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Tag: DELSU

  • Four bag first class at DELSU

    Four bag first class at DELSU

    Four students bagged First Class during the Eighth Convication of the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka. PHILIP OKORODUDU (Graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (300-Level Home Economics Education) report.

    No fewer than 10,215 graduates of the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka were conferred with degrees and diplomas at the institution’s eighth Convocation penultimate Saturday. The ceremony was held at the Convocation Arena of the university’s Site III.

    It was for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 set of graduates. About 8,049 got first degree certificates; 597, Diplomas and 1,569, post-graduate degrees.

    Four of the graduates had First Class, 1,372, Second Class (Upper Division), 4,819, Second Class (Lower Division), 1,684, Third Class and 170, pass.

    In attendance were the Visitor, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the Pro-chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. Tony Elumelu, among other top dignitaries.

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Eric Arubayi, said the ceremony was an opportunity for the Visitor and stakeholders an opportunity to meet the graduands. The event, he added, ended the students’ struggle to get a degree. He urged the graduands to take stock of their achievements, saying they must reflect on the challenges they faced before they got their degrees.

    Prof Arubayi expressed gratitude to the state government, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and other organisations for their support, especially in providing infrastructure.

    The VC praised staff and students for joining him to make the campus conducive for learning.

    Uduaghan urged the graduands not to give up hope on the future of the country, noting that the objective of Delta Beyond Oil, his pet project, is to open up the state’s economy and provide jobs for indigenes.

    Highlight of the event was the presentation of gifts to the best graduating students – Efe Igbagbon of Mechanical and Metellurgical Engineering, who had a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.64 and Joy Onyemaechi  of Economics department, who made a CGPA of 4.67.

    Joy advised her colleagues to be ready for the challenges of life outside the ivory tower.

    Efe gave all the glory to God, saying: “When I was admitted, so many people told me that getting a First Class in this university was like trying to make a Carmel pass through the eyes of a needle. But, I set forth to do my best and I am glad that today, my best was good enough.”

  • Poor facilities hamper DELSU’s growth, says VC

    Poor facilities hamper DELSU’s growth, says VC

    Last Saturday 10,215 persons were awarded degrees, diplomas and certificates of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka.

    The event was epochal, using the language of the school’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Eric Arubayi, in many ways, specifically because it was the first convocation holding in shortest space of time after the previous one, which held in September, 2012, during which five sessions were merged in one ceremony.

    The Vice Chancellor used the occasion to do a some assignments, which included expressing the institution’s gratitude to all that have contributed to the development of its four campuses, particularly the state government, under Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

    He also gave a score card of his administration, especially from the last convocation in 2012. He said the university recorded a number of achievements during the period under review, despite industrial action.

    However, despite being very attractive to many youths who apply for admission yearly, Arubayi lamented that the university’s inadequate facilities have limited its progress.  As a result, he said the National Universities’ Commission’s (NUC) restricts its admission quota to the adequacy of infrastructure available.

    He appealed to other stakeholders to support the university to overcome its infrastructural deficit and surpass its current capacity.

    “A sizable portion of the population of young Deltans prefer this university to any other one in the country. This, in addition to National Universities’ Commission’s policy of tying admission quota to carrying-capacity based on available structure in the university has made the procurement of admissions a nightmare to many who ordinarily should have been considered. As a way of increasing our admission capacity, therefore, all stakeholders should not only compliment the efforts of the state government, and the institution, but must also, as a premium, synergise all efforts in this regard,” he said.

    Governor Uduaghan addressed the concerns of the vice chancellor, urging private sector organisations and the influential personalities from the state to help out. He represented these classes with the Pro-Chancellor of the university, Mr Tony Elumelu, who he charged to bring foreign aids from his many connections to build infrastructure for the institution.

    According to him, he had planned to mount pressure on Elumelu and the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to bring aids for the university using their international connections.

    On job creation, the governor said his administration is diversifying the state’s economy from being dependent on oil and gas alone, explaining that the Delta Beyond Oil approach is to open up the state’s economy and provide jobs for indigenes who are qualified, like the graduands.

    The governor said: “For those who are not working, I want to say there is hope, there’s a bright future and Delta Beyond Oil strategy is to ensure that you have work and also to ensure that those who are in school now, when they come out they don’t have to wait for too long before they get employed.”

    Elumelu, challenged the corporate class to see to it that the emerging generation of professionals is provided with the needed infrastructure and enabling environment.

    “We should encourage our young graduates to go out and take risks, find technological solutions to everyday challenges and source for endorsements to build on your dreams. But As leaders in both government and private sectors, we must create the enabling and predisposing environment that can lead to successful entrepreneurship in our environment,” he said.

    The highlight of the event was the presentation of gifts to outstanding students of the sessions, especially the valedictorian of the convocation, Joy Onyemechi, who won some prizes. The graduate of Economics used her valedictory message to challenge her fellow graduands to be ready for the challenges ahead of them. She said her next target is to go abroad to study further.

  • Union holds election as court lifts order

    Union holds election as court lifts order

    A new Students’ Union Government (SUG) executive has emerged at the Delta State University (DELSU). The election came after two disqualified presidential aspirants withdrew their court case against the school, report PHILIP OKORODUDU (Graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (300-Level Home Economics Education).

    The Students’ Union Government (SUG) election of the Delta State University (DELSU) finally took place last week. It held after a court injunction restraining the management or its representatives from conducting the election, pending the determination of a suit filed by two disqualified presidential aspirants was vacated.

    The exercise was scheduled to hold on April 30 but was postponed till last week, because of the aggrieved aspirants’ suit.

    The disqualified aspirants, Wisdom Eghwubare, a 400-Level Sociology student, and Iteveh Ekpokpobe, a 400-Level Mass Communication student, approached the Isiokolo High Court, praying for the restoration of their rights to stand for the election as bonafide students of the university.

    The court issued an order preventing the school from holding the elections, pending the determination of the suit.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that three of the five presidential candidates were barred from contesting by the management, which did not give reasons for its action. But it was learnt that the aspirants were disqualified because they did not meet the conditions set for the exercise, including the minimum of a Commutative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.51.

    The plaintiffs argued that the management lacked the locus standi to disqualify them without stating the reasons. They prayed the court to compel the school to state the reasons for which they were disqualified. The students urged the court to enforce their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

    CAMPUSLIFE investigation revealed that after the preliminary screening to ascertain the aspirants’ CGPA, the management undertook further screening on other aspects of their life.

    The aspirants said they were not told the other criteria checked by the management to allow students stand for election.

    But, barely a week after filing the suit, the disqualified students were said to have withdrawn it. CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the plaintiffs were advised against taking the school to court but to iron out their differences with the management.

    It was learnt that the students were told that their actions tantamount to a breach of the matriculation oath they swore to uphold and that the management might deal with them if they proceed with the court case.

    CAMPUSLIFE was informed that after wide consultations, the Dean of  Students Affairs, Prof Timi Akporhunor, convinced the aggrieved students to withdraw the case, promising that no action would be taken against them. The management, he said, would pay for the expenses they might have incurred on the case.

    The election was held in a peaceful. The security personnel covered all strategic points within the voting area.

    The open ballot exercise started at 9am and lasted for four hours. Counting of votes started immediately and ended at 4am.

    Obaro Ohwojero, a 300-Level Business Administration, was elected president; Pleasure Gbakena, a 400-Level Microbiology student, is the Vice President.

    Others are David Etagbedavwe, 300-Level Philosophy, Secretary General; Stanley Awo, 300-Level Library and Information Science, Director of Information; and Joshua Ezie, 400-Level Political Science, Director of Socials, among others.

  • ASUU-DELSU shuns Uduaghan’s threat of no work, no pay

    THE Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has defied the ‘no work, no pay’, policy of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

    Its Chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Mordi, who led a rally of over 100 lecturers during the week, marched through some major streets of Abraka.

    The lecturers, who were chanting solidarity songs, bore placards with inscriptions, such as “ Federal Government should fulfill her earlier promise to pay us”; “Time is now”; “Let us support ASUU to save university education in Nigeria”; “ We will not relent in our efforts to ensure that Justice is done to our noble Course” and so on.

    Mordi said: “It is regrettable that the Federal Government has stopped the payment of salaries of lecturers in federal universities. Similarly, Delta State government has also threatened to follow suit. “We need to remind that the policy of ‘no work, no pay’ will give rise to the policy of ‘no pay, no work’.

    “It is important to stress that by our own estimation, the MOU should have fetched Nigerians Public Universities at total of N 500 billion by now if government were to faithfully implement the understanding reached with ASUU in 2012” remarked the union chairman.

    “In effect, the government appears to have repudiated the 2009 agreement, the MOU and others. What has emerged is that government never intended to implement the provision of any of these important documents, while publicly and privately encourage ASUU and the country to believe that it was determined to address the delay and not in the universities.”

    He said he was particularly sad that President Goodluck Jonathan was not worried about the woes of the education system.

     

  • Hemmed in by flood

    Hemmed in by flood

    An early morning downpour last Sunday threw residents of Abraka, the host-community of Delta State University (DELSU), into panic over the state of Ekrejeta Road, which is close to the institution. Whenever it rains, the road is flooded, making it impassable. PHILIP OKORODUDU (500-Level Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (200-Level Home Economics) report.

    The rainy season is not the best of times for students of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka. Whenever it rains, some parts of Abraka, their host-community, are flooded, paralysing movement and commercial activities.

    The Ekrejeta Road that leads to the campus is always bubbling with life in the dry season, but when it rains, it is a no-go area. Even a light shower gets the road flooded.

    Almost all banks have their branches on the road.

    Motorists are going through pains plying the road– no thanks to the rain. After a downpour last Sunday, it was flooded, slowing down vehicular movement.

    Last Monday, pedestrians were stranded while some businesses on the road closed because of flood.

    The flood is caused by lack of drainage. Some traders lamented the development, saying their agonies may be compounded if the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) calls off its srike.

    The federal road was constructed in the 1970s to link Sapele and Agbor. A new road has since been built, with the Ekrejeta road now serving Abraka.

    Over the years, the road has become the commercial nerve centre of Abraka but it has been neglected by successive governments.

    To protect their premises from the flood, banks built concrete structures at the edge of the road. Store owners also protected their businesses from the flood. They filled many cement sacks with red sand and placed them as barriers against the flood.

    This measure has compounded the woes of motorists and commercial tricycle riders.

    There are insinuations that the banks on the road gave money to the community to construct a drainage last year but the community leaders failed to pick a contractor for the job.

    A chief in the community, Edwin Emudainohwo, who is a retired teacher, dismissed the rumour, saying no money was given to the community by anyone to provide drainage on the road.

    He said: “We approached all the banks to help solve the problem but they told us that they are not the owners of the banks. They promised to consult with their top management team. They came later to tell us to calculate the cost of constructing a drainage in the area. After we did, nothing has come from them.”

    On what the community is doing to address the problem, Emudainohwo said the people had been meeting to find a lasting solution to it.

    He said it was neither the duty of the community nor the banks’ to construct drainage, adding: “Why should the local government not carry out its statutory responsibility of meeting the needs of tax payers?”

    A member of the staff of one of the banks, who pleaded for anonymity, said some managements did their best to pool resources to tackle the flood- prone road but added that others did not co-operate. The banker quoted one of the managers as saying: “Each bank should go and protect its premises because taxes are paid to the state.”

    The official debunked the insulation that the banks gave money to the community.

    A cyber café owner on the road, Mr Kevwe Ogbe, lamented the situation, urging the Federal Government to do something before the problem got out of hand.

    A trader, who simply identified herself as Mrs Esther, said: “The government should please come to our aid. We don’t want malaria to kill us because of the stagnant water. The flood is affecting our business because our customers cannot gain access.”

    Judith Uduh, 200-Level Technical Education, whose hostel is located on the road, said academic activities could be disrupted if the condition became worse. She urged the government to construct drainage that would channel the water directly to River Ethiope.

    An applicant, Victor Omonigho, who came to write the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation (UTME), said his mobile phone fell into the water as he tried to flag down a commercial vehicle. “I lost all my telephone contacts after my phone fell into the flood water,” he said.

  • Hemmed in by flood

    An early morning downpour last Sunday threw residents of Abraka, the host-community of Delta State University (DELSU), into panic over the state of Ekrejeta Road, which is close to the institution. Whenever it rains, the road is flooded, making it impassable. PHILIP OKORODUDU (500-Level Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (200-Level Home Economics) report.

     

    The rainy season is not the best of times for students of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka. Whenever it rains, some parts of Abraka, their host-community, are flooded, paralysing movement and commercial activities.

    The Ekrejeta Road that leads to the campus is always bubbling with life in the dry season, but when it rains, it is a no-go area. Even a light shower gets the road flooded.

    Almost all banks have their branches on the road.

    Motorists are going through pains plying the road– no thanks to the rain. After a downpour last Sunday, it was flooded, slowing down vehicular movement.

    Last Monday, pedestrians were stranded while some businesses on the road closed because of flood.

    The flood is caused by lack of drainage. Some traders lamented the development, saying their agonies may be compounded if the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) calls off its srike.

    The federal road was constructed in the 1970s to link Sapele and Agbor. A new road has since been built, with the Ekrejeta road now serving Abraka.

    Over the years, the road has become the commercial nerve centre of Abraka but it has been neglected by successive governments.

    To protect their premises from the flood, banks built concrete structures at the edge of the road. Store owners also protected their businesses from the flood. They filled many cement sacks with red sand and placed them as barriers against the flood.

    This measure has compounded the woes of motorists and commercial tricycle riders.

    There are insinuations that the banks on the road gave money to the community to construct a drainage last year but the community leaders failed to pick a contractor for the job.

    A chief in the community, Edwin Emudainohwo, who is a retired teacher, dismissed the rumour, saying no money was given to the community by anyone to provide drainage on the road.

    He said: “We approached all the banks to help solve the problem but they told us that they are not the owners of the banks. They promised to consult with their top management team. They came later to tell us to calculate the cost of constructing a drainage in the area. After we did, nothing has come from them.”

    On what the community is doing to address the problem, Emudainohwo said the people had been meeting to find a lasting solution to it.

    He said it was neither the duty of the community nor the banks’ to construct drainage, adding: “Why should the local government not carry out its statutory responsibility of meeting the needs of tax payers?”

    A member of the staff of one of the banks, who pleaded for anonymity, said some managements did their best to pool resources to tackle the flood- prone road but added that others did not co-operate. The banker quoted one of the managers as saying: “Each bank should go and protect its premises because taxes are paid to the state.”

    The official debunked the insulation that the banks gave money to the community.

    A cyber café owner on the road, Mr Kevwe Ogbe, lamented the situation, urging the Federal Government to do something before the problem got out of hand.

    A trader, who simply identified herself as Mrs Esther, said: “The government should please come to our aid. We don’t want malaria to kill us because of the stagnant water. The flood is affecting our business because our customers cannot gain access.”

    Judith Uduh, 200-Level Technical Education, whose hostel is located on the road, said academic activities could be disrupted if the condition became worse. She urged the government to construct drainage that would channel the water directly to River Ethiope.

    An applicant, Victor Omonigho, who came to write the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation (UTME), said his mobile phone fell into the water as he tried to flag down a commercial vehicle. “I lost all my telephone contacts after my phone fell into the flood water,” he said.

  • United they stand

    United they stand

    The auditorium of the Faculty of Social Science on the Abraka campus of the Delta State University (DELSU) was a beehive when English students held their annual programme. Under the banner of National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS), the students gathered for the weeklong International Conference of English and Literary Studies (ICOSELS).

    It was the seventh in the series and it was tagged DELSU ICOSELS for national unity. The participants pledged to preach peace and unity to engender educational development.

    The conference with the theme Language/Literature for sustainable national development drew participants from over 26 tertiary institutions. Over 500 students and guests attended the conference. Some erudite scholars and literary icons were the guest speakers.

    In a keynote address, the national staff adviser of the association and a lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies, DELSU, Dr Sunny Awhefeada, urged participants to work for the unity of all institutions of learning.

    Various speakers took turns to educate the students on issues. Among them was Odia Ofeimun, a renowned poet. Prof Festus Iyayi presented a paper entitled Literature and national development; Alex Roy-Omoni, another guest speaker, spoke on Nigerian culture and tradition: A call for decolonisation.

    Prof Joy Eyisi, the patron of the association and a senior lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State, presented a new dimension to usage of grammar and exposed the common errors made by writers and speakers of English.

    The week-long conference was not all about lectures; participants visited recreation and tourist attractions in Delta State. In one of such outings, the students visited Umuaga, the source of River Ethiope where it is said that the water actually comes from a tree and not from the rock as widely believed. The participants also visited Marcarthy beach, a popular resort in the university community to socialise.

    The highpoint was the election of new officers. Oluwadare Adejare, 400-Level student of the University of Ibadan (UI) was elected national president.

    Joel Isioma, 300-Level student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) said he was thrilled by the lecture of Prof Iyayi, adding that he acquired new knowledge during the conference.

    Angela Ugwu-Agbo, 300-Level student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said the conference was a departure from the last one held in UNIBEN where some of the guest speakers did not show up.

    Mfon Akpabio, 300-Level, University of Uyo (UNIUYO) and Mac-Anthony Okpara, 300-Level Imo State University (IMSU), described the conference as thrilling.

    In his address, the outgoing national president of the association, Akwarandu Akwarandu, 400-Level student of IMSU, gave an account of his stewardship. He said his leadership brought more institutions to join the national body. He thanked members of the host institution for the success of the conference.

    He ended his speech with the words of Odia Ofeimun, who said: ‘If I had disappointed the crowd, I would have disappointed the whole nation.”

    Oluwadare said his intention was to sustain the language and literary legacy and consolidate on the gains made by the outgoing executive.

    Franklin Akporhe, Director of Information of the local organising committee, told CAMPUSLIFE that he was happy with the outcome of the event despite challenges encountered in the organisation. He praised DELSU management and appreciated the efforts of the head of English and Literary Studies department, DELSU, Dr Macaulay Mowarin, his IMSU counterpart and Dr Awhefeada.