BY TOPE TEMPLER OLAIYAAT a brief, but inspiring ceremony that lasted some 40 minutes last week, the University of Ilorin matriculated 5,393 students into various programmes for the 2009/2010 academic session.
Addressing students at the occasion, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, the first alumnus of the university to occupy the office, drew from his personal experience as an undergraduate and charged the students to be the best they can.
The VC described the admission offered to the students as a trust, which needed to be justified and as an opportunity with an associated responsibility. He said, “though it is good to rejoice at the occasion, but it’s better for them to be sober and reflect on how they would graduate successfully from the university.”
Oloyede noted that the average of four years spent in the university is a short period in the context of a person’s life span; yet, it is a period that either makes or mars a person’s life. He recalled that while a student, people complained about dearth of job opportunities, but he assured himself that if he worked hard, his story would be different. He then urged the students to learn from his experience, be their best in their studies; so, they would find the various opportunities that lie ahead of diligence. “What is worth having at all is worth working for; if you desire a good result, you need to work for it, beginning from now,” he stated.
On the strategy of achieving the best result in the university, Oloyede, who is also the president of Association of African Universities (AAU), identified effective time management as one of the points. He said: “Use your time judiciously and know that procrastination is the greatest assassin of opportunity. Do not assassinate the opportunities lying ahead of you by wasting your time on trivia and trifles.”
Tension mounts in Ibadan Poly, as students resume
BY DANIEL ANAZIA
FOLLOWING alleged increase in tuition fees by the authorities of Ibadan Polytechnic, Ibadan, scores of armed anti-riot policemen and an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was drafted to the gate of the institution to forestall students’ protest on Wednesday.
The students were said to have vowed to resist any attempt by the school authorities to introduce high fees on resumption.
A statement from the office of the Registrar, Tosho Ayanwale, however, said the fees have not been increased as alleged by the students.
The Registrar urged parents and guardians to advise their wards against participating in any form of protest.
“In spite of rising cost of all materials attached to teaching and grooming students for their future career, the tuition fee has not been increased by a kobo above what was charged last year,” the statement affirmed. “The returning Ordinary National Diploma and Higher National Diploma students are to pay N38, 729 and N45, 000 respectively.”
The students claimed that the school’s authorities had stated in the admission letter issued during the 2008/2009 session that the fees paid in the HND 1, would also be paid in HND 2. However, they were surprised when the contrary was the case, when they resumed – HND 2 students were asked to pay a higher fee. The students said the many fees they were asked to pay are outrageous, and accused the school’s authorities of peddling lies in their defense.
Ayanwale, however, disclosed that the students have been given the privilege to pay their fees by installments to give some relief in the payment. “They are allowed to pay 60 per cent of the fees for first semester and 40 per cent for the second semester,” he said.
The Registrar said some unscrupulous elements wanted to use the students to achieve their selfish political agenda and advised parents against allowing their children to quote inflated figures as fees payable in the institution.
UNILORIN loses four students on matriculation
BY ALABI MOHAMMED ABDULKAREEM AND OLAJIDE AKINTOLA
LAST Tuesday, what was supposed to be a joyous moment for newly admitted students of the University of Ilorin ended up tragic.
As at press time, about four students were feared dead while others are in critical conditions at the emergency ward of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), as a result of the ghastly motor accident that occurred along the University Road.
The students, numbering six, were believed to be heading for a bash organized by some other students to commemorate their matriculation ceremony. A source close to one of the victims, who escaped the tragedy by the whiskers, having earlier declined invitation to the party, revealed that the driver of the Toyota Camry car the students were in, lost control of the vehicle after its rear tyre busted, making the vehicle to stumble and hit a tree near the university bridge.
The University Dean, Prof. Suleiman Age, swiftly arrived the scene with the schools security patrol van to convey the victims to the school’s clinic, where they were first treated before being transferred them to the intensive care unit of UITH. For now, the fate of the remaining three is unknown.
Earlier that day, in a separate incident, a final year student of Statistics Department, Adebowale Adewoye, had met his untimely death in a fire inferno that engulfed a private residence at Gaa-Akanbi area of Ilorin.
The deceased was said to be reading in his room, when the fire engulfed the building. He could not be rescued from the inferno, which also claimed the life of another student of the Kwara State Polytechnic.
Meanwhile, Prof. Agash Oladosu has called on the students to be sober and give thanks to God rather than embarking on mundane activities in the name of religion.
The Chief Imam on Friday, prayed for the repose of the souls of the departed and for God to grant their parents the fortitude to bear the loss.
UNIJOS students count losses
BY MATTHEW ADEIZA
STUDENTS of the University of Jos were thrown into confusion two weeks ago as the sectarian crisis in Plateau State capital escalated.
The crisis, which began early on Sunday, January 17, took a dramatic turn for the worse on Tuesday, when some students that went to town, believing it was all over, were caught in the carnage.
In a related development, male students prevented some hoodlums, who had infiltrated the Village hostel from carrying out their attack. In Naraguta and Abuja Hostels, male students kept watch before some security operatives were later brought in, in the week.
As at Wednesday, some state governments had already sent buses to evacuate their indigenes from the hostels. First to arrive was Bayelsa State bus followed by Delta. By Friday evening, the hostels were almost empty except for few students who decided to stay behind to read for examinations that are expected to continue in few weeks.
Reacting to the situation, the Student Union Government president, Hitler Joshua Pwajok, decried the lack of sufficient security in the school and called on the Federal government to urgently commence the fencing of all student hostels.
He observed with dismay that fences in the student hostels were either non-existent or badly damaged, making them vulnerable to attacks from different routes.
Pwajok said about four students have been killed with many losing their valuables.
Students who spoke to Campus Life, wondered why they had to suffer for what they have no hand in, saying that the killing of their colleagues is barbaric and inhuman, and called on the Federal government to ensure their security on and off the campus.
It will be recalled that the university was in the midst of examination when the crisis began. Apart from disrupting their exams, many students lived in fear and hunger for the most part of the week, as a result of the crisis.
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