When they were admitted into the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), they were eager to identify with their departments. But, after they wrote their final exams, they all chorused: “we have conquered”. They employed different sobriquets in renaming their departments to announce their impending graduation from the school.
The graduating students of English called themselves “the connoisseurs”. The inscription on their customised t-shirts read: “Great Ife just unleashed a connoisseur. Me!” A lecturer in the department, Dr E.T. Babalola, on sighting the students, exclaimed: “The outside world should be ready for an impending invasion.”
That was the excitement at the OAU, last week, when graduating students moved round the campus to bid their junior colleagues farewell.
After their final exams, songs of celebration wafted in the air as the students moved out of the exam halls. In groups, they moved from one hostel to the other, singing and dancing with live bands trailing them.
They chanted songs such as Mobo lowo won (I have escaped from their traps) and Four years don waka (Four years have gone), which were sung by popular hip-hop artistes, D’banj and Eldee. They also sung the school anthem and gospel songs. They waved to their junior colleagues amidst cheers, telling them to “read your books”.
The traditional ‘baptism’ was not missing. Male students residing in Fajuyi and Awo Halls came out with buckets of water to “baptise” their graduating colleagues. The departing students were drenched in all sorts of liquid.
For Agriculture students, their final exams marked their departure from the bush. They called themselves Cabaleros, Spanish for conquerors. For those in Zoology, it was time to fly out of the zoo. They nicknamed themselves the Aquila Chrysatos, a species of eagle. The list goes on.
“It was a long walk to freedom”, said a student of English because the final exams were supposed to have been written last year.
Oladele Madamidola, a former president of the National Association of Students of English and Literature (NASELS), described his experience on campus as great. He said: “A lot has been said about my department but I must add that the place is like a refinery; you pass through it and you become a refined gold. You never remain the same.”
John Odeyemi, a former Editor-in-Chief of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), said: “It has not been easy but we give glory to the Almighty God. But I am not going back home the way I came here. I came here as an innocent, but I am no longer one. I came here as a gentle boy but I have turned to an agitator.”
A graduating student of Microbiology, Joseph Oluwaseun, said he would never forget arriving for 8am lectures by 4am to avoid standing during the classes. Ifeoluwa Olojede, Fine and Applied Arts, said he would not forget roaming the length and breadth of the campus for seven days before he finally got to his department for registration.
On what the labour market holds for them, Samuel Adegbola, the outgoing president of Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), said the onus lies on the graduating students to showcase what they were taught in school.
“OAU has deposited something valuable in us, which will make us stand tall among our contemporaries; we have been prepared not only to handle responsibilities with a touch of success, but also to always make our alma mater proud of us,” he said.
To Dara Olajide, OAU is a platform for self-discovering. “This is a place where you shape your destiny. The department of English has been both challenging and dream-shaping for me. I will miss all my classmates, especially the ones that have impacted positively on me.”
