In what could be regarded as uncommon demonstration of patriotism, students of the Centre for Continuous Education (CCE), the University of Jos, have given back to their institution even before graduation. They dubbed it pre-Alumni activities.
The final year students of the centre decided to breathe life into one of the old structures in the institution by renovating the centre’s auditorium located at the Old Campus of the university along Muritala Muhammed Way, Jos.
The students chose to renovate the multi-purpose auditorium which has not been renovated since its construction years back.
Incidentally, the structure is located at the university’s temporary site when it took off in 1975 and has continued to be used for multi-purpose functions even after the university was moved to its permanent site along Bauchi Road.
Currently, the centre serves as the university’s Consultancy Services block where diploma programmes are held.
The centre which has since then produced several of thousands of diploma students in the fields of Accounting, Banking and Finance, Mass Communication, Marketing, Purchasing and Supply, Community Development and Public Administration, among others, has remained dilapidated despite that huge sums of money accrue from the diploma programmes.
Incidentally, the auditorium which is used as lecture hall for these students is also used for matriculation ceremonies, seminars and other ceremonies organised by the university.
Worried by the state of the facility, the final year students of the 2013/2014 session, decided to pool resources to give the auditorium a facelift. They taxed themselves and contributed what they described as seed money of over N1 million. The Director, Advancement Office of the university, Yakubu Gomos said the effort of the students was part of the leave-a-legacy programmes introduced by the university in 2007.
Gomos, who coordinated the renovation project said: “The Advancement Office had initiated what we call ‘Leave-a-Legacy’ programme since 2007. It is a programme where students are encouraged to develop the idea of doing something for the school that prepared them for life.
“With this programme, final year students do contribute funds and use the total funds collected to carry out one project of their choice within the institution. The ‘leave-a-legacy’ programme was originally meant for students running degree programmes, but we decided to extend it to non-NUC students who undertake diploma programmes at the old campus of the university so as to also give them sense of belonging to the university family. So, these students voluntarily contributed their little fund and before you know it, over N1 million was contributed for the project.”
Continuing, he said: “The idea behind the ‘Leave-a-Legacy’ programme is to bring the final year students together to make positive impact on their school. It is pre-alumni activities to prepare the final year students to develop the idea of helping the school after their graduation as they join the alumni of the school.
“It is another means of building the alumni from within. This means that before the students graduate, they are acquainted with the challenges which the school is experiencing and they will begin to think of how to help whenever they are fully established in their life after school.
“The funds are collected by the students themselves. They also choose the project they want to embark upon to be supervised by the Advancement Office which coordinates the activities of Alumni of the school. At this stage, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Hayward Babale Mafuyai coordinates the execution of the project.
“This yearly project has gone a long way in assisting the institution to solve some of its infrastructural challenges since 2007 when it was established.”
Contributing, the Director of Centre for Continuous Education (CCE), Prof. Mark Lere said: “I am impressed with what these students have done. They have left a legacy behind because they have graduated. Before now, the students used to do such things in their respective departments, but this time around, they decided to do something that the entire school will benefit from.
“Before the students embarked on the renovation of the auditorium, the hall was completely dilapidated; the roof was leaking because the entire ceiling had worn out, making students to run out of the class as soon as the rain begins, the windows were broken, just as the doors had given way.
“The hall was virtually without seat. The students were not finding it comfortable any more. So, they were mobilised by the Advancement Office to carry out the renovation. After the renovation, the hall appears new and attractive to them. So, if these students continued this way each year, the face of the centre will change for good.”
President of the students’ union of the centre, Patrick Yilshap, who graduated from the Mass Communication Department, said: “All the final year students were involved, they contributed funds so that we could leave a legacy behind. We chose to renovate the auditorium because that was the only hall in the school that can take as much as 500 students at a time. The Vice-Chancellor gave his approval and the auditorium is now a new place to behold.”
