OAU Management Declares Mid-semester Break Amid NASU Strike

By Adetula David

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University has declared a mid-semester break when students are expected to vacate the university community for a period of time yet to be communicated.

This was part of the resolutions of the management following an emergency senate that held on Sunday to review the current campus situation.

A circular issued at the end of the Senate which was signed by the University Registrar, Dotun Awoyemi reads “The Senate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife has approved that the students of the University proceed on a mid-semester break with effect from Monday, July 13, 2015. Consequently, all students are advised to vacate the Halls of Residence. The date of resumption will be announced later.”
Though the University management has not tied the mid-semester break to the ongoing NASU protests and strike action, however, indications from several quarters have suggested that the mid-semester break is coming as a result of the agitations by the Students’ Union for a better welfare conditions which can no longer be guaranteed since the members of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) who are in charge of power and water supplies have downed tools.

Earlier, the Students’ Union president, Akande Omotayo a.k.a TY has said that he will convey a congress of students on Monday to discuss the total closure of the university should the management fail to accede to the three (3) basic demands of the students at the moment which include power supply, water supply and free flow of vehicles within the university community.

NASU has since upper week Friday, 3rd of July held the university to a standstill as the main entrances to the university were locked up and also retrieved water and power supplies for most periods. The struggle embarked upon by NASU is due to the non payment of the 64 months arrears of her members’ hazard allowances.

‘Come To Our Aid Great Ife Students’ –AY SUG

By Adetula David

The Financial Secretary of the Obafemi Awolowo University Students’ Union, Olajide Gabriel Ayodeji a.k.a AY SUG has called on Great Ife students to swiftly come to the rescue of the Union following the failure of the outgone leaders to transfer the account of the Union to the current leadership.

Following the breakdown of the second handing over event which was facilitated by probe committee, the SU financial secretary could not hide his feelings as he expressed frustration over the non-successful transfer of the Union account all these while. AY SUG who spoke with our correspondent yesterday believes the former SU president, Ibikunle Motunrayo and the former Financial Secretary, Awoyemi Omolayo Sogo a.k.a Comrade Oye have committed an aberration by not honouring the invitation of the Probe Committee to yesterday’s event.

“They told me that the handing over will start by 12:00 o’ clock today. I have been here since 12, I have not seen anything of handing over here. The last time we met with Oye, Oye told us he will be available here today where we are going to facilitate the handing over.

“I want justice to be done on this... Please tell Great Ife students to please come to our aid. As you can see, anytime the issue of handing over is coming up, this type of pandemonium occurs.
“This account of a thing does not belong to nobody. There is nothing like the office of the former President and former Financial Secretary. This account is not supposed to be with them.

“I am imploring all Great Ife students, parliamentarians, HEC members and all CEC members to come to our aid to bring back the Union account.

Obviously looking at no diplomatic way forward on this matter, we asked AY SUG if he could suggest a solution to the whole handing over menance on ground, AY SUG has this to say; “Before this Probe Committee ish and all these handing over processes, I have somehow proferred a solution, I went to meet Oye and Ibikunle in Lagos for the handing over process. I think everything seems to be abortive on this but so far, I have reported the case to the congress of Great Ife students because I don’t know what to do again. So, the Great Ife students have set up a probe committee and it is left to the probe committee to do something about it”

It will be recalled that the first handing over facilitated by the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) which had majority of the previous SU Central Executive Council members present was boycotted by the new Union leadership on the excuse that the probe committee is the one in charge of such meeting and should be facilitated by the committee.

Second Hand Over Meeting Breaks Down

By Adetula David

What many observers of the Union politics has termed ‘do me, I do you’ played out yesterday at the level of Awolowo hall cafe as the outgone Students’ Union leadership led by Ibikunle failed to turn up for the hand over meeting organized by the probe committee.

The handing over was billed for 12:00pm on Saturday, July 11 and out of the previous nine (9) Central Executive Council members, only the former Secretary General, Shittu Omotayo a.k.a SI Unit was on ground to answer questions as to why his colleagues have refused to honour the invitation given to them. SI Unit said the reason why the other former executives were not around was because no invitation was sent to them by the current Union leadership to come for handing over.

“I am still a student of this campus; the executives themselves should contact me, not probe committee. That is why sometimes when they approach me, I tell them I don’t have business with you and I must be frank with you, I don’t have business with probe committee because their duty is to investigate and not to hand over to” SI Unit said.
SI Unit further said that the students know the politics that played out at the level of the congress when the probe committee was constituted because the congress belongs to the president of the Union. He said if any committee should even come on board, it is a transition committee and not a probe committee.

The probe committee has however expressed surprise over the absence of the previous Union leadership in the meeting because according to the committee PRO, Triple A, invitations were sent to concerned parties including the previous president and financial secretary about 72 hours before the meeting.

Also commenting on the issue, the Students’ Union president, Akande Omotayo a.k.a TY ruled out the possibility of him going against the congressional resolution reached before now to meet directly with the previous Union leaders as they have requested and not through any probe committee. The financial secretary of the Union, AY SUG also expressed worries over the conduct of the previous excos and called on Great Ife students to come to their rescue.

It will be recalled that the first handing over facilitated by the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) which had majority of the previous SU Central Executive Council members present was boycotted by the new Union leadership on the excuse that the probe committee is the one in charge of such meeting and should be facilitated by the committee.

Wimbledon: Serena Williams Wins 21st Grand Slam Title

Serena Williams has defeated Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-4 to win her 6th Wimbledon Championship and her 21st Grand Slam title.

Congratulations!

OAU Likely To Be Shut Down On Monday

By Adetula David

The disruption of academic, administrative and economic activities as a result of the demonstrations of the members of the Non Academic Staff Union, NASU OAU over their unpaid accumulated 64 months allowances may lead to the closure of the university anytime from Monday, July 13.

The Students’ Union president, Akande Omotayo a.k.a TY addressing the journalists today confirmed his knowledge of the campus situation and has said the Union is observing events critically. The president has said he is waiting till Monday when a Congress of students will be called to determine on shutting down the university if the current situation of inconvinience persists. According to the Union leader, the implication of the Students’ Union shutting the university clearly means that only the Union has the jurisdiction to re-open it upon recommendations by leaders to her members.

TY further expressed displeasure over the hardship students have been subjected by the fight between NASU and the management. He described the polluted environment of the university as students sitting on ‘time bomb’ as endemic can break out any moment from now.

“As a Students’ Union leadership, what we have to do is to try to ensure our students do not suffer for what they don't have to suffer for... Our solidarity with NASU is not only based on principle but also based on ameliorating the poor welfare conditions of our students.

“We demanded for an emergency meeting with the management which we had yesterday. Management said we should try to hold on and we made it clear to them, the issue of that our students have resolved not to go to classes does not mean that you (management) and NASU should continue to punish us. That we are still on this campus alone is still punishment. Resolve with NASU and if you don’t resolve with NASU, give us light, water and vehicular movement and our students will go to class.

“...the last time a hostel was cleaned on this university campus was last week Thursday. That means this university as I speak with you is sitting on a ‘time bomb’ because at any time from now, there can be an endemic. That is the consequence!
NASU’s position
The chairman of NASU OAU, Comrade Wole Adewunmi has told journalists late last week that he does not see an end in the tunnel of the current struggle because his members are not satisfied with the commitment and promise of the management so far.

OAU Olofofo reported that the NASU chairman admitted meeting with the management in the course of the week but nothing fruitful has come forth from the meeting.

“We have been having dialogues and series of meetings here and there. They kept promising, promising and promising until today that we have finally realized that they (university management) are not serious and they do not know what they are doing. So it is better we swing into action because if we were to count the months now, it is about 64 months. How can you owe somebody an arrear of 64 months?

“We met with them yesterday, and we had a discussion. The registrar was representing the university management. They made a promise and documented and signed on agreement. Our members however were not satisfied with the decision. So I met with our members and unanimously decided to continue with the protest.

Aside the bulletin pasted around the university campus by the management before the commencement of NASU’s protests detailing the non-availability of fund as the reason for not acceding to NASU’s demands, the University management is yet to release any official statement on the current situation of campus especially the welfare of students since the demonstration.

The last time Obafemi Awolowo University witnessed normalcy as to her activities was Thursday, July 2.

1st Professor Remi Raji Writing Contest

Apart from his meritorious service as the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Professor Remi Raji of the University of Ibadan has contributed immensely to the development of African writing. With his six Poetry collections, Prof. Remi Raji has employed his words and wits in engaging readers globally on revolutionary thinking.

It is on this backdrop that The Reflector Team officially launches the 1st Professor Remi Raji Writing Contest.

(This first edition is open to students of OAU and UI only)

Themes:
Submissions for the ESSAY should be centered around:
"RESHAPING NIGERIA: What Can We The Youths Do?"

Submissions for the POETRY should be centered around:
"VOICE OF HOPE"

Guidelines:
- Entries should be in Microsoft Word and should be mailed to teamreflector@yahoo.com and/or teamreflector@gmail.com.
- Entries must have a Cover Page containing entrant's Name, Dept./Level, Phone Number, E-mail address, Title of Entry, and Word Count.
- Entries must not exceed 800 words (for Essays) or 40 lines (for Poems).
- Entrants must be undergraduate students of OAU or UI.
- Deadline: 31st July, 2015. (11:59pm GMT+1)

PRIZES:
For Essay:
#10,000 ¦¦ #7,000 ¦¦ #5,000

For Poetry:
#10,000, ¦¦ #7,000 ¦¦ 5,000

And several other complementary prizes to be won.

For more info, contact:
www.teamreflector.org
Twitter: @TeamReflector
Esther: 07060523808
Timi: 08172565695

Don't delay! Start scribbling.

The Sacrifices Of Our Heroes Past- Pope Jay

"...I send this message so that our past would always be remembered, for in those memories... 

WE LIVE ON! "

As a Nigerian child who enjoyed a reasonable level of Civic Education, the clause "The Labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain" is one that echoes in my very subconscious but I have often wondered if the word labour is enough to describe the contributions of these heroes past. Perhaps it refers to the early patriots, the ones who initiated and completed the process of independence; Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Tafawa Balewa,Chief Nnamdi Azikwe and others.
Labour is defined as one's physical or mental effort but our history books tell us that these men didn't just make effort, some were imprisoned, some tortured and some ultimately lost their lives in patriotic service, it would then be an understatement to describe the contributions of these legends as just labour.
  

 

  In OAU, one of our legends is Iwilade George "Afrika". Afrika and the July 10 martyrs are and would be remembered not just for their labour but for their sacrifice and in as much as it saddens us every July 10 that they had to ultimately pay with their lives, we are consoled knowing that their death is not in vain. Recently I had the opportunity to visit another school, a tertiary institution in the southwest and I realized the magnitude of what the July 10 reawakening did to OAU. I would then like to call on the entirety of Great Ife that we move aside our struggles and superficial internal crisis because today is the day we dedicate to the Sacrifices of Our Heroes Past!

#July10 #WeSayNoToCultism

Pope Jay