The Nation Newspaper

Tag: STUDENT

  • Student loses kidney failure battle

    Student loses kidney failure battle

    He was in Abuja to perfect his plans to travel to India for a kidney transplant. But, Zakariyyah Abiodun Olowo, a 300-Level Law student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) could not make the trip. He died before he could obtain a visa, reports HABEEB WHYTE (Nigerian Law School, Abuja)

    What happened to him? This was the question Law students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) were asking when news of the death of Zakariyyah Abiodun Olowo hit the campus.

    Zakariyyah, a 300-Level Law student, was in Abuja to obtain Indian visa for medical trip. Unknown to many of his classmates and friends, Zakariyyah had been battling kidney failure.

    He planned to travel to India for transplant, but he died while trying to get the travel documents. His death disrupted activities at the Faculty of Law because Zakariyyah was the best student in his class. He was also a member of several students’ associations.

    He had just been elected president of the UNILORIN chapter of the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ). He was the Organising Secretary of the National Association of Muslim Law Students (NAMLAS) and a member of Law Students’ Society (LSS) Judicial Council.

    “I saw him last week,” a student screamed as the deceased’s colleagues gathered to mourn last Friday. Many were in tears; some wore pensive looks, asking why such fate befell their colleague.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the late student was disgnosed of the ailment months ago and had been managing it, pending the end of the session when he would travel abroad for proper attention. When he could not cope again, he took excuse to abandon the second semester examination to enable him travel. It was learnt that the late Zakariyyah had already written two papers when his health deteriorated. He was in UNILORIN Teaching Hospital for a while before he left for Abuja.

    His body was brought to Ilorin for burial. As the corpse was being awaited, members of the Law Students’ Society and UCJ gathered at the UNILORIN Bus Terminus at Tipper Garage area to attend the funeral in group. They left for the deceased’s family house in Adewole area of Ilorin to condole with the Olowos, from where they went to the cemetery in the university’s Marcopolo bus.

    After Asri (late afternoon worship), the students left in group to Ilorin Muslim Cemetery for the interment.

    The cemetery was besieged by students. At exactly 6pm, a Toyota Sienna bus brought the remains to the cemetery. The body was taken into a building in the graveyard for spiritual bath. Afterwards, Janazah (funeral) prayers were said.

    Students fought back tears as the body was being lowered into the grave. It was an emotional ceremony attended by sub-Dean, Students’ Affairs, Dr Yusuff Abdulraheem, Dean of Law Faculty, Dr Yusuff Arowosaiye, his deputy, Dr Bashir Omipidan, Head of Property Law Department, Dr Hakeem Ijaiya and ex-president of UCJ, Barrister Mohammed Alabi, among others.

    Titilope Anifowoshe, his classmate and Vice President-elect of the Students’ Union Government, described the late Zakariyyah as a “very good friend”. She said his brilliance and writing skills stood him out of many. “Zakariyyah was particularly nice to friends in need. He gave his best in everything he did and always helped the sick. He was also an entrepreneur,” she said.

    Alabi described Zakariyyah’s death as a personal loss. He said: “I only had glowing memory of him. His scholarship, writing skill and above all, his being a devoted Muslim. May Allah grant him eternal rest and give his distraught family the fortitude to bear this obviously irreparable loss.”

    Nurudeen Olalekan, his classmate, said he was still in shock. “Members of NAMLAS visited him at his hostel in Adeta area a week before his death, where we made an appeal to his family to fast-track the medical trip abroad. We did not know it would be the last time we would see him alive,” he said.

    Zakariyyah’s deputy in UCJ, Kayode Nissi, described him as a “great colleague and classmate”.

    Wale Bakare, graduating student of Zoology, who should have handed over to the deceased as UCJ president, said Zakariyyah’s death was “very painful”.

    Adam Muhammed, a 400-Level law student, said the deceased was a campus activist. He said: “Fighting the cause of justice and using the pen for advocacy was his way. His latest advocacy was the condemnation of engineering students, who held dinner party after one of their colleagues died. The late Zakariyyah wrote a three-page article criticising engineering student for not having respect for the dead. He earned my respect for this singular act but little did he know that his own time was around the corner.”

    The late Zakariyyah was his parents’ first child. He was in his early 20s and best student in his class.

     

  • The world of student-traders

    Some students work to pay their way through school. It is either their parents are poor or they are schooling at old age. There are such students at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State. KEMI BUSARI (Political Science) reports.

    For Toyosi Kolade, shoe-making is not the exclusive preserve of men. She acquired the skill to make a living and pay her way through school. A visit to her room in Ladoke Akintola Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, showed how passionate she is about the vocation.

    Shoes of various sizes are scattered all over the place.

    Toyosi, 22, has just finished from the Political Science Department, but in her last two years, she paid her fees from the money she made as a cobbler. Toyosi ventured into shoe-making to assist her parents.

    She said: “I started shoe-making when I resumed for my third year on campus. A skill acquisition programme came up in my church for youths to learn any trade that would make them independent. I opted for something unique from what others are doing. I chose to make and repair shoes; this fed me throughout my stay on campus.”

    When she started, she was mocked by people who felt she was in a wrong vocation. Toyosi said: “People made me to feel ashamed of myself by mocking me whenever they heard that a female student is doing such work. But I never let that discourage me. In the end, some of the people who taunted me ended up being my customers.”

    Toyosi never allowed the trade to affect her academic pursuit. The Ekiti State-born cobbler said she devoted ample time to her studies and entrepreneurial skill.

    “The reason I ventured into shoe making and repairing is for me to support my parents’ expenses on me. I have always liked to be independent but there was no means. But when I learned the trade, I was able to pay up to 40 per cent of my fees in school.”

    She is not alone in this kind of business. Her colleague, Adeniyi Taiwo, who graduated from the Department of Geography, sells moin-moin (bean cake) at Awolowo Hall. He prepares the garnished moin-moin in thick leaves for sells and each between N25 and N30.

    Adeniyi, who hawks the moin-moin himself, said: “I was motivated to start this because of the meagre resources I got from home. I needed to have my own source of income to be able to pay some little expenses in school. It is not everything that you ask from your parents.”

    To him, the trade is not for women alone. Adeniyi said: “The only business you can tag as women’s trade is the one only a female can handle. In the case of selling moin-moin, everybody can do it, in so far the aim is to make money.”

    Adeniyi moves from one room to the other, hawking.

    In Imo State, Ellen Sunday made her mark, combining business, academics and spiritual life. Ellen, who started from a few wraps of groundnut and sugar in 2012, now manages a full scale business, selling pepper, tomato and kerosene in large quantities.

    “I really want to be independent,” she said, when asked why she dabbled into the business. She added: “I was tired of asking for money from my parents all the time. I started when I was in 300-Level, but when I resumed for final year, I increased my stock and sold to students in large quantities.”

    Of all the wares, Ellen said it is tomato that is most profitable. “I started the trade with about N2,000 but I can’t really determine how much it has grown into. My trade has multiplied even beyond my expectations,” she added.

    Ellen said she is proud to be a student-trader, saying she paid 95 per cent of expenses on campus from the business. “Although my parents used to send money to me but, most times, I won’t touch it. The business paid up to 95 per cent of my expenses on campus,” she said.

    “If I choose to sleep conveniently on my bed, hunger will wake me up. This was why I found it better to discomfort myself so that hunger would not eventually discomfort me,” Bamidele Adeleke, a graduate of Sociology and Anthropology, who eked out a living selling bread, said.

    Instead of sleeping on his bed, Bamidele stockpiles bread on his mattress and squats with his friends.

    He started the business early this year because of what he called “economic meltdown in the family”, which reduced his pocket money from home.

    He said: “I started the business with N1,600 and six packs of bread. Today, I sell about 10 packs a day, which is more than N4,000. The business paid up to 85 per cent of my expenses on campus.”

    Now that they have graduated, does that the death of their business?

    Bamidele, who is currently taking the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) courses, said nothing would separate him from bread business, even as a graduate.

    After her National Youth Service, Toyosi said she would start a shoe-making business on a large scale, urging her colleagues to acquire vocational skills in addition to their academic degrees.

    Adeniyi would like to be his own boss by going into entrepreneurship. Ellen said she would continue the business after school but on a large scale. “I have a dream to have a supermarket of my own,” she said.

  • Students bemoan ‘double fee’ as varsity resumes

    Students bemoan ‘double fee’ as varsity resumes

    Kogi State University (KSU) in Ayingba has just resumed session but students are not happy with the fee regime introduced by the management.

    They describe it as anti-student. Some of them, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, said the new fee was not in the interest of students.

    A 300-Level student, who did not want his name in print, said management disappointed students with the increment, saying: “I think it is not a wise thing for the authorities to increase the fees at this period because things are not easy for us.”

    He urged the management to be considerate.

    A fresher said the management was ripping off students through “double charge” for one item.

    “I don’t know why this people decided to increase the fees at this critical time. I was told that the fees that fresh students used to pay was tN35, 500.  I don’t know how it became N57,500 for those of us that are indigenes. We are also paying departmental fees and association fees even after they have been included in the school’s fees.”

    However, a student, James Yusuf, said the fee increment was in order, noting the new fee was affordable compare to the fees being charged in Southwest universities.

    He said: “Look my brother, the increment is considerate enough, owing to the fact that if you look at it, other institutions are collecting even higher fees. Other universities collect as high as one hundred thousand and above, even for their students. Consider the Lagos State University, for instance and others in the West.”

    While some kicked against the fee increment, others commended the school for the upward review of fees, saying its in line with realities of the 21st century education.

    It was gathered that the Students’ Union Government (SUG) met with the school’s Visitor, Governor Idris Wada, following rumour that there would be fee hike, but the government said it was untrue.

  • Student runs for Nigeria

    Student runs for Nigeria

    A 400-Level student of Human Kinetics and Health Education, AAUA, Miss Omolara Omotoso, is among the athletes representing Nigeria in the RAC relay race holding in California, United States.

    RAC relay is a part of preparation for the Commonwealth Games coming up later in the year.

    Omotoso has won gold medals at the 2011 All Africa Games held in Maputo, Mozambique; 2011 National Sports Festival, and the Nigerian University Games (NUGA, 2011 to date).

    She represented Nigeria in 4 X 400m Relay Women at the 2012 London Olympics.

    Meanwhile, an Alumnus of the University, Mr. Louis Adekola, who graduated from Department of Educational Management, is the only Nigerian and one of the three Africans among the 120 global participants for the 12-month Accelerator Programme known as Merit Next, which would take the participants to Liverpool, London, New York, Washington D.C. and their own countries.

    This programme will offer the young leaders from across the globe an opportunity to get intensive leadership training with a view to grooming them into outstanding leaders.

    The programme will start in London and Liverpool, United Kingdom in July with two weeks of inspiration, aspiration assessment, and team building.

    The participants will return to their respective countries where they will be engaged in online training and education, one-on-one mentoring and internship in the remaining 11 months.

    In June 2015, the Merit Next Fellows will converge on the United States of America (New York & Washington DC) to present their final reports to a panel of entrepreneurs, executives and venture capitalists.

  • Who killed this varsity student?

    Who killed this varsity student?

    The murder of Taiwo Shittu, a 500 Level Fisheries student of the University of Ibadan, in her apartment in Ibadan (UI), three weeks ago has increased concern about security of lives and property across the country, writes BISI OLADELE

    When charming Taiwo Shittu came home early to catch a nap on Wednesday, February 19, after the day’s work, little did she know that it would be her last, as she was hacked to death with a machete in her room by an unknown assailant after being sexually assaulted.

    The 27-year-old, 500 Level Fisheries & Aquaculture student of the University of Ibadan (UI) lived off the campus with her elder sister around the Bola Ige International Market on New Ife Road, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Taiwo had gone to school in the morning and returned at about 2:00pm on the fateful day to take a rest after a tedious practical session with her colleagues somewhere in the city. But a yet-to-be-apprehended killer went into her room in a two-room apartment with a cutlass and hit her on the head severally until she died in a pool of her blood one hour later.

    The police are still working hard to fish out her killers who are thought to have assaulted her sexually before macheting her to death. She was found naked in the room with only her underwear hanging on her thigh with blood all over her body. The cutlass was laid beside her.

     

    Who killed Taiwo?

    Taiwo’s sister, who rented the two-room apartment in the building that contains two other mini flats, gave details of the events that preceded Taiwo’s death.

    The woman, who did not want her name in print, recalled: “Around 7:00am on Tuesday, February 18, I heard a knock on the gate and I attended to the man. He introduced himself as a gardener engaged by the landlord to weed the compound. So I let him in. He went to the backyard and started preparing to start work. I left home to work at 7:15am and my sister went to school. She returned around 2:00pm. I met her at home when I returned in the evening.

    “The following day, the gardener returned at the same time. I opened the door again and returned to my room. I went to work again at 7:15am, leaving my sister behind. At about 9:20am, I returned home. By then, Taiwo had gone to school.

    “Shortly after I entered, the landlord entered the compound and checked all the apartments in the compound. I came out of my apartment and greeted him. He asked if I was the only tenant left in the compound and I answered in the affirmative. I also informed him that information at my disposal suggested that another tenant had paid and would soon move in.

    “Then he assured me that he would soon install a pumping machine in the well. After saying that, he went out of the gate and later came in with an Aluminum technician, who had worked on the building before. He faced that man and expressed surprise that he earlier told him that another tenant had moved in. But the man said he did not know. Then all of us went out of the gate.

    “I asked him to give me his phone number before he left so that I can be discussing with him directly. He said he was not leaving yet but still gave me the number. He said he would hold a meeting with the agent at about 3:00pm or 4:00pm later in the day. He discussed that over a telephone call with somebody.

    “Then, I withdrew into my apartment. I planned to leave for work around 2:00pm but I left before 2:00pm. I didn’t see any of them while leaving the compound. When I met my colleague at work, she asked why I left my phone at home because my sister picked it when she (my friend) called me at 2:15pm.

    “On getting home at about 5:30pm, I tried to open the gate but it was difficult. I eventually opened and later also opened my apartment. I thought my sister was sleeping in the room. When I went into the room, I met her naked with her underwear half removed with machete cuts on her head.

    “Out of fear, I ran outside the gate to the nearest building which is a Cherubim & Seraphim church, adjacent the building and raised the alarm. But they refused to follow me. They told me to invite the police.

    “Frustrated, I moved to another nearby building. The occupants screamed and all of them followed me into my apartment. Then I went back to work and my bosses followed me to the police station at Adelubi, behind Nigerian Breweries plant. The case was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CID), based on request by the University of Ibadan (UI).”

    She described her sister as “very gentle, cool and easy-going.” The bereaved said that the landlord sometimes visits the building.

    The Oyo State Police Command has since arrested the landlord and the gardener. It was learnt that the cutlass that the gardener was using was the same found beside Taiwo’s corpse.

    Narrating his ordeal, the landlord, Mr Oyawola Lawrence denied any involvement in the sad incident.

    The 65-year old retiree said: ”On February 18, I gave the gardener a clearing job in my yard. I have always engaged him for the job. So he is used to the premises.

    “There is a carpenter I have mobilised to fix the doors with an advance payment of N35,000.

    That same morning, he went from home to the site. I told the carpenter I was coming to pay him. The house is managed by an agent.

    “That 19th, (following day) Taiwo’s sister came out when we were there and we discussed. I promised to buy another pumping machine. She collected my phone number, saying the agent was not treating them well.  Then I left with the carpenter after noon.

    “Later in the evening somebody called me that something happened in my house, adding that the landlords (in the area) had gone to lodge a report at the police station. When policemen came, they could not gain access into the room because the door to the room was locked. They went back and got instruction to force it open. Then we saw the body.

    “The agent, two landlords and I went to the police station. The police said they learnt that somebody was cutting grass in the house. We made statements. They took the gardener to the house to show them where he kept the cutlass. He showed them but I don’t know the location. When we were leaving that day, policemen asked me to leave my number and I did. Then, on Saturday, they phoned and asked me to report at their station on Monday, 24th.

    “I have never met the girl in question. I only met the sister that day. I only said I would meet the agent in the evening to talk about how to buy pumping machine and I didn’t go back there that day.”

    The gardener, who simply identified himself as Azeez, is an imbecile. The 33-year old accused the landlord of killing Taiwo but his claims were full of contradictions and incoherent.

    While the Police are working on other leads that could help track down Taiwo’s killers, her classmates recalled a dutiful and easy-going friend.

    One of her closest friends, Dorcas Awosemo, described Taiwo as “cool, calm and easy-going.”

    She said: “We were very close and we’ve been relating since 100 Level. I don’t even know how to describe her. She was so cool, calm and easy going. I miss everything about her – meekness, gentleness – I miss everything about her. I miss her indeed.”

    She recalled that they went for a practical work at a stream in Ikolaba, area of the city, adding that they planned to meet the following day.

    “I was in the library. I couldn’t even believe it when Jumoke told me. She received a message. Immediately I saw her shaking, her hand was shaking and I asked her what happened. So she now showed me the message. I think it was a message on Whatsapp. I saw that Taiwo was murdered. I couldn’t believe it. I said it can’t be. I think the day the incident happened we went for a group assignment. So we both departed from Sango and I sent my regards to her sister and we planned to meet on Friday because that was on Wednesday so that we can finalise the practical assignment. Hearing the news on Thursday, that she had been murdered, it was unbelievable.

    “Taiwo was always available and whatever she found doing, she did. She was very good. She participated in the assignment. She was even the group leader. After the whole assignment when we were going, we were joking, smiling and not knowing that would be the end.”

    To Dorcas, the most striking qualities Taiwo possessed was dedication and discipline.

    Another close friend of the deceased, Olajumoke Akanmu recalled that she saw her a day before she was hacked to death.

    She said: “We had a class and we were given assignment. It was a practical assignment and she was the leader of her group and I was the leader of my group. So we discussed on how we were going to do the assignment. She told her group mates that they would be meeting the following day and that assignment was to look for a river. So I was even telling her they can use the river in Orogun for their own assignment. On that day, she even called me. She called to know if I had the equipment to be used for the assignment. That was my last encounter with her, it was on Wednesday, she called me in the morning.

    “Taiwo was a very quiet person, disciplined and principled. She was not a trouble maker. She would come to the class and greet everybody. She was very brilliant. When the lecturer was dictating, it was her note people used to borrow to fill in the gaps.

    “My friend was very caring, very nice. Because we were in the same group for the pro ITP, we went to Niger State together. We used to do things together. We cooked together. We would go to market, lectures and everything like that together. She was ready to assist and help any time.”

     

  • Nigerian student shot dead in Malaysia

    Nigerian student shot dead in Malaysia

    A Nigerian student in Malaysia has reportedly been shot dead.

    The young man identified as Adelabu Tunde was killed by a Malaysian police on Thursday — he was until his death a student of Lagenda University, Nilai, Malaysia, The Nation has learnt.

    According to a source, the victim who hailed from Ekiti State was shot in the head en route home from school.

    The source said: “Police were raiding in another apartment when Tunde and his friends were coming back from school then the police car followed them. He ran and got shot in the head by a police man.”

    The source argued that “he was not fighting, but was shot by the police who came for extra pocket money. The police left the scene as soon as he was shot”, the witness submitted.

    The friends of the late Tunde called on the Federal Government to make sure that justice is prevailed and his murderers are brought to book.

    The University’s authority could not be reached to confirm the incident.

    The parents of the deceased according to our source had been informed of the unfortunate demise of their child.

  • Student floats online forum

    Student floats online forum

    300-Level student of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calabar(UNICAL), Nsikak Edet, has floated a community online for university students nationwide to learn, share and interact with one another on academic issues.

    Nsikak unveiled the website, www.smartscholaz.com, as a platform where students in different schools could converge to discuss issues that border on their academics, departments, faculties and universities.

    The website has user-friendly features that made it unique. It has customised profile page, students’ album, private messaging interface for users to conveniently create threads, initiate and share posts with multitude of users from different universities. It also offers text-based chat rooms for students to network.

    Nsikak said he designed the website because of the growing need for students to communicate with one another on a platform. He said: “I conceived the idea in 2012 but I used the period of six month Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike to fully develop and build the website.”

    He added that the website in the meantime streamlines its users-base to students and alumni of universities only, but expressed hope to extend the service to students of polytechnics and colleges of education.

    A user, Joseph Udoh, a student of University of Uyo (UNIUYO), said: “The website is one among many. It is a preferred choice for research and project resource materials as well as to get informed about happenings on Nigeria campuses. May God bless the creator for this development.”

    David Pelu, another user and student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said: “Smartscholaz.com is a bold step and for the common good of students. We must take advantage of this innovation and bridge communication gap between ourselves and students elsewhere.”

     

  • Student jailed for stealing

    A grade 1 Area Court in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has sentenced a 22-year-old student Bala Koze to five months imprisonment for stealing a motorcycle.

    The accused, who resides at Kwakwu Village in Kuje, was arraigned before the court after the owner of the motorcycle reported the incident to the police.

    The prosecutor, Sergeant Niyom Ishaya, told the court that the matter was reported at the Kuje Police Station on January 17 by one Mr. Festus Tobi, a businessman residing at Kuchiyakwo Village in Kuje.

    He said on Jan. 17, at about noon, Tobi left his motorcycle at the gate of his house when he came home for lunch.

    “Koze went to the complainant’s house pretending to be a visitor who was looking for a particular address. When he was leaving the house, he stole the motorcycle parked in the premises.

    “When the accused was trying to escape with the stolen motorcycle, he had an accident and broke his arm and a severe cut on the head.

    “The motorcycle was damaged and was repaired with the sum of N 26, 700. Tobi also took Koze to the Kuje General Hospital and treated him with the sum of N2, 000,” he said.

    The prosecutor also said that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 342, 326 and 286 of the Penal Code.

    The accused, Bala Koze, pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him.

    The presiding Judge, Mr. Nuhu Ibrahim, sentenced the accused to five months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of criminal trespass, mischief and theft.

    He, however, gave the convict an option to pay N15, 000 fine and N20, 000 paid to the complainant or to remain in Kuje Prison for the five months.

     

  • Medical students visit village

    Medical students visit village

    Students of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) have followed up on their medical mission to Egba Village in Ovia Northeast Local Government Area of Edo State.

    The students, who are members of the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDAS), rendered free medical services to residents of the community two weeks ago.

    The delegation’s spokesperson, Beauty Orisabinone, a 400-level Dentistry student, said the visit was to thank the villagers for their cooperation during the campaign.

    “It is not everybody that would allow student doctors to carry out such delicate surgical operations in their community. The residents were very receptive. If greater percentage of Nigerians are receptive and tolerant towards outsiders the way this people are, this country would be a better place,” she said.

    CAMPUSLIFE met Elijah Clement, who was operated for hydroceletomy. The mother explained that his son, who was always crying before the surgery, has fully recovered.

    “I have started petty trading in order to train him. I want him to become a medical doctor so that he will replicate what these surgeons did for many of us in this village,” she said.

    The residents prayed for the student and wished them well in their academics.

    A 200-Level Medicine student, Harry Ogodo, said: “It is fulfilling to help those who cannot reward you for what you did for them. I feel so happy to see smiles on the faces of these people.”

  • UNILAG students thrilled at concert

    UNILAG students thrilled at concert

    Students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) gathered at the Main Auditorium of the institution last week for a musical concert organised by The Breath of Life Ministry, with the theme: UNILAG music explosion mega praise summit.

    The host, Pastor Samson Jedafe, in his message, urged the students to give valuable attention to their academics, saying that education was vital to a successful life.

    The cleric prayed for the students and urged them to make God their first priority in their pursuits, adding that God was the only one that can make a man great.

    The church choir, Ruach Levites, ministered in various gospel songs to the admiration of the students.

    The concert featured up-coming musicians and comedians on campus.