OYA OAU 100: Meet The 15 Most Outstanding Students In Media

OYA Magazine on February 1, 2016 released a list of 100 students who shaped Obafemi Awolowo University in 2015 comprising of 15 most outstanding students in Media. Lukmon Fasasi profiles these campus media influencers as follows.

1. Toblan Spice
Arguably one of the rare journalists on OAU campus. Damilola Toblan is one of the students that shaped OAU in 2015. A political journalist and the Editor-in-chief of the OAU_olofofo news platform, is currently in his penultimate year in the faculty of Law. His seasoned reports and critical analysis of the Student Union’s governance brought him to lime light. He was part of the media personality, who interviewed the school PRO Abiodun Olanrewaju, during the first mid-semester break last semester.

2. DeRoj
Aderoju Odewale, is one of the foremost students on – air – personality of our generation. DeRoj, who work at both Great FM and Crown FM as a presenter has been recognized both home and nationally. He was nominated for OYA and Oscar Awards 2015. Fresh graduate, DeRoj is the proud owner of Royals Media.

3. Prince Adetula
A budding plant scientist, David Adetula, is a journalist and the founder of OAU Peeps News Agency. He is definitely a campus shaper whose reports cannot be rebutted. OAU Peeps was the first news agency to expose the incumbent Student Union General Secretary, Seun Okeetooto’s failure to meet up with the election requirements.

4. Timi Agbaje
The Seal Magazine Boss Timi Agbaje, is arguably a human behaviour psychologist. He brought in ‘The Seal’ into OAU free. At the commencement of operation, many said that the seal can’t stay -wondering where Timi is making is profit. Today ‘The Seal’ magazine is one of the best read magazine on OAU campus.

5. Lukmon Fasasi
Arguably this is one of the persons you do not want to mess with on OAU campus. Lukmon Fasasi’s Blog can make and mar you. Most controversial OAU blogger, Lukmon Fasasi, is currently in his penultimate year in the department of Management and Accounting. His direct source of information and raw ways of reporting has been recognized locally and nationally. He was almost mobbed by protesting NASU member in June. Lukmon Fasasi, is the proud organiser of Nigeria Internet Business Conference.

6. KvngBrainard
The name KvngBrainard, is constantly showing on people’s twitter timeline at a range of 3-10mins. Oni Oluwatobi, is definitely OAU students tweep, who controls over 12k followers on twitter. Though, many people don’t even know his real name, but the twitter handle always rings bell.

7. Yemi Olutoye
The brain behind oauchristians.com, OYA award’s blog of the year winner is no doubt the best writer on OAU campus that tweet most. Yemi, an Economics student in his third year showed this, when he organized the first ever social media conference on OAU.

8. GominaDavidi
Adesina David, despite his challenges has taken up ‘more than leadership positions’. The class governor of Economics part 3 class is influential online (twitter) and offline. He has volunteered as a social media handler for different events on OAU campus including the just concluded Microsoft Hello Cloud presentation.

9. Sodiq Oyeleke
A Punch newspaper reporter, the president of English Department, Sodiq Oyeleke, burst media-sphere, when he exposed the N600k Student Union president planned trip to the US last semester and another media blast between the Student Union executives and the English language professor, Y. K Yusuf also got Sodiq, into word brawl with the union’s PRO Emmanuel Kant and President Omotayo Akande .

10. Olanrewaju Oyedeji
A Premium Times reporter and President of Insider Group. He is an investigative reporter whose works spans through Obafemi Awolowo University and beyond. Also currently the Chairman Guild of Editors ACJOAU and National Chairman Association of Nigerian Campus Editors, he exposed the un-audited accounts of Obafemi Awolowo University and also played a pivotal role in exposing scholarship scam of OAU SU. He spearheaded hosting of campus Editors summit attended by several universities in OAU in the year 2015.

11. Hero
Definitely OAU students whatsappers would recognize Kehinde Olaniyan, by his daily microblogging platform – Beyondwatch. Kehinde is the first creator of whatsapp blog on OAU campus. He gathers and disseminates daily headlines for students on OAU and beyond it. According to reports – Beyondwatch is been read in Unilorin, UI and 8 other Nigeria varsities.

12. Lukmon Akintola
Avocks, as some people call him – Lukmon Akintola, is a Pmnews journalist, whose jurisdiction lies on OAU campus and the editor-in-chief of the DSNA – an International Relations Students Association’s news agency. DSNA got boosted under Lukmon, by having it own blogsite and daily whatsapp headlines broadcast DSNA Alert . He has shaped OAU in his own way by giving out first news headlines broadcast as early as 5:30am daily.

13. Azeez Olalekan
The Gossip Nation boss Azeez Olalekan, has been consistent on this list as far back 2013. Azeez, is OAU’s No. 1 social media influencer. The founder of @OAU_gossipz twitter and facebook page, bursted twitter-sphere in December, when he launched the hashtag OAUstories. Till date OAUstories is trending both on twitter and facebook with over 1million retweets and shares.

14. Adebayo Benjamin
ProlificBen, as he his been referred to is the president of the Association of campus journalist OAU . Adebayo Benjamin’s proficiency in spoken English makes him standout always. He has shaped OAU, by resurrecting campus journalism to its former status in the 90s. Though, Ben has been harassed severally by union’s thugs, he his undeterred and currently working on taking ACJOAU to the university press council.

15. Tolulope Oloyede
Her lovely radio voice would make you stay glued to Great FM, whenever she’s been aired Thursdays, despite the boringness of the station . De_Mhaile, presents on Great FM. That aside, Tolulope Oloyede, is one of the best female freelancer on OAU campus. Her reports cum her all watermarked pictures of covered events have been published by virtually all blogsites on the campus. Tolulope, was the official reporter for the 2015 Unilever cooking competition.



Photo Credit: EU Media Futures Forum

Our Disappearing Green: Curbing the Menace (Nigeria As A Case Study)

“Wasting-away is inevitable, unless appreciation is embraced and conservation practiced”

Green is more than just a colour. Green is a divine natural beauty. With greenness come peace, calmness and serenity. Green/greenness as employed in the context of this discussion doesn’t define colour, rather it depicts the plants of this world – the members of the Kingdom Plantae.

Green plants, one of the pioneer creations of God, cut across the universe as they are supported by a wide range of habitats and environmental conditions. The usefulness of plants can not be over emphasized. The natural processes of green plants protect our planet and supply the air we breathe and the water we drink. This is an attestation to the slogan of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BOTANY STUDENTS (NABOS) that says “Plant is life”. Apart from this germane importance, the early man discovered eminent uses of the species of the Kingdom Plantae. They include being a source of job (farming), a major food source, and source of raw materials for shelter, clothing and construction. Others are; for beautification of the environment, medicine for ailments and other extensive uses. These uses were employed in easing and enhancing life, a trend that still continues till date.

Nigeria of the early days was a land bestowed with vast collection of plants thereby making greenness really prominent. This is evident in our national flag and Coat of Arms initiated at independence. The green on the flag depicts the nation’s natural wealth. Likewise, on the Coat of Arms, the grassy field with yellow flowers - Costus spectabilis at the base shows the beauty conferred on the nation by plants. Also, the land races of many important plant crops now grown worldwide were thought to have originated from Nigeria. Such plants include: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), West Africa rice (Oryza sativa), Yams (Dioscorea spp.) and others. Nigeria has a wide diversity of habitats (both on land and in water), hence diverse plant species. Two prominent types of vegetation are found in Nigeria: the Forests (which spread over the South) and Savannah/Grasslands (which spread over the North).

Nigeria has continued to develop over time, undergoing numerous processes of change. Some of these changes have adversely affected the natural composition of living things, especially plants and animals. This situation, which has been continuously neglected, has aggravated and is fast turning Nigeria into a nation with eroding natural endowment. Our green is drastically disappearing, a serious problem that needs urgent attention. This predicament, if care is not taken, is capable of tampering with the citizens’ wellbeing.

The problem of disappearing green in Nigeria can be attributed to various causes ranging from emergence of petroleum as the major source of national income, continued over-extraction of forest products, high levels of domestic wood consumption, desertification, and anemic reforestation efforts. Others are: rapid rural-urban migration, vegetation burning, massive urbanization and industrialization, ignorance/misinformation of the populace, and poor conservation culture.

According to a 1992 Federal Environmental Protection Agency Country study, Nigeria inhabits more than 848 algae species in marine and fresh water, about 5,103 higher plant species and more than 200 lower plants. Food and Agricultural Organization - FAO in their Country Report of Nigeria published in 1996 (four years later) identified over 4,600 plant species throughout Nigeria and listed 205 as endemic (i.e. found in a particular locality only). Out of these, over 496 species representing about 11% are threatened (i.e. susceptible to extinction in a short time, except they are conserved). The high difference in plants population in the two reports within such short period, coupled with the high population of threatened species, underlines the earlier assertion that greenness is truly vanishing in the country.

A report of the Forest Resource Situation Assessment of Nigeria, sponsored by European Union and FAO (2002), showed Nigeria has a total land mass of 923,768sq.km. Out of this land mass, the percentages occupied by various plant species have significantly reduced over a period of 1976/78 to 1993/95. These reductions were attributed to:

- Increased natural land mass used for extensive and intensive agriculture (55.8% in 1976/78 and 60.6% in 1993/95).
- Decreased land mass covered by grasses ( 12.5% in 1976/78 and 9% in 1993/95)
- Decreased land mass covered by trees/woodland/shrubs ( 16.6% in 1976/78 and 9% in 1993/95)
- Decreased land mass covered by Undisturbed forests (2.9% in 1976/78 and 1.3% in 1993/95)
- Decreased land mass covered by Disturbed forests (1.6% in 1876/78 and 2.1% in 1993/95)
- Annual deforestation rate recorded at 2.6% during 1990 to 2000.

Moving away from facts and figures, even our everyday life and immediate environment bares this huge problem. Our environment is getting devoid of greenness day by day. Our today’s world sees more reasons not to keep plants and fewer reasons to keep them. We no longer have flowers planted along our major high ways, and even when planted, they look unkempt as ever. The days of having a beautiful landscape display of different edges plants in strategic places of the town are long gone. House owners plant neither trees nor flowers in their compounds anymore, despite having large acres of space confined to motor-parking and fun-seeking purposes. No more in-house gardens where we can get our vegetables in their freshest form.

These problems can not be solved overnight. However, certain measures and strategies can be applied to rescue the deteriorating situation. One of these measures is proper conservation. Plants are precious gift from God to mankind, a natural resource requiring effective and suitable management hence the need to conserve them. Plants’ conservation can be done in their natural setting (In-Situ Conservation) or artificially outside their natural habitats (Ex-Situ Conservation). These two methods are the most popular, but it is a widely accepted view that the later is more cost-effective. The government needs to renew efforts towards conservation of plants, especially in their natural form (as seen in our various National Forest Reserves). Undiscovered natural forests need to be discovered with the aim of guarding them against over-exploitation. The discovered ones also need proper maintenance and conservation.

Another way out is the proper orientation of the rural populace. More than 70% of the Nigerian people are rural dwellers who depend on agriculture and forest resources for survival. Proper orientation of these people on the usefulness of keeping plants alive will go a long way in preserving greenness. Government should also follow this up by improving their lives by providing social amenities and alternative means of livelihood. This will greatly reduce the rate at which the forests are being over-exploited. The urban populace is not exempted too. There is need to educate them about the importance of having greenness around them, starting from our school curriculums. Proper sensitization of the populace on beneficial programs like tree planting, environmental beautification through landscaping, garden keeping and other related acts should be put in place. Seeds/Seedlings of trees and flowers should be made available for free or at a very subsidized rate as a form of encouragement.

Forest regeneration and proper management can also help in placating the situation. Unless there is regeneration and sustained yield to balance harvests, the depletion of forests is bound to continue. The government of today is revenue-oriented, even at the expense of sustained yield. Planted forests should be extended in a bid to cover up for the lost grounds and incentives provided to encourage people to embark on regeneration.

The relationship between man and plants has always changed with socio-economic development and will certainly continue to change unless quick actions are taken. Such actions include development of better urbanization frameworks by government and individuals. These frameworks must be a well organized one that will make compulsory trees and flowers planting in and around buildings. The scheme must also entail proper management of industrial and urban wastes as these also add to overall degradation of the land, making it unsuitable for plant habitation. Policies that will frown at indiscriminate plants and plant products exploitation should also be formed, while ensuring the enforcement of the same.

The above discussed solutions, if applied, are sure to restore normalcy to the situation and make green plants prominent like before. Plants are a must for mankind to survive, a more reason we should do all we can to keep them alive and around.

Written by:
OYETUNJI Ridwan Abiola,
Department of Botany,
O. A.U, Ile-Ife.

Naira-Dollar Fluctuation Affects Prices Of Commodities On OAU Campus

At any slightest chance and opportunity, prices of goods are now been increased on Obafemi Awolowo University. When you ask sellers the reason behind the increment in prices of commodities, they seem to have no two songs except for a single response; dollar has affected the prices. Then one begins to wonder if we spend naira or dollar in Nigeria.

Taking a close look at the prices of basic and the most consumed goods; a sachet water which sells at N5 in January now costs N10. If you want to take your meal with boiled egg at any restaurant in OAU today, you will need to pay N40 as against the former N30.

The seemingly recent one is the increment in prices of various sizes of bread. Breads now sell for N80 and N60 depending on size signalling a N10 rise in price. The hungry man size of noodles is now been sold for N120-N130. Obviously, the effect of weakened naira is felt.

This increment cut across several goods and services while some are on the verge of been increased. Our study indicates that drivers now complain of the unavailability of premium motor spirit, hence, the consideration of increment of fare cost. As at the time of filing this report, students travelling from Ile-Ife to Akure pay N800 as against the initial N700. Obviously, almost every sphere of life has been affected.

Even as prices of commodities continue to skyrock in OAU, students are of the opinion that the unavailability of an organized student body to check perceived excesses of the buyer may lead to unnecessary exploitation.

At the moment, dollars continue to gain strength even as Naira weakens; a dollar still prices well above N300 at the parallel market.

19 OAU Students Get Scholarship

Nineteen students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State have won the scholarship of Deacon Oluwole Alle Memorial Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a United States-based socio-cultural organisation.

The beneficiaries, with the highest Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), were among students from eight Yoruba-speaking states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Kogi.

The OAU Deputy Director of Linkages and Sponsored Research, Prof Bukky Ojo, advised the beneficiaries to face their studies and make good grades to justify the financial investments of the sponsor.

Congratulating the beneficiaries, the Dean of the Faculty of Technology, Prof Kehinde Taiwo, urged them to use the scholarship to enhance their academic experiences.

She said: “The people who sent you this huge amount of money have denied themselves of some luxury in order to help you achieve your goals and fulfil your dreams. You must not engage in anything that would truncate the lofty ideas you have set for yourselves, thereby rendering the scholarship useless.”

The Dean, Students’ Affairs, Dr. Lateefat Durosimi, congratulated the awardees, encouraging other students to study hard to benefit from similar gestures.

President of the Pharmacy Students Association Tunde Okoya hailed the donor for the gesture, promising that the students would justify the scholarship by working hard to achieve academic excellence.

In a related development, 10 students have benefited from a merit award scheme of Etisalat Nigeria. The beneficiaries are eight 200-Level students and two 300-Level students. They had their bank accounts credited with the scholarship funds.

They are Ayodele Israel Aduragbemi with a CGPA of 5.00; Janet Ilori, CGPA 4.95; Yusuf Tijani, CGPA 4.90; Boluwatife Adelowo CGPA 4.90; Oluchi Ikezogwo, CGPA 4.88; Chukwufunmnanya Ogbobu, CGPA 4.79; Thompson Ajayi, CGPA 4.56; Kehinde Emmanuel, CGPA 4.51; Olanrewaju Osunkunle, CGPA 4.43 and Michael Afolabi, CGPA 4.43.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bamitale Omole, praised the students for their brilliance, urging them to study hard to achieve academic excellence.



Source: The Nation

Fatoyinbo Gafar, Others Dismissed From OAU Peeps News Agency

This is to inform the general public that the following members of OAU Peeps News Agency have been dismissed:

Fatoyinbo Gafar
Raji Oluwatobilola
Akindolani Olawumi
Akinola Kehinde
Ademola Olaoluwa

This is part of the resolutions made during the agency’s last meeting in a bid to restructure the news outfit for expected delivery.

The agency hereby urge members of the public especially Obafemi Awolowo University community to note this change. Any inconvenience that may arise after now will not be a responsibility of OAU Peeps News Agency. Thanks

Signed

2016 JAMB UTME Scores Will Be Released In 30 Minutes - Ojerinde

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde has stated that candidates participating in the 2016 Computer based Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME, will get their results after 30 minutes of the examination.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the examination, Ojerinde said that candidates will receive a graphical result of the test via SMS on their mobile phone numbers which they provided during registration. However, the JAMB boss added that the specific scores will be released within the period of four days and would be checked online.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, in a statement issued on Friday disclosed the enrollment statistics of candidates from different states in the country.

According to the statement, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Zamfara and Yobe states have the lowest number of candidates enrollment with figures at 5,069, 7,254 and 12,079, respectively. Imo, Osun and Oyo states are said to have the highest number of applications with the figures, 102,727, 83,060 and 81,06, respectively.

The JAMB boss also revealed that the number of applicants this year increased by One Hundred and Thirteen Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy-three (113,673) applicants when compared with last year's figure. However, the JAMB boss added that the specific scores will be released within the period of four days and would be checked online.

Analyzing the statistics of UTME registration, Ojerinde said there had been a steady decline since 2013 when the CBT was introduced. In 2013, about 1.7 million people registered for UTME, in 2014, the number fell to 1.6 million, while about 1.4 million registered in 2015 examination. However, this year the numbers of candidates who registered has increased to over 1.5 million.



Source: Campus Portal

Ooni Declares Ife As Tourism Zone, Calls For Support

The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II, has officially declared Ile-Ife as a tourism zone and called for the support of individuals, groups, government and entire Africans to support him realise the dream.

Oba Ogunwusi made the declaration during a summit at the Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on Friday.

He said Ile-Ife was blessed with natural and mineral resources and endowed with tourist attractions, “and that is why I planned to use the sites to create wealth and improve infrastructure for Ile-Ife and the Yoruba land.

“Ile-Ife has a peculiar advantage because it is established in one of the world acclaimed centres and source of renowned world civilisation.

“The ancient town is one of the cities in sub-Sharan African with largest concentration of archaeological sites where both foreign and local archaeologists got objects like bronze, terracotta, precious stones and beads.”

The monarch urged all and sundry to be proud of their heritage and culture and to enlighten people about the difference between religion and culture.

According to him, foreigners love the Yoruba culture, citing Brazilians as speaking Yoruba language, while Cuba, among others, claim to be originally from Ile-Ife.

The Oba called on government and well meaning Nigerians to collectively maintain peaceful coexistence in making Ile-Ife a tourist zone, so as to find another means of boosting the nation’s economy.

Babajide Omoworare the senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, commended the Oba “in reawakening the Yoruba culture, art and tradition using Ile-Ife, the cradle and some of Yoruba civilisation as the spring board.”

Mr. Omoworare added that Ile-Ife was blessed with rich culture, abundant tourism sites, solid minerals and agricultural produce. (NAN)