Second Semesters And The "Àiyè Ò Fè" Reality- Pope Jay

Many were the adventures of my first year in the University. As a young abecedarian, I tried as much as possible to become the master of my new environment: I did my best to learn everything; the way to talk and the way not to, the way to walk, the way to look and practically the way to do anything that would save me from the uniformed state in which I was; a state that was so identifiable it even had a taunting nomenclature that accompanied it. The worrisome part of this unavoidable malady of the mind and a factor which actually motivated my attempts to remedy it was that, contrary to popular belief, it could actually transcend one’s first year as a student. I mean, even at the time, I had come across several ignorami who hid under the “FYB” guise and tried to mask their benighted mind with the amount of years they had spent in the university campus.

I did not plan to remain a “bloody fresher” in my sophomore year and even though my efforts at adaptation were hindered by my tight schedule in the first semester, the second semester came with a more lenient timetable. And so I did as much as I could, I was almost at everything; from this department’s week to that Faculty’s day, from this conference to that ceremony and indeed, the “item 7” that often came along with these programmes was also a strong motivating factor. But looking back now, I believe the greatest lesson that came in all my efforts was the reality of the “Àiyè ò fè” concept.

“Àiyè ò fè” is a Yoruba clause that can be literally translated to mean “There is not much space” or better still in the context of its popular use in the Obafemi Awolowo University Campus; “There is no time”. As simple and comical as the three-worded clause may seem, I believe it may carry one of the most important messages that one needs to thrive as a student on the OAU campus.

Time is one concept that although man has been able to successfully quantify, he still has very limited control over. Like Diabetes and some other incurable diseases, we cannot alter it or its flow, we can only manage it. Maybe the entire idea of time management is established on this concept… or maybe not.

Many stale students of OAU would agree that Second semesters are usually very crowded with events, from Elections to other departmental and religious programmes to handing over office. And already, this one is already looking quite eventful, posters and banners are already flying around both the online and offline community. But then again, like I have seen over the years, the “Àiyè ò fè” phenomenon has already started to come to come to reality again.

How else does one describe the fact that we resumed school just yesterday and the 6th Academic Week starts tomorrow?

Pope Jay