3 Days To The Start Of 2016 ‘Black Friday’ Sales, Here Is What You Need To Know

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 2016, some of the leading online stores have announced their Black Friday sales programme; Konga will have its special sales between Friday, 18th November and Monday, November 21. Another leading store, Jumia will its own special sales between Monday, November 14 and Friday, November 25.

As at today (03/11/2016), one of the leading online stores, Jumia has disclosed the expected discounts for various categories of their goods. In its publicity, electronic goods will attract up to 50% discount; Television sets (30%), Game consoles (45%), Tablets (50%), Smartphones (50%) and laptop (30%).

Before the sales, online sales are expected to release a more comprehensive breakdown of sales in different categories of their market. For instance, last year, Jumia announced different discounts in various categories; In the Cameras & Electronics category, discount was up to 65%. Others include the Women’s Clothing and Men’s Clothing with 60% discount, Women’s and Men’s Accessories also had 50% discount, even as Men’s Shoes and Women’s Shoes got up to 55% discount.

Sales 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 in previous years, the recount of experiences by many social media users who participated in the sales have been mixed – some interesting and some are not palatable. Some people still do not believe the sales happened because they weren’t able to buy at the displayed discounted prices. Some have even gone hard on suspected online stores and labelling the Black Friday thing a scam.

For students of Obafemi Awolowo University who are willing to take advantage of this year’s Black Friday sales, here are some useful tips for you:

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. I’ll advise you have an account with more than one online store. Registration is free.
3.) Have a list of items you wish to buy during the sales so as to prevail over distractions that could arise from discounts you’ll see on other goods while trying to order.
4.) Make sure your devices are fully charged before the anticipated hours. There may be no power supply at the location where you will be accessing the internet at that time (especially for those that will be using the Wifi network).
5.) Locate a place where the signal of the network you will be using 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 an adjustment to its ‘Konga Pays’ service which offers a further 5% discounts for those that pay instantly with their credit cards, I strongly advise you opt for ‘Pay on delivery’ if available for the goods you wish to order. This is to ensure you confirm your order is in good condition before paying. I have a non-palatable experience with this.

NOTE: Black Friday sales will be coming up on almost all the major online stores (including Amazon, Ebay and others) across the globe.

Finally, remember to order something for OAU Peeps News Agency.

Goodluck!

OAU 2016 Convocation: Who Are Those Elujoba Will Be Convoking?

I waited for so long to know who Tunde’s sister, aunty Oyinkansola will be getting married to. My absence from home most times because of school works made me miss meeting with Uncle Felix whenever he comes visiting.

He isn’t based in Nigeria, but from what Tunde told me the last time we saw each other, he [Felix] has been in the country since last week, and he finally left for Madrid, Spain only three days before I returned from school. I missed another chance of meeting him again!

Just like the Yoruba people put it, I believed ‘egberun Saamu o le sa mo Olorun lowo,’ I was so sure I was going to meet Uncle Felix soon since the Introduction ceremony was just three weeks away.

Unknowingly to my poor self, Tunde’s family had something ‘weird’ in stock. On that fateful morning, having left campus a day before, stabbing my Botany laboratory class, I realized this runaway Uncle Felix won’t be coming for his own Introduction ceremony. Now, you can relate to why I said ‘weird’. He was represented by a medium-sized portrait framed picture of himself. I was once again denied a feel of who he was.

The same experience seems to be playing out in my beloved alma mata. Some days ago, the Obafemi Awolowo University finally announced its 42nd Convocation ceremony. According to the information on the institution’s website, the programme of events lined up for the annual ceremony will run from Wednesday, December 7, 2016 to Friday, December 9, 2016.

Just like recent ones, this year’s convocation isn’t different. Only the members of the 2014/2015 graduating class are supposed to be convoking for the event since there is no deficit graduating set that is yet to be convoked. However, viewing from some standpoints, questions are being asked if the ceremony is actually meant for this set of people – the 2014/2015 graduating set.

Professor Anthony Elujoba’s vice chancellorship of the institution came with many hopes and expectation. It didn’t take much time before its effect, or perhaps the goodwill that accompanied his emergence started to manifest and being felt by students.

For the first time since I got familiar with OAU, students had a lecture-free day for the matriculation ceremony. That was impressive for me. On the same day I was matriculated some years back, I had to attend a laboratory class alongside the ceremony. So when I heard this year’s development, I could not help it but ask myself in 3 Idiot’s Silencer style if OAU is gradually moving away from its archaic ‘screwing’ mode, all in the name of doing things differently, just to prove a point that the school is tough. That is not the topic for today, maybe next time.

Graduating students were not left out in the newness arguably brought over by Elujoba. I can’t vividly recall the last time graduating students were presented for the compulsory Youth Service the same year they graduated. But this time, most of those who finished upon the completion of the 2014/2015 academic session will be mobilized by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in a couple of weeks.

In all honesty, I had zeroed my mind for Youth Service this year, upon the advice offered me by my senior colleagues. I remember Walexy constantly told me as I rounded up my final year project to look for something to keep me busy till next year when Service would be realistic.

Now, it looks like the unexpected and forthcoming mobilization for Service is not coming without a price for the lucky OAU graduands, in fact a huge one and the price here is the ‘convocation events’.

NYSC had released its 2016 Batch ‘B’ time-table over a month ago and the 3-week orientation course, otherwise known as ‘camp’ for Prospective Corps Members (PCMs) will begin November 24 and end December 14. Don’t forget OAU’s convocation which is meant for the same PCMs has been announced for December 7 – 9. I believe you understand what that means. Apparently, you are going to ask yourself that the OAU 2016 Convocation is for which graduands then?

For the soon-to-be corps members to be able to attend the convocation ceremony, they’ll have to secure permission from their various camp locations. This is worrisome because of the risk and expenses this may come with.

For instance, if I am posted to Taraba state, apart from about N25,000 that i’ll have to look for in this recession time for my transport fare to and fro my camp base, I also risk travelling on the bad and unsafe Nigerian roads. But why are we doing this to ourselves?

You may want to say it is not compulsory to attend, but I want to ask if that is the same opinion shared by the university management. If it is not necessary for these students to attend their own convocation ceremony, then why is it in place in the first place when the feasibility of attendance is obviously straining?

The University of Ibadan fixed its convocation events for November 11-17. The Federal University of Technology, Akure had its own planned for November 19. Some other schools will have theirs next year when the orientation course is over. They all considered the availability of those graduating students.

I want to be present in my own convocation events. I don’t just want to pay for what I won’t be part of. I only hope the Elujobic effect comes into action once again. I know it may be difficult to change the dates because of the many arrangements already in place, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Orientation course ends December 14 and OAU can have its convocation after then in order to avoid the avoidable and stories that touch afterwards.

Check The Reviewed OAU 2016/2017 Admission Cut-off Marks For All Faculties

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University has released the reviewed 2016/2017 admission cut-off marks for all departments in the institution, OAU Peeps News Agency can report.

This comes on the heels of a reversal of its initial stance on the model of admission screening. See and click the Reviewed Cut-off Marks for any faculty below;

College of Health Sciences
Faculty of Administration
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Environmental Designs and Management
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Pharmacy
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Technology


Kindly share with friends on social media to inform them of this development. We wish everyone goodluck in the admission process.

OAU Predegree Entrance Examination Begins Today

The entrance test for admission into the predegree programme of the Obafemi Awolowo University will commence today at the Moro campus in Osun state.

Applicants are advised to log into their respective accounts on www.oaucdl.edu.ng to know their exact schedule (date and time).

OAU Peeps News Agency wishes everyone writing the test goodluck!

Faculty Of Technology 2016/2017 Reviewed Admission Cut-off Marks

NOTE: There was a mistake in some of the cut-off scores for Civil Engineering (Oyo and ELDS only). It has been rectified now. We are sorry for any inconveniences.

OAU Peeps News Agency has confirmed the release of the reviewed 2016/2017 admission cut-off marks for the Faculty of Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University. See below:

Agricultural Engineering
Merit – 57.6%
Ekiti – 57.6%
Lagos – 57.6%
Ogun – 56.3%
Ondo – 57.4%
Osun – 56.1%
Oyo – 53.9%
ELDS – 53.3%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Chemical Engineering
Merit – 70.5%
Ekiti – 62.6%
Lagos – 70.5%
Ogun – 65%
Ondo – 55.1%
Osun – 62.3%
Oyo – 55.9%
ELDS – 69.9%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Civil Engineering
Merit – 66.7%
Ekiti – 63.2%
Lagos – 66.7%
Ogun – 64.7%
Ondo – 60.3%
Osun – 50.7%
Oyo – 61.8%
ELDS – 62.2%
Pre-Degree – %

Computer Science and Engineering
Merit – 67.8%
Ekiti – 66.1%
Lagos – 61.3%
Ogun – 65.6%
Ondo – 55.5%
Osun – 57.8%
Oyo – 67.1%
ELDS – 67.5%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Computer Science/Economics
Merit – 63.7%
Ekiti – 60%
Lagos – 61.3%
Ogun – 61.5%
Ondo – 59.2%
Osun – 56.3%
Oyo – 55.3%
ELDS – 60.2%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Computer Science/Mathematics
Merit – 70.7%
Ekiti – 70.7%
Lagos – 67.6%
Ogun – 61.7%
Ondo – 66%
Osun – 61.3%
Oyo – 67.2%
ELDS – 67.7%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Merit – 70.9%
Ekiti – 65.1%
Lagos – 66%
Ogun – 66.7%
Ondo – 64.5%
Osun – 55.7%
Oyo – 66.2%
ELDS – 67.3%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Food Engineering
Merit – Not yet released
Ekiti – Not yet released
Lagos – Not yet released
Ogun – Not yet released
Ondo – Not yet released
Osun – Not yet released
Oyo – Not yet released
ELDS – Not yet released
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Food Science and Technology
Merit – 58.8%
Ekiti – 58.8%
Lagos – 58.8%
Ogun – 58.4%
Ondo – 56.5%
Osun – 56.4%
Oyo – 58.8%
ELDS – 58.8%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Material Science and Engineering
Merit – 55.6%
Ekiti – 55.6%
Lagos – 55.6%
Ogun – 52.3%
Ondo – 56.6%
Osun – 55.7%
Oyo – 57.5%
ELDS – 55.0%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

Mechanical Engineering
Merit – 70%
Ekiti – 62.5%
Lagos – 67.9%
Ogun – 60.6%
Ondo – 65.9%
Osun – 60.4%
Oyo – 60.4%
ELDS – 69.7%
Pre-Degree – Not yet released

See Cut-off Marks for Other Faculties Below;

Faculty of Administration
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Environmental Designs and Management
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Pharmacy
College of Health Sciences

Reviewed Faculty Of Pharmacy 2016/2017 Admission Cut-off Marks

Following the reversal of stance on the model of admission screening by the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU Peeps News Agency has confirmed the release of the reviewed 2016/2017 admission cut-off marks for the Faculty of Pharmacy. See below:

Merit – 71.4%
Ekiti – 71.0%
Lagos – 70.9%
Ogun – 71.2%
Ondo – 71.2%
Osun – 71.1%
Oyo – 71.2%

ELDS
Edo – 70.7%
Kwara – 70.6%
Imo – 70.0%
Enugu – 69.8%
Ebonyi – 69.1%
Delta – 68.5%
Anambra – 68.0%
Akwa Ibom – 67.8%
Kogi – 67.9%
Benue – 66.9%
Abia – 67.5%
Cross Rivers – 55.5%
Nassarawa – 50.2%

Pre-Degree – 78.0%

See Reviewed Cut-off Marks for other faculties below;

Faculty of Administration
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Environmental Designs and Management
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Technology
College of Health Sciences

Reviewed College Of Health Sciences 2016/2017 Admission Cut-off Marks

Following the reversal of stance on the model of admission screening by the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU Peeps News Agency has confirmed the release of the reviewed 2016/2017 admission cut-off marks for the College of Health Sciences. See below:

Medicine and Surgery – 78.1%,  Pre-Degree – 83.6%

Dentistry and Dental Surgery – 68.1%,  Pre-Degree – 79.8%

Nursing Science – 71.2%,  Pre-Degree – 74.7%

Medical Rehabilitation – 68.0%,  Pre-Degree – 75.4%

See Reviewed Cut-off Marks for other faculties below;

Faculty of Administration
Faculty of Agriculture
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Environmental Designs and Management
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
Faculty of Technology
Faculty of Pharmacy