As part of requirements for first degree, students, who are about to graduate must undergo a mandatory entrepreneurship course. The 300-Level Engineering students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) underwent the training. FRANCIS EGWUATU (300-Level Mechanical Engineering) reports.
For hours, 300-Level engineering students at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), stood to gather knowledge on soap production from experts in the field. The students were taught how to be self-dependent after graduation.
The training, which was held in an open field adjacent to the Mechanical Engineering Department, brought together students from various departments.
This exercise was the mandatory entrepreneurship course introduced by the Federal Government three years ago. Joseph Osueke, the course lecturer, invited an entrepreneur in Imo State, Mrs Eucharia Chinasa, to take the students on soap production.
Mrs Chinasa stressed the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy. She took the students on manufacturing of liquid soap, solid soap, and detergent.
Outlining various materials and quantity needed for liquid soap, the resource person noted that the nation would make progress if students could change their views of “white-collar” jobs to the self-employment.
Chinasa made soap materials available for students to practise what they learned during the training. She selected a few students to carry out the exercise, which she closely supervised, while other students watched with rapt attention.
After the students made soap from the materials provided, Chinasa explained the precautions needed to be followed during the production of soap. She also talked about the marketability of the products.
Some of the students, who spoke to CAMUSLIFE, described the training as the needed inspiration that would make them to launch their potential to make money after school.
Emmanuel Odunukwe, Civil Engineering student, said he gained more entrepreneurial knowledge at the training.
“I don’t want to waste the knowledge I acquired during the training. I will make sure that as soon as I leave campus, I will be my own boss,” said Emmanuel.
Juliet Ezengwa, Mechanical Engineering student, said she would explore her ability in industrial production engineering.
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.”
– T. E. Lawrence, British Soldier and Writer
Recently, the media was awash with tales of debauchery. The atrocity was planned by group of young men. By the time they were done, a beauty queen was strangulated like a sacrificial fowl. This is the narrative of the beautiful Cynthia Osokogu, a post-graduate student of Nasarawa State University, who was brutally murdered by scammers and serial rapists in a gruesome manner.
Many, especially the older generation, blamed the homicide on social networking sites. To me, the notion is wrong because any medium can turn its user in when it is overused. The likes of Ezekiel Odera and Nwabufor Okwoma acted out an ambition fuelled on the passion of a dream that is not only broken but washed-out as well. A dream that lacks vitality and validity. Truth is when the axe of a washed-out dream falls, it does not respect class or persons as the cases of Cynthia and the recent kidnapping of royal fathers have shown.
In 1900, with the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams are the ‘royal road’ to the unconscious; they revealed in disguised form the deepest elements of an individual inner life. In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote: “Dreams indeed are ambition. For the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.”
Nigeria is a great country that is denied the splendour of her existence owing to the blind ambition of some of her inhabitants. Our ambitions, in most cases turn out to be the grand enemy of peace. Nigeria is full of daydreamers, who act their dreams “without a wink for the other person and without a nickel to loan” (apologies Michael Jackson).
Many people’s dreams are washed-out because they lack true colour and are faded. One sees washed-out dreams on the faces of young men whose hopes of a good life are dashed immediately the left universities. It is the same thing all around the world with many youths graduating and asking: “what is the use of an education that cannot guarantee jobs?” Isn’t it time we begin to find alternatives especially now that it is postulated that by 2030, youth and not oil will be Nigeria’s most valuable resources?
How do we meet with the demand of human capital come 2030 when young people are presently raised in a banana republic where nothing works? The likes of the young men, who killed Cynthia, are daydreamers who became specimens for bad experiment in a country without focus.
We have a government with an ambition of transformational agenda, a policy point which appears to be fine on paper but with operational impact close to zero. The government is full of people who still have a primitive views about the concept of selfless service.
Relics of washed-out dreams in Nigeria are in the type of people we choose to celebrate in the media. They are business “execu-thieves”, “sin-ators” and “come-raids”. The media splashes the sons and daughters of celebrated thieves and feed us with the gist of who wears and spends the most! These are the sons and daughters who waste the stolen funds.
It is a product of a washed-out dream to have a ministry of water resources and yet, more than half of the population cannot get clean water for domestic use. Electricity being erratic in a country of over 160,000 million people with human and material resources and which is being run contrary to what a civilised society should be in 21st Century.
Now let us take a look at our entertainment industry which seems to be growing the same rate it is falling in content. The main element in musical videos and movies is nudity. The likes of Fela Anikulapo were weird but they helped raise the social and political consciousness in the country.
I used to think that the era of copying useless culture from the West was gone until I listened to ‘girl down’ by an upcoming act that did a remix of Rihanna’s Man down. It is a relic of a washed-out dream when artistes do not know that talent is simply not enough. It is high time practitioners in showbiz understood the concept of arts for social relevance and not just art for arts, as most of things we have been seeing from Nollywood seems to suggest.
It is a relic of a washed-out dream that I can write this piece in an alien language while the ability to write in my mother tongue is limited. And what is this I heard about indigenous languages being optional for students? Japan and China are countries that are showing the world that one can be modern without being westernised. It is good to learn from developed countries but it will be bad to abandon parts of our cultures and traditions that form our values.
University as defined by Wikipedia, an online free encyclopedia, “is an institution of higher education and research which grants academic degrees in a variety of subject and provide both graduate and post graduate education”
The word “university” came originally from Latin word “universitias”, which referred to a number of persons associated into one body, a society, company, community, guild, co-operation etc.
Though the emergence of present form of university education system emerged hundreds of years ago under the Latin Church. The first university in Europe with a structure was the University of Bologna in Italy in 1088.
In Nigeria, the first university was established in 1948 in Ibadan. The University College, Ibadan was opened as an affiliate of University of London. However, it became full-fledged federal university in l962.
Afterwards, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, were founded. The University of Lagos (UNILAG) was also established by the Federal government about the time.
In 1970, the newly-created mid-western Region also established University of Benin (UNIBEN), bringing the number of universities to six. Universities of Lagos and Ibadan belonged to the Federal government, while the remaining four (ABU, OAU, UNN and UNIBEN) were establihsed by regional governments.
The development of university in numerical terms is indeed encouraging, though the number of universities has increased rapidly in the recent time but yet do not meet the demand of higher education by the ever-increasing students’ population in the country.
According to the National Universities Commission (NUC) figure, there were 104 universities, comprising 27 federal universities, 36 states and 41 private universities across the country as at April 2010.
These universities are established purposely to offer conducive atmosphere for learning and human development for socio-political and economic development as reflected in the National Policy on education.
According to the policy, the universities are to do the following: (a) To contribute to National Development through high level manpower training (b) To develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the individual and society (c) To develop intellectual capacity of individual to understand and appreciate their local and external environment, among others.
Though, the evolution of universities in Nigeria is impressive, the quality of graduates produced is very discouraging. This may not be unconnected to the myriad of problems mitigating against achieving the desired educational policy and objective of the nation.
These problems, though differ from the government-owned and private universities but their effect on the quality and standard of universities in Nigeria are terrible.
The problems includes inadequate funding from both the Federal and State Governments. This is seriously affecting the administration of universities in all ramifications. To some extent, private universities are better-off in terms of funding as proprietors are doing everything possible to ensure that their institutions are not starved of funds like their government counterparts.
A poor and dilapidated infrastructure is another problem facing the government universities.
Students’ hostels, lecture theatres, laboratories and offices are in bad shape, thereby making the environment not conducive for learning and research.
Problem of staff shortages in both academics and non-academic departments is another factor that stands against performance of government-owned institutions. Qualified lecturers from Nigerian universities seek greener pasture abroad. This is called brain drain.
Other problems include interference by government officials, students’ unionism,cultism, labour dispute, unethical practice in admission process, examination malpractice and sexual exploitation of female students etc.
In conclusion, for meaningful development to take place in the university system, government must be ready to address the problems contributing to their non-performance as highlighted above.
There must also be political will on the part of the government to tackle the problems head on.
Funds should be released to the universities to embark on infrastructural development. Qualified teaching and non-teaching staff should be employed, while the condition of service and pay package in government universities be improved to attract qualified persons into these schools.
Problems of cultism as well as unionism should also be addressed, while regulatory body like the NUC be strengthened to perform it statutory responsibilities and check unethical practices in the universities.
All that is required for evil to prevail in a society is for the good men to do nothing.
A wise man said the above words and one can’t help but wonder what could have informed the expression. Had he been a victim of some unjust treatment so perverted that no other word could be employed to aptly describe it except evil? Had he been a brother, son or father to the victim or perhaps a spouse or a friend? Had he been a spectator, a passerby who watched with mixed feelings of subdued rage and helplessness? The wisdom behind the words seems to lead one to believe that whichever of the above scenarios, the man still considered himself a victim. The same way students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) feel right now.
The debate on state police rages on in the nation but the governors looking to win will not be getting much help from the students of FUTO. As one of them recently stated when the issue came up, “FUTO’s ‘state police’ is a mess, so why encourage it?” By FUTO state police, he meant the Man O’ War (MOW), FUTO Command.
The MOW motto states: “Build the man, build the community”. The average FUTO student will however, not be able to relate with such noble values as the guiding motto of the MOW. Not when he lives among them and sees different.
The MOW, as FUTO students believe, is a bully – a loud and overbearing brute who armed with a shaven head and bulging biceps, manipulates hapless Nigerian students for selfish gains while laughing in their face and daring them to resist.
They see no law enforcer in the MOW; they rather see an ‘authorised’ law breaker. They see no security officer; what they see is a threat. Most times, the cadets will man-handle students and force them to ‘bail’ themselves with certain amount of money.
Every suspect is innocent until proven guilty, we hear repeatedly but this does not hold in FUTO especially in the hostel environment where the MOW is believed to be supreme. Students live in fear of being picked up because often, staying on the right side of the law doesn’t even save you.
The fact that the general outcry by students against MOW code of conduct and ethics has gone unnoticed by the Students’ Union Government (SUG) and university administration clearly shows that all is not well in the university. There is not even in existence, an active constitution with clear testaments of punishable offences.
As a result, the MOW are a walking law of their own picking up offenders and dishing out punishments when and as they consider fit. They are despised by the guys, the ladies abhour them, lecturers and even officers of the SUG just ignore them.
Their methods are not in the least endearing either. A report carried on these pages on the 29th of March detailed an account of the brutal assault and stabbing of a student by men of the MOW Nigeria, FUTO Command. I noticed that the reporter was very careful about being objective, accommodating the points of view of all the parties involved; most FUTOites who read the report thought of its purported objectivity as politically motivated. The MOW in that report, responded to the allegations by stating that they had been attacked and only acted in self defense. They also denied the assault claims of Ebuka, the suspect who spent hours in their detention cell before eventually embarking on the escape that sparked the resulting fracas. As tempting as it is to point out the ridiculously puerile loopholes in the security outfit’s side of the story, these lines will refrain from resurrecting the gory details; my aim is to ask pressing questions viz:
On whose side is the school management? On whose side do official and moral responsibilities demand that they be? If memory serves right, a similar scenario occurred in Onyia Towers – another off-campus lodge in FUTO – last year, also resulting in theft, trauma and woes of blood first, then tears; why did the school authorities keep quiet then? And why have they remained quiet on this burning issue? Who gives weapons and the authority to use them to the MOW outfit without proper monitoring of how those weapons are used? Who watches over the students to ensure that their rights are not trampled upon and war brought upon them by their very own ‘knights of peace’? Where is the code of conduct that guides the Man O’ War, FUTO Command, their member admission standards, in-house disciplinary framework and modus operandi? With what constitution, do they maintain law and order?
For a long time, these question marks have been making the rounds but nobody seems to be interested in clearing them. Students have even adapted to the life, occasionally rousing to speak up – in the privacy of their rooms within circle of friends – only when the ‘latest’ slap, squat or frog-jump directly affects them. Rather than the exception, the life of tiptoeing along the hostel corridors face-down and hunched has become the norm; lest your harmless glance or worded response annoy the powers that be.
There is an old Chinese saying that smashing the mirror is no way to make an ugly person beautiful. There is a concurring Igbo adage that translates to mean that the madness of one cannot be cured by joining the craze, pun intended. The English say it plainer: Two wrongs don’t make a right. And in truth, FUTO students have in the light of events, both recent and past, acted with maturity. The line that separates sanity from insanity is however reed-thin and the dam, no matter how sturdy, is sand against water after all.
The current Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof J. N. Ogbulie, could be given the benefit of doubt having only come into office after all of the major outbursts involving the FUTO MOW story. He however, cannot claim ignorance of the students’ constant repression underneath those toothed para-military boots. Neither can he delude himself into thinking that his presence alone has made the difference. This is his chance to make things right. These issues demand that one look beyond ‘good publicity’ or bad – if there even exists any such distinctions – and instead, look into urgent damage control. Forget about diplomatic whining and politics, teach our future leaders how to do it right.
Every day might belong to the thief but one fine, glorious day of justice and reprisal always falls to the house owner.
What killed Ezekiel Sanni on his reading table? This is a riddle students of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) could not answer.
There was confusion last week when Ezekiel, HND II Electrical Engineering student, was found dead while he was reading in his hostel. The deceased was having the text book he was reading in his hand when the door to his room was forced opened.
The student was said to be reading for his final examination that will start on September 18.
According to Ezekiel’s neighbour, who spoke on CAMPUSLIFE, “his girlfriend came to check on him on Monday morning, but after knocking on the door for while, she thought Ezekiel was not at home but later discovered that the door was locked from inside. The door was forced open and she discovered that Ezekiel was dead.”
One of the deseased course mates, who identified himself as Gabriel, described Ezekiel as “easy-going student”.
Another course mate, Adebayo Agunbiade, said he was sure Ezekiel was not sick because “it was him that helped me to format my laptop last Thursday.”
CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the management of the polytechnic provided a bus and ambulance that converyed Ezekiel’s corpse to his village.
Students of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) have donated blood to the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee to save the sick in need of transfusion in a four-day blood donation exercise organised by the Committee at the Ikorodu campus of the polytechnic last week.
An official of the Committee, Mrs Sherifat Lawal, said the essence of blood donation was to save lives of the patients that needed the blood. According to her, the blood would be made available to women in labour, sickle cell victims, liver transplant patients and people undergoing surgical operations. She urged the students to donate blood regularly to ensure a healthy life.
A Medical Lab Scientist, Paul Aliu, who collected the blood samples, said donation of blood facilitated formation of more blood into the body system, which in turn helped white blood cells to fight against unwanted substance in the body.
Head Voluntary Blood Donation Unit, Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service, Mrs Olayinka Animasaun, said: “Blood donation is an education on how to maintain a healthy life.”
During the exercise, Emmanuel Matanmi, ND II Agricultural Technology, said: “I was once involved in a serious illness in which I needed blood. My family went through a lot of stress to get blood to save my life. Since then, I made the promise to always donate blood every time I have the opportunity to do.”
Olayinka Durotoye, ND 1 Computer Engineering, said he participated in the exercise as a chance to serve humanity. He said: “This is my first time of donating blood. Though, I was jittery before they took my blood but after the exercise, I realised that it is nothing to be afraid of.”
The much-awaited radio station built by the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi has been officially inaugurated. According to the management, the station was meant to enhance effective flow of information dissemination within and outside the campus.
The station with the Frequency Modulation 94.1FM was inaugurated by the Rector of the polytechnic, Dr Philipa Idogho, last week with top officials of the institution in attendance. She charged the workers of the radio station to be committed, advising them not to throw ethics of journalism into a daylight shame.
Dr Idogho praised the effort of the Dean of School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mr Francis Chete, and head of Mass Communication department, Mr Abraham Obaze, for ensuring that the interests of school are propagated.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the radio station has a clear signal that reaches some northern states such as Kebbi and Kogi. Other areas include Benin, Asaba, Akoko, Ekpeshi, Igarra, Okpella, and Okene. A caller from Kogi, Cynthia Ijeoma, confirmed the clear signal of the station, praising the management of the institution for the job well done.
The endless cup of coffee, burning of midnight oil, munching of kola nut came to an end last week saturday as millions of thousand admission seekers took to 2,338 centres in nigeria with 7,000 security agents to write the joint admission and matriculation examination (jamb). The examination which is conducted every year did not miss out of action, as one or more centres had a tail or more to tell by the students. The entire exercise was beligerent upon the attitude of the students, what they think of jamb. But in this years case, the story was not that different. Not at all. This is because all the drama of malpractices, affray, running from security agents constituted all the integral part of the examination that makes it tick every year. I mean tick because without these antecedents, what we have in jamb would be a “play with no plot.” Besides, the drama and action takes place within the plot of a novel. So this year’s ‘plot’ was not that bad at all, because it was a subtle plot with chronological sequence of action from start to finish. So the build up to the action began with the new policy of writing one entrance examination with six choices of universities to choose from, which is billed to probably start next year. Being that this could probably be the “last jamb” to be written, by admission seekers, the “players of the game” took the initiative a bit higher from the normal playing field.
The “players of the game” had the questions to the examination even before the examination started. Interesting it seem. Have you heard of”special centers ” The possession o questions before examination was the case under the just concluded jamb examination, One of the owners of a special centre who does not want his name in print, in Benin revealed that the questions are always made available to them by some staff of the examination body. “they supply us with questions before the examination because of the money involved,” In this case, students who enroll in these special centers are made to pay huge amount of money ranging from 20,000 and above depending on the location, His words “our candidates pay huge sums in other to pass jamb examination, and depending on where they are writing the examination too. “Besides, since we are the ones that supply the answers to the questions during the examination all they need to do is to have their money ready before the examination.” He concluded. But imagine a parent paying a sum of 20,000 Naira for just enrolling jamb? Then I guess, such parent will pay more in other for their children to be offered admission. What a situation we have at hand.
The malpractices were not carried out at special centre only, It was a broad base thing, wide spread and cutting across borders too. As such some students benefited from the malpractice immensely. One of the beneficiary of the fraud, kenneth revealed that they had to pay the invigilator in charge of his hall 2,000 naira in other for them to gain access to materials. His words “when it was 45 minutes to the end, the lady began to collect 2,000 from student who have the desire to use whatever materials he/she has. He further revealed that the after the payment, the lady simply left them to their world. “she just stayed back and watch us do our thing.” This indeed was a pathetic showing from the invigilator. When I asked him how they felt after they had cheated? His response was rather berserk. “it was nothing at all, infact we needed it since it was the only way for us to pass this jamb.” Thus the plot of the story continued to develop into a new and interesting dimension.
Subsequently, the act of cheating was not reduced to manual only. The electronic aspect played a great part too. The advancement in technology further revealed its complacency, through the use of GSM, besides, according to jamb instructions, electronic devices are not “allowed into the examination hall.” In this case, that instruction was defiled by some candidates by going into the hall with their cell phones. According to Hillary, their idea of using their cell phone during the examination was reduced by the security agents swarming their halls with ease. “they the whole idea of cheating difficult for us.” But as time passed by, they began to use their cell phones because at that time, the security agents where either tired of walking up and down or they went to a cool place to seek rest. “at that time, my cell phone was filled up with messages from my friend who has all the answers to the questions. “so I began to erase the ones I have shaded before that were not correct before the correct ones came.” “Besides our invigilator was very lenient with us in my centre.” But while some succeeded in their mission, there were some who had misfortune. They hit a road block in their attempt to use their cell phone in their centres. Sammy who wrote in Sapele revealed that his cell phone was taken from him because of the beeping. “my cell phone sold me out to the security agent because of constant beeping of the messages. I could not react to the messages on time.” Investigation at some centres revealed that the number of cell phones that were seized were much, according to a student who does not want his name in print. “I saw a lot of phones in the hands of police during the examination.” Thus, it was a tale of different strokes for different folks at the centre.
The drama was further strengthened by the bus drivers who took the opportunity offered by the examination to increase transportation fare. A reek of exploitation they were not ashamed of. But in all, the examination was one, with different players, playing the ‘game’ out of court.
He does his work with style. Simple to the bewilderment of most students. He provides gentle touch to every move he makes in a stride to perfect creativity. In a manner of an artist with a clay. As you watch him, you are excited with the way he gives each aspect of a customer, special attention in other to present their style in an admirable way. John Ugiagbedion pays attention to every detail and he makes you wonder if he were a female. This kind of work is viewed to be strictly “female,” owing to their high taste in fashion and style.
In recent times, the tide of such notion has changed because even the men are now into make – up business. They have given style a new dimension and in most cases they have redefined its essence. Ugiagbedion is one of those making waves in this sector. Interestingly, he is also a 400 level student of Library and Information Science at the famous Ambrose Alli University , Ekpoma in Edo State .
Ordinarily, his name may not ring a bell, but when the name “TOYOS PLACE” is mentioned on campus the students are excited because it reminds them of the young man’s creativity with subtle dazzle to it.
A visit to his shop they say guarantees perfect looks in a unique way. The manner with which he does his works continues to dazzle every student to their amazement, combined with his precision.” I am happy because I love what I do.”
Interestingly, this was not part of his initial plan. At the beginning his desire was to go to the university and attain a degree which would fetch him a worthy and high paying job. He did not envisage he could make a living from being a make – up artiste.
Unfortunately the consistent strikes in Nigerian universities over irreconcilable differences brought him to a new “world” where he rediscovered himself. “I began make – up in 2006 when I was in 200level. The strike by my school made me to look inwards and I began to think of something that will keep me busy and earn extra income.
My idea was just to learn because I did not look at it as a long time project. Something I could do far beyond the school environment. .But I was in for a surprise and ever since I have been doing make – ups. Instead of staying at home and hanging around like some students would do, I was always very busy. I realized that I had done myself a favour by going into a new world entirely.”
Not only has his new found interest in make – ups taken him to places, it has brought him so much popularity among fellow students on campus, who constantly admire him. The girls are simply not left out of this and he has become a star of some sort.
Happily he takes you into his world telling you about the different services that he offers in and around the campus. “I do make – ups for brides, beauty queens, fix nails and other stuff that bring beauty to a woman.” His most hectic periods are during wedding ceremonies when he has a long list of people to attend to simultaneously. . He also reveals that he travels a lot during wedding events and prepares brides before they are given out to be married to their husbands. “I usually travel a lot during weekends; this makes my weekend to be very hectic.”
Like every new adventure, there are challenges which must be met. “My major challenge was getting money to start up the business. When I started, I had little money which I injected into the business. Today, I have been able to circumvent that problem. I now have my store where I attend to my customers.” Besides, money he had to face the battle to fend off competition from the female folks who were already in the business and well established .The battle was stiff, because he had doubts in his mind about the success of the business. But for a start, he gave his customers, free services just to win them over.
“I had to step up my work and bring myself to them. I wanted everybody to be interested in me and my business, by rendering them free services and there were times I took just a token.” This strategy worked and his fame on campus increased tremendously. When they saw my rates, how I handled customers, my unique styles they began to patronize me.”
This new opportunity also meant that he had to step up the level of his seriousness in school by reading extra hard. “I do serious reading in order to be able to meet up. I realized that education is about seriousness, so what I do is work during the day and study hard at night.”
Subsequently, his achievement on the job has been great. He revealed some memorable moments doing make – ups for couples over the years. “I have done a lot of work for married women since I began. Apart from that, I have been able to use the money from this work to support myself financially especially when support from my parents is at the lowest ebb. “Money from my job is injected into my schooling because I believe so much in my education. Moreover, my greatest achievement is the satisfaction I derive from doing the job; I enjoy what I do a lot because when I see my customers looking good and kinky, I always feel happy.”
He adds that: “My education is the most important thing that I look forward to in life. But for now, I will continue with my make – up by expanding every aspect of my work. I also hope to introduce new dimensions into it in other to remain competitive among the female folks.|”
Their fight was over kingship position. To decide who will rule the people of South Ibie in Auchi. Two brothers had the right to the seat. One had an upper ace, while the other refused it. The court had earlier ruled on it, but one was not satisfied. Because he saw himself as the rightful owner of the throne.
Then the stage was set for a tug of war. A battle that would later lead to loss of lives and properties. Properties worth millions of naira were razed down in a seemly dastard manner; rendering the innocent homeless.
Newspaper reports were voluptuous, with no specifics. They reported different sides of the story. Some said 32 houses, were razed down with five people dead. While others had a different view. The “Nigerian Tribune” reported 35 and so on. The report did not suggest that the two brother’s houses were burnt down. It did not report that they were killed; but it reported that the innocent were rendered homeless. How pathetic and mean can it get?
The dastard act forced the part time students of Auchi Polytechnic to flee the community for fear of their lives. Their examination was postponed. Another cog in the wheel of their pursuit for academic success. As the day passed by, the intensity of the tussle, increased. The regulars who were on holidays, had a bitter pill to swallow. Because the battle meant a postponement of their resumption. Those who were not around had their certificates and other belongings, razed to ashes. The big boys too were caught in the web, with well pimped rooms that provide a “homely” comfort, which some parents cannot afford burnt to ashes.
The students suffered for what they had no knowledge off. Properties worth millions of naira were destroyed, as fire razed down buildings. Cruel people with no heart at all for human sympathy. The thugs who did it probably delighted in it. They probably enjoyed it with great delight.
Auchi is supposed to be a cool place for academic pursuit. A community were symbiotic relationships of the students will lead to the development and then benefit everybody, has been turned into something else. Top study in Nigeria has never been easy. Because of the antecedents of vices; cultism, strike actions over irreconcilable differences, protest and others has always been a problem to us students. It is even worse when “thugs” make the place unlearnable for fellow students, through cultism. But who are we to complain, when certificate pontificate our priorities than abilities and intelligence.
The indigenes are part of the problem as well. Every corner of the community reel of oppression from them. The boys and girls are constantly oppressed by them. They enjoy it because it is what they do. They have no other job except oppression. They are daft with no intelligence at all. Every aspect of their life is ignorance. They are the first to initiate trouble and yet the first to flee the scene, leaving the unguarded fellow to wallop in it. How cruel!
The security groups are no good either, from the Man ‘O’ War to the vigilante group. They delight in oppression and brutality. They pay lip service to security and other matters. It has always been so. The non indigenes are made to suffer gruesomely over what they have no knowledge of. Every action they take is bent on favouring their own, but if it is the non indigenes, then hell is let loose. How myopic can they be? With their doodle attitude.
Oh poor students, who have been rendered homeless. My heart ponders on so many questions. And yet not certain what the answers will be. Will the school management be kind enough to help the students out? Will they be kind enough to issue those whose certificates were destroyed along other properties a new one? I just hope so, because in Nigeria, we value certificate more than skills and abilities. So that those years spent in acquiring them will not waste. I just hope so.
That Yisa Braimoh is calling on the government to assist the victims is a good step. But I have my doubts about our government. They do not listen to the voice of the people, their purse is first, and as such any other thing is indifference to them. But I just hope that in this case, the government will do what is expected of them.
But above all, we must make sure that this ugly trend of two sane mad brothers does not rob the innocent ones of their peace in future. Because we all deserve a right to peaceful co – existence in every facet of our country – Nigeria.
