OAU Health Centre Issues Situation Report Over Increased Sick Students

The Health Centre of Obafemi Awolowo University has issued a situation report today on the widely reported increase in number of sick students of the institution. The report allays fear of a possible outbreak of a viral disease in the institution.

"This is to inform the university community in particular and the nation in general, that there is no virus outbreak of a new disease in the university community. The news on social media by one faceless “Dr. Ilesanmi” is false and unfounded.

There is no Doctor by the name Ilesanmi in our Health Centre, and we do not have residents.

The few students that were attended to were cases of malaria and exam stress coupled with heat from climate change.

The university community is hereby informed that there is no cause for alarm."

Do You Know Jiji.ng; An Online Shopping With No Scammers

Online marketplaces can be considered a real revolution in the field of commerce. They aren’t a new thing already, for such websites have been around for a while already. During the latest years they have become probably the most popular shopping site. Marketplaces aggregate items and services from a variety of providers, which leads to a huge selection of stuff. The availability of things is higher, and prices are more competitive. This is how every e-commerce website works; this is what you need to know about the biggest Nigerian classifieds named Jiji.ng

In addition to a considerable number of advantages, you can be sure there aren’t many scammers, who are also attracted to similar services searching for easy money. On Jiji, we always check every seller, who has to pass verification before starting to use the website. If it somehow happens that a wrong person does it, we are always ready to block this user if someone reports about his suspicious activity. By suspicious we mean, for example, asking for a payment in advance. Nevertheless, we check whether it is really so or it is just some jealous opponent trying to sell his similar products faster.

The list of scammers is available on the website. During previous year, we detected and blocked nearly 20,000 scammers before they can harm other users or our reputation. And speaking about positive numbers, we’ve got over 400,000 new users and over half a million adverts. The website is developing and growing. And you may be the next lucky person to benefit from it.

NOTE: This post is a sponsored article.

Increased Sickness On OAU Campus Is More Of Spiritual Than Physical – UJCM

The University Joint Christian Mission, UJCM of Obafemi Awolowo University has described the current increased rate of sickness reported on campus as a spiritual issue that has to be dealt with and sent back to where it came from.

The umbrella body of the Christian fellowships on campus in a circulated broadcast churned out by the body's Prayer Coordinator has however fixed 10:00pm today, Monday to pray against the plaque of illness at White Wall.

“There will be an urgent and very important prayer meeting by 10pm tomorrow (Monday) at white Wall. What is happening on Campus is more of spiritual than physical, this plaque of illness has to be dealt with. Let us send back the spirit to where it came from.” a part of the broadcast reads.

2015/2016 Lagos State Undergraduate Scholarship Award Scheme

The Lagos State Scholarship Board is the agency in charge of scholarship, bursary and other related matters within the state.

It grants Scholarship awards to deserving indigenes in various tertiary institutions for full time studies in order to assist these students financially.

Before Applying Please Read
Applicant must be a Lagos State Indigene studying in any tertiary institutions across the country
All applicants are required to make a Payment of N2,000.00 for Local Scholarship through the Office of Special Adviser on Education, Alausa Secretariat.

Then take the treasury receipt to the Lagos State Scholarship Board to secure their secret voucher pins for online application. Application will not be processed without evidence of treasury receipt.

Ensure you correctly fill in the application form and click on "Apply Now" button to complete your application.

Applications will be done through this portal only, hard copy applications will not be processed.

Short-listed candidates for the qualifying test on 12th and 13th April, 2016 will be invited by email and SMS text messages. All applicants are therefore advised to ensure that valid GSM telephone numbers and personal email addresses are properly entered into the e-forms on the portal.

Carefully read the Requirement/Eligibility, How To Apply and Frequently Asked Questions pages for more details

Application deadline is 1st April, 2016.

PROCESS FOR ELIGIBILITY FOR LOCAL UNDER-GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP AWARD.
THIS SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME IS FOR LAGOS STATE INDIGENES ONLY STUDYING IN ANY TERTIARY INSTITUTION ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

1. All applicants must have gained full time admission into an accredited Nigerian tertiary Institution.
2. All Under-graduate applicants:
i. Where CGPA scale is 7.0 (e.g University of Ibadan) he /she must possess a minimum of 4.9/7.0
ii. Where CGPA scale is 5.0 (e.g University of Lagos) he /she must possess a minimum of 3.5/5.0
iii. Where CGPA scale is 4.0 (e.g polytechnics and colleges of education) he /she must possess a Minimum of 2.8/4.0
iv. Where applicant is a medical student in 200L, option i, ii and iii applies
v. Where applicant is a medical student in 300L and above a minimum of Credit is required in their result
3. All applicants must be in their second year or above
4. All applicants must have completed LASRRA Registration
5. All applicants must have a signed letter of identification from their respective Oba
6. All applicants must have a signed letter of identification from their respective local government
7. All applicants must purchase a Scholarship application form. (Payment of N2,000.00 for Local Scholarship) through the Office of Special Adviser on Education, Block 5, 3rd Floor, Alausa Secretariat.
8. All applicants must upload clear scanned copies of all documents to ascertain the genuineness of their claims. Documents like:
i. Admission Letter
ii. School Identity Card or Valid means of school identification
iii. Letter of identification from Oba
iv. Letter of identification from Local Government
v. SSCE result
vi. Lagos State Resident Registration Agency(LASSRA) registration card
vii. Passport Photograph (clear background not older than three months).
viii. Transcript or Result statement duly signed and stamped from school stating previous session CGPA results clearly
9. Shortlisted applicant must participate in a Computer Based Test on 12th and 13th April, 2016 conducted by Dragnet Solutions Limited in conjunction with Lagos State Scholarship Board.
10. Successful tested applicants will be contacted for oral interview
11. Application deadline is 1st April, 2016.

HOW TO APPLY
1. Before you start this application, ensure you have purchased a Scholarship application form (Payment of N2,000.00 for Local Scholarship) through the Office of Special Adviser on Education, Block 5, 3rd Floor, Alausa Secretariat then secure your Voucher pin from the Scholarship Board office. Thereafter, have clear scanned copies of the following documents:

Passport photograph with white background not more than 3 months old (450px by 450px not more than 200kb)
Treasury receipt of N2,000 for the scholarship form
Admission Letter
School Identity Card
SSCE Certificate
Letter of identification from Oba
Letter of identification from Local Government
LASSRA registration card
Transcript or Statement of Results duly signed and stamped from school stating previous session CGPA results clearly

2. Ensure that information are filled accurately to avoid mix up after application
3. Ensure the documents are named according to what they represent to avoid mixing up documents during upload
4. Ensure you attach the appropriate documents when asked to upload

To apply, follow the steps below:
1. Click on "Apply Now" tab.
2. Click on "Register Now" to create an account.
3. Proceed to your email box to activate your account
4. Click on www.scholastica.ng/ to return to Scholarship site
5. Enter your registered email and password to upload your information.
6. Enter your personal information, additional information, educational information, other information and upload required scanned documents.
7. Ensure the name used in applications matches the names on all documentation in same order. Upload a sworn affidavit or certificate if otherwise.
8. Ensure you view all documents after uploading, to eliminate errors during uploading.
9. When asked to upload photo, upload a pass-port photograph with a white background.
10. Recheck application information to avoid errors
11. Click "Apply Now" to submit information and provide the secret voucher pin and LASSRA Number in the appropriate column
12. You will receive an email and a sms that confirms your application was successful.
13. Return to www.scholastica.ng, enter your Email and Password to download your profile and proceed to have your Head of Department sign the document.
14. Upload a scanned copy of the signed profile, this would be used for verification.
15. Keep the hard copy of the signed profile, this would also be used for verification.

16. Return to www.scholastica.ng and update application with National Identification Number (NIN) to ensure completion

To secure your voucher pin proceed to the Lagos Scholarship Board office, 254 Ipaja road, Agege, Lagos and show them your treasury receipt.

Note: Multiple applications attract a disqualification penalty from the Scholarship board

Fear Grips OAU As Sick Students Increase

Over the past few days, many students of Obafemi Awolowo University have been in a poor state of health. Some of the symptoms shared among these ailing students are headache, fever, general weakness of the body and vomiting. Our assessment of situation reveals that at least one person in every two rooms on the campus and also outside the campus is down with this rampaging sickness.

The OAU Health Centre which is the primary health care unit on the campus has also recorded an increase in its clientele in the last few days due to this sudden rise in sickness, some of the affected students have also traveled home for better treatment.

In the wake of the recent sporadic increase in the number of students admitted by the health centre of the university and the rumoured outbreak of disease on campus, OAU Peeps News Agency correspondents who visited the health centre to ascertain the veracity of the increase found out that many of the students there have similar ailment symptoms, this making majority to think it is an endemic.

Speaking to our correspondent, the doctor on duty attending to students said it is neither an outbreak nor endemic. According to the doctor, “the students are sick due to stress and the unfavourable weather we have been experiencing for some days now.

Students that have been attended to were seen with a common anti malaria drug called 'ATMAL PLUS 80/480'. There is however a decrease in the number of students who came for treatment at the health centre on Sunday.

Reports have also shown that some students have missed test due to illness and have been taken to private hospitals for proper treatment while some have travelled home. A low turnout of members in some campus fellowships today has also been linked by some students as a result of the current health state of many students on campus.

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.