scores of politicians and civil servants who have stole huge sums from government pause and are still walking freely.

In political circle, the quest for power at all cost has been brutal. Lives of some politicians have been cut short. The recent victim is the Principal Secretary to the Edo State government, Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde, who assassinated by yet to be identified gunmen. These are clear indications that the quest for power appears to be more important than our oneness; and that the cost of human life equal to the worth of wining an election into offices.

All these socio-economic and political problems show our systemic approach to governance is faulty. What we have is far from good governance. This is because public institutions conduct public affairs in secrecy and resources are often mismanaged and lack of good governance is the bane of these problems.

Good governance is situation where the government can provide basic amenities and make life worth living is still a dream. The government has roles to play in providing lasting panacea to the nation’s problems. It must initiate programmes aimed at providing employment opportunities for the growing number of youth.

There must be respect for the fundamental human right. The concept must be institutionalised in our system as it will preserve human dignity.

The good governance concept also connotes that public office holders must live exemplary lives worthy of emulation. The action and inaction of those in power speak volumes. The government must also pay utmost attention to the welfare of the people. People must feel and know that the government cares. A welfare packages for the aged can be put in place to ensure that such people don’t live a frustrated life or result to crime as the case may be.

The people must keep people abreast with government programmes and policies. This will project the government as transparent, accountable, responsible and open. Justice and equity must be allowed to take their courses and the high cost of running the government must be checked.

Aside the roles expected of the government, individuals also have roles to play in our quest to institute good governance. Citizens must be responsible for the successes and shortcomings of their actions and not put the blame on government all the time.

Individuals must assist the government in relevant areas. Information that will enhance the works of the law enforcement officers should be made available. Concrete and constructive criticisms that will keep the government on their toes should be readily made available too.

My grouse with the present administration is that it appears the government is not paying so much attention to the core issue. I must say where good governance is at work, it would be difficult for people to even resolve to militancy, bombing and other crimes. As Ms Hillary Clinton rightly opined last August in Abuja, “What Africa (Nigeria) needs is not more strong men, it needs strong democratic institutions that will stand the test of time. Without good governance, no amount of oil or no amount of aid, no amount of effort can guarantee Nigeria’s success. But with good governance, nothing can stop Nigeria”.

Ayodeji is a Corps member, NYSC Onitsha