Newly Admitted OAU Predegree Students To Resume December 1

By David Adetula

The Centre for Distance Learning, Obafemi Awolowo University has announced the 1st of December, 2015 as the set date for the beginning of resumption for the newly admitted students as the 2015/2016 academic session begins.

Screening of the fresh students and their registration are billed for the same day of resumption. Below is the important information detailing the schedule based on the subject combinations of the students.


 Tuesday, 1st December, 2015 (9 am – 4 pm) - Biology/Chemistry/Physics (BCP)

 Wednesday, 2nd December, 2015 (9 am – 4 pm) - Chemistry/Mathematics/Physics (CMP), Geography/Mathematics/ Physics (GMP) & Economics/Government/Mathematics(EGM)

 Thursday, 3rd December, 2015 (9 am – 4 pm) - Government/Lit./Rel. Studies (GLR), Mathematics/Geog./Economics (MGE) & Economics/Govt/Literature in Eng. (EGL)

There will be Parents’ Forum at 12.00 noon each day where all parents are expected to be present.

As parts of the registration packages, admitted students are to present the following for registration on resumption:

i. Original and photocopy of your admission letter
ii. Downloaded copy of medical history and examination form duly signed and stamped
compulsorily from a government hospital.
iii. Downloaded copy of CDL Clinic Biodata duly completed
iv. A downloaded copy of oath form duly completed and signed by both parent and student. Postal
stamp of N50.00 should be affixed as appropriate on the form. (Make a photocopy for yourself
and keep for orientation day.)
v. Originals and photocopies of your credentials (WAEC, NECO, etc.)
vi. 3 Copies of your Hostel allocation Slip
vii. Proof of payments (original Copies of your e-payment documents)
viii. Six passport photographs

Alongside the above, the fresh students are to report to the Centre for Distance Learning Campus, Moro, Ife-North Local Government with the following:


 A 2x6 mattress, a pillow (For students allocated to hostels outside campus only)
 Cooking utensils.
 2 pairs of beddings.

The Financial Times and the Bodley Head 2015 Essay Competition

The fourth annual Bodley Head/FT Essay Prize aims to discover the world’s best young talent in long-form essay writing. We are looking for a dynamic, authoritative and lively essay of no more than 3,500 words on a non-fiction topic of your choice. It can be journalistic, it can be a case study; it can be wide-ranging or minutely focused. In keeping with the ethos of both sponsors, it can address any topic – from finance to history, from current affairs to a scientific discovery. We are not looking for a particular subject; we are simply looking for quality writing.

If you are 35 years old or under and would like your work to be read by Simon Schama (historian and FT contributing editor), Will Hammond (editorial director at Bodley Head), Dan Franklin (digital publisher at Random House), Stuart Williams (publisher at Bodley Head), Caroline Daniel (FT Weekend editor) and Lucy Tuck (editor, FT Life & Arts) then please send us your entry by midnight GMT on November 29 2015.

Topic
Any non-fiction topic of your choice

Organizer
The Financial Times and the Bodley head

Prizes
The prize for the winner will be £1,000, an e-publication with Bodley Head, and a mentoring session with the FT/Bodley Head.
Two runners-up will each receive £500 and e-publication.

Deadline
November 29, 2015

Guideline
This Competition is open to anyone aged between 18 and 35 years as at midnight GMT on Friday 2nd October 2015
Essay entries will be accepted until midnight (GMT) November 29th 2015 (closing date).
The winning entrant and runners-up will be notified by the Promoter by telephone in the week beginning 15th December 2015
Each entry must be: (a) in English; (b) an original work of which the entrant is the author which has not been previously professionally or commercially published in any language and is not in breach of any third party right; (c) complete in itself; (i.e. not a fragment of a larger work)
Accepted file formats are word doc, docx, pdf or txt.
Maximum size 2mb

Click here to submit your entry here.

Inquiries
Any inquiries relating to the prize should be emailed to: bodleyhead@ft.com

Credit: Naija Writers' Coach

Adventist Students’ Fellowship Embarks On Community Service

By Farombi Oluwaseun

It was indeed an awesome day on Sunday as the Adventist Students’ Fellowship embarked on a community service exercise for the entire Obafemi Awolowo University community. An exercise which kick-started at about 8am and ended around 6:30pm at the Health Centre car park had many dwellers and passer-by to stop and take part in the event. 300 students to partake in the event..

The community service which had about 300 students participate involved free medical check-ups ,free barbing, free hair dressing and lots more. The medical check-ups conducted included glucose test, blood pressure test and body mass index which was handled by medical experts from the Seven-day Adventist hospital in Lagere, Ile-Ife.

Relating her experience to our correspondent, Omitokun Grace, a participant of the exercise said the programme is really a nice initiative and a great one indeed to partake in. She further added that she loves the humility displayed by the organisers of the programme. The President of the fellowship, Pastor Adesola Samuel Olawale explained that the event is tagged ‘Maranatha 2015’ with the theme; Receiving the Word’.

Adesola said the community service is an annual programme which is done for people to reach out to them in order to know about the gospel, accept the gospel of Christ and give back to the Great Ife students at large. He however thanked all those who volunteered towards the success of the programme and all the Great Ife students that participated in the event with a promise that the event will still be conducted next year by God’s grace.

What You Need To Know About 2015 ‘Black Friday’ Sales

By David Adetula

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November). Since the early 2000s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US, and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe "The Day After Thanksgiving" as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day.

In Nigeria, this day has also been adopted by several online stores to sell promotional goods. For 2015, some of the leading online stores have announced their Black Friday sales programme; Konga will have theirs on Thursday, 26th November, 2015 and Friday, 27th November, 2015. Another leading store, Jumia will have theirs on Friday, 27th November, 2015.

As at Wednesday, one of the leading online store, Jumia has disclosed the expected discounts for various categories of their goods. In the release, goods ordered from the Health & Beauty category will attract 70% discout. Also obviously having a huge discount is the Cameras & Electronics category with 65% discount. Others include the Women’s Clothing and Men’s Clothing with an expected 60% discount each, Women’s and Men’s Accessories will also attract 50% discount even as Men’s Shoes and Women’s Shoes get 55% discount. Phones and Computing categories will also attract 20% discount each. Konga, another top online store is yet to reveal its own discount although the store has insisted on a ‘Yakata’ fall sale.

Sale during Black Fridays are usually on first arrived, first served basis because of the huge traffic of online buyers who are always willing to participate in the greatly discounted sales. If the statistics released by Konga on its Black Friday 2014 (Yakata Sales) is something to go by, the store had 5x the amount of its usual daily traffic recording a maximum 1,659 orders placed within an hour. The same record revealed that over $3.5M (N600m) was made in the sales last year.

Even with the statistics from several online stores recounting the success of the Black Friday sales last year, the experience recount of many social media users who participated in the sales in 2014 was not palatable as some even find it hard to believe the sales happened. Some went hard on the online stores tagging it scam as they were not able to place their orders successfully within the stipulated period.

For students of Obafemi Awolowo University who are willing to participate in this year’s Black Friday sales, here are some tips you should take note of ;

1.) Get money that will get you some items.
2.) Register with the online store(s) you wish to buy from during the Black Friday sales before the day.
3.) Have a list of items you wish to buy during the sales so as to forestall distractions while trying to order by other goods.
4.) Fully charge your devices from where you will be accessing the internet.
5.) Locate a place where the signal of the network you will be accessing the internet with is strong. For those that will be using the INTECU service, areas like EDM, Health Centre have good reports.
6.) Sale is expected to begin 12:00am of the sale’s day. As such, it is advisable to start checking the portals of the online stores starting from that moment to be among the first buyers.
7.) Though I am aware Konga has announced a service for the Black Friday sales called ‘Konga Pays’ which offers a further 5% discounts for those that pay instantly with their credit cards but I strongly advise you opt for the ‘Pay on delivery’ method if available for the goods you wish to order. This is to ensure you verify if the good you order is in good condition before paying. I have a non-palatable experience with this.

NOTE: Black Friday sales will be coming up in virtually all major online stores (including Amazon, Ebay and others) across the globe as it is usually an international observation.

Finally, remember to order something for me (smiles). Goodluck!

OAU SUB Regains Serenity As Banners Disappear

By David Adetula

The Students’ Union Building (SUB) of Obafemi Awolowo University once again wears a decent and serene look as all the banners and publicity boards placed in front of it have been removed. Before now, the University Management in one of her meetings with the Students’ Union leadership had raised concerns about the look of the SUB as it looks disorganized.

As at the time of filing this report, it is not clear if the Security Unit of the University carried out this activity. Efforts to reach the Secretary-General of the Students’ Union, Oketooto Oluwaseun a.k.a Hon. Seun to talk on the development proved abortive as he was not answering the calls pulled across to him. The current TY-led SU leadership during the first semester announced it will be embarking on structural adjustment programme of the SUB which saw the controversial eviction of a Press outfit from the SUB but did not cater for the increasing number of banners placed in front of SUB almost covering the obviousness of it.

2015 Convocation Play: Dramatic Arts Students To Perform ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’

By Wisdom Edache

The Department of Dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University will be entertaining as many Nigerians that will be attending the 41st Convocation of the institution with a stage performance of Ola Rotimi's play titled ‘Our husband has gone mad again’. The performance is billed for Thursday, 10th December, 2015 by 8:00pm at Oduduwa Hall.

As earlier announced, the convocation programmes will commence December 9. Other programme of events is as follows:

Wednesday, 9th December 2015 – Award of Diploma Certificates at the Department of Local Government Studies by 10:00am.

Thursday, 10th December 2015 -Conferment of First Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters’ Degrees Faculties of Administration, Arts, Education, Law and Social Sciences at the Oduduwa Hall Amphitheatre by 10:00am.

Convocation Play at Oduduwa Hall at 8:00pm
Play Title: Our Husband has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi

Friday, 11th December 2015 - Conferment of First Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters’ Degrees in the Faculties of Agriculture, College of Health Sciences, Environmental Design and Management, Pharmacy, Science and Technology at the Oduduwa Hall Amphitheatre by 10:00am.

Convocation Lecture at Oduduwa Hall at 4:00pm.
Topic: The Pursuit of Happiness: Some Thoughts on Human Rights, Freedom and Justice in Nigeria.
Guest Speaker: The Most Reverend Mathhew Hassan Kukah. The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese

Saturday, 12th December 2015 – Inauguration of Chancellor, Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Award of Doctorate Degrees at the Oduduwa Hall by 10:00am.

Apply To Attend The 2015 Nigeria Internet Business Conference

The online registration to attend the first ever Nigeria Internet Business Conference (NIBC) has began.

Requirements for Participants:

Day 1
* Registration opens to young Nigerians, who owned or must be willing to own an online business.
* Prospective participants must be able to type in character on a computer.
* Your free eventbrite ticket is your entry pass at day 1.


Day 2
* Prospective participants will pay conference workshop fee of N1,500 into bank account, details below:
Bank name: Access Bank
Account name: Lukmon Fasasi
Bank no: 0008847447

Registration deadline: Online registration for the NIBC ends by 11:59pm on Thursday, November 26, 2015.

Click here to register.

Note
* After registration, your ticket would be sent to your email. Print and bring to conference room for Day 1.
* Your free online ticket and your bank teller are your pass to conference workshop.
* Paid participants will receive their tags, immediately they show their bank teller.
* Offline registration begins 9:00am at conference room entrance.
* Conference hall would be closed 10:30am for Day 1 and 2.

For more details, visit www.thenibc.com