OAU: Electoral Committee Lifts Campaign Ban, Imposes CGPA Bench-mark

After weeks of waiting, several students of the Obafemi Awolowo University were quite shocked when the Electoral Commission sealed the inclusion of the 2.5 CGPA requirement in the electoral guidelines for the conduction of the Students’ Union elections for the 2016/2017 Academic Session.

In the congress which was the first of its kind since the suspension of the activities of the Obafemi Awolowo University  Students’ Union, the ban on campaigns was lifted and the guidelines were spelt out by the commission.

 The dates of the Elections were also announced at the floor of the congress.

However, things got rather comical when the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Fadele Olusola, upon the declaration of the 2.5 CGPA requirement started to run out of the congress, whilst singing the Great Ife anthem. Certain persons have come out to claim that the actions of the chairman were to ensure his security, but then some other perspectives believe that the Chairman and his Committee might have had a personal agenda at the congress as the meeting did not, as a matter of fact, represent the true intentions of the Great Ife Students. 

 It is noteworthy to remember the 2.5 CGPA requirement was hotly debated at the last union elections as despite the fact that it disenfranchised certain candidates, several other candidates were allowed by the then Electoral Commission to contest. The controversy eventually led to the matter being taken to the Congress where it was resolved that the criteria being alien to the Union’s constitution be scrapped. Hopefully this time, the commission sticks to its word. More details on the guidelines and Calendar to be released in due course.

 

OAU Extends Elujoba’s Vice Chancellorship Tenure

The newly constituted Governing Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife has commenced the appointment process for a substantive Vice Chancellor for the university.

The Chairman of the Council, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, made this known while addressing newsmen after inspecting some facilities in the university on his first assignment in the institution.

Among the facilities visited were post retirement lodge, hostels, Information Communication and Technology centre, new Senate building, Centre for Distance Learning and the university’s dam.

He said that the new governing council was ready to ensure rapid development of the OAU.

While stating that the appointment of the acting Vice-Chancellor of the OAU, Prof. Anthony Elujoba, has been extended, the Governing Council Chairman stated that the appointment process for a substantive Vice -Chancellor of the university has commenced.

He said, “We are going to do all that we can to bring all the unions together. We don’t belong to any group but we will ensure cooperation with all unions.

“The Senate in its wisdom unanimously recommended the acting Vice Chancellor tenure extension and it has been granted.

“However, the process of appointing an acting Vice Chancellor has begun. Very soon, the advertisement for submission of applications will be seen in newspapers.”

After the visit, he lamented that most infrastructures in the university were decaying.

“They (the infrastructures) are very urgent and need to be fixed as soon as possible. It is urgent, I have never seen them that bad. I do not know how students survive under this condition. It is not possible to learn and study well under the kind of decay we saw there,” he added.

He assured that a forensic audit of past administrations would be embarked upon to clarify allegations of misappropriation and mismanagement levelled against the past administration.

He promised to harmonise all the unions in the institution as a way of moving on to engender a peaceful calendar year for the students.


Credit: Channels Television

How To Organise And Execute Any Competition On OAU Campus - Gracious Egedegbe

By Gracious Egedegbe

Times are hard, really hard. In fact, it is so hard that many are taking the unfortunate travails of MMM to heart. However, as an OAU student, you cannot afford to remain broke; you have got to think of something real quick. One of the things you can do is to organise a competition, either a beauty pageant or a singing competition, anything!

The first thing you need to do is to get your reason right. This is very important because you don’t want to spend your time and resources on something that will not benefit you. Get this straight: the reason you’re organising this competition is because you need money. However, you cannot tell other this (unless they are broke niggers like yourself and are fully in support of your plans).

However, to your contestants and the general public, you must make them believe you are doing it for the public good. This can be done with the following statements: “we are set to groom young talents”, “the aim of this event is to give potential youths a showcasing platform” amongst others. The point is this: make sure that making money is all that you care about. You might want to make a name for yourself too but that ultimately ends in using that “name” to make money. You really don’t care if the contestants really develop during the course of the event.

One thing you must be ready to do is to spend some money. Think about all the sensible money making ventures in the world like MMM and iCharity, they all need money to make more money. You need money to print a couple of posters and pay people to paste it around campus. (if you are really broke, you and your other broke friends can paste them instead.) The money in question can be your school fees, house rent or even borrowed! What matters is that you have money to spend. For those of you who want shows that are organised as platforms for development and not mere money making ventures, you should understand that when someone pumps in so much money, the only thing that matters is generating cool profit (soft work!)

Once you have gotten some money, you can now begin publicity. In order not to waste resources, you must target your publicity at part one students who are eager to “dash” you their money without reading the fine print. These gullible students will later come back to grumble but don’t bother about them. The reason to target part one students is simple: most advanced students will do the maths and realise that you do not have the complete money to run the entire program. They will know you have some sleazy moves underway. (Although one or two may be gullible too.)

You need to know that organisation matters; you cannot afford to be sloppy. You need very cool designs for posters and WhatsApp BCs, a team of broke niggers like yourself and most importantly a tiny handful of people who actually care about grooming young talents. The need for such handful to give the event a good “dress”. Remember the proverbs, “the way you dress is the way you will be addressed”; in that same line, you must give your organisation a good dress.

When you have got gullible students for contestants (who have also paid some cash for application forms), you begin to print tickets (with the change left from printing posters). This stage is very important. In fact, it is so important that if you mess up at this point, you may consider the entire business a waste of time. I’m sure you are wondering who has the money to buy tickets in these hard times. Well, the trick is simple: distribute these tickets amongst the contestants and tell them the higher their sales, the higher the chances of winning. Simple!

Some people may begin to grumble at this point. However, just draw their attention to three facts. First, no one was forced to do anything. I mean, these contestants came on their own. Moreover, if they don’t want to sell tickets, no problem – just that it affects their chances of winning.

Second, you need money to run the program. Or did they think you had solved the problem of funds before you began the program? So they expect you to use your personal money to develop young talents? Even you ‘gan’, you are looking for who will develop your talent. It’s from the ticket money you pay the prizes and do other things. It’s like all the contestants are doing MMM. Some will get 100%, some 30%, other will lose. It’s normal!

Third, you need publicity for your program. Imagine you are walking on the street and no one is saying anything about your program as if it does not exist. God forbid! I reject it for you. But we both know you can’t afford a large scale advertisement. Therefore, the best thing is to use your contestants for publicity. Let them look for people who will come to the show to cheer them up. Simple, free and effective!

At this point, you must step aside and allow the tiny handful I talked about take charge. But you are like every other human being, you just cannot let things be. So even among the judges, you should put one or two of your guys. At this point, you must have gathered enough money. Immediately the program ends, you must go into oblivion. What I mean is no one should hear anything about you or follow up plans for grooming young talents.

You want my advice? Well, you can throw a big party for your guys, buy gadgets for yourself, an iPhone 7 for your girlfriend and use the rest to do MMM. Don’t forget to send me some change though…. Things are also hard for writers.

Cheers!

(Egbedegbe Gracious is a student of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University and a member of the OAU Peeps Team. He tweets at @IamTheGray)

JCIN OAU To Host Entrepreneurship-Leadership And Leadership Summit

Have you ever had this experience?

You are travelling in a new city but you don't have a clear picture  of your destination.
You decided to use your GPS to find your destination but the route does not seem to match reality.
Suddenly, you are in a strange place with cars buzzing by and no clarity about where to turn next._

The FUTURE seems blurry.
The "supposed route" takes the form of a LABYRINTH.

Wait

On the 18th of February, 2017,
Oduduwa Hall will be filled with students from OAU & other tertiary institutions for the LEADERSHIP and ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT  organized by

Junior Chamber International (JCI), Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo University as renowned figures from diverse fields will be sharing their thoughts on the

Theme- "The Future Seen Half-Naked."

Game-changing Keynotes and Open Mic Panel Discussions with prominent personalities such as:

Jumoke Adenowo (CEO, AD CONSULTING)
Chude Jideonwo (Founder, RED MEDIA)
Seun Onigbinde (CEO, BUDGIT)
Yemi Adamolekun (Chief Executive Director, EIE Nigeria)
AUDU MAIKORI (Founder Chocolate City)


What to expect

-A Mentor-Mentee scheme for a particular set of students.
-Opportunity to win awesome prizes via the best Business plan competition.
-Free CV review for participants
- Massive Networking platforms for the attendees.

To register, simply click on the link below.
http://tiny.cc/summit2017

PS: Airtel-sponsored gifts to be won by those who register on or before January 21.

Do not miss this opportunity...

To get your tickets and other enquiries, kindly contact:
Damilare - 09035030367
Bablo - 08097081728
Kolawolu - 07035926903
Tolu - 07063704281
Temitope - 08153393211

Or pick it up at Kay's at Amphitheatre

Ticket goes for N500 only

Powered By
JCI Nigeria, OAU

OAU Governing Council Chairman Visits Awo Hall

The recently appointed Chairman of the Obafemi Awolowo University Governing Council, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi in the company of some other top officials of the University paid a visit to some Halls of residence today, Tuesday 24th January 2017.

His visit to the Obafemi Awolowo Hall was momentous as students thronged out to give their ovation and applause.

The Public Relations Officer of Obafemi Awolowo University, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, opened the floor by introducing the Chairman to the students. The chairman then spoke to the students, explaining that he was there to carry out the duty assigned him by the Federal Government.

Two students were allowed to speak their minds, as per the state of the hostel they live in. They listed the plights of poor toilet condition, infrequent supply of water, shaky supply of electricity, free WiFi in hostels and in "academics" and the likes. They pleaded these and others are attended to as soon as possible. The chairman in response said that all would only be plausible if there is an increment in hostel fees; he asked if they wouldn't mind of there is and majority of the students present responded "yes".

Things You Need To Know About HIV

1) Having HIV is not a death sentence, though this was the case previously, but not anymore. Today, people with HIV can live normal lives, achieve their dreams and die by other means apart from HIV.

2) Stop the stigma!!!
HIV cannot be transmitted by sleeping on the same bed, sharing the same plates or cups, handshake, hug, mosquito bite . There is no need to isolate, stigmatize or avoid someone who has HIV. The virus is transmitted by blood contact, contact with body fluid like semen, vaginal secretion BUT not sweat or saliva (you need to drink a bucket full of saliva of a HIV positive person in order to get infected)

3) HIV infection, if noticed early enough can be adequately managed. This is why it is  safer to get tested.

4)HIV is preventable, the ABCs of HIV prevention are:

Abstinence, ZIP UP
Be Faithful, TO YOUR PARTNER
Condom, USE CONDOM

5) There is a higher risk of transmission of HIV in homosexual patners. I need not say more!!!

6) HIV can also be transmitted from a mother to child, this is called vertical transmission. This is highly preventable if medical assistance is sought by the mother which include close monitoring by a trained doctor and adequate antenatal care.

7) Incase someone is exposed accidentally to HIV by high risk individuals example, the case of a rape victim, medical assistance should be sought immediately. Some post exposure drugs can be prescribed by a trained doctor that will ensure that the victim does not get infected, TIMING is the most important factor in this scenario.

(Okpala Uzochukwu is a student of the College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University and a member of the OAU Peeps Team)

Auto Accident Occurs At University Senate Building, No Casualties Recorded

It was an atmosphere of mixed emotions around the University Senate Building on the evening of Sunday, 23rd January 2017 as a car ran into the transformer supplying the building.

Alerted by the loud noise generated from the collision, students and staff nearby quickly rushed to the scene of the incident. Luckily, there were no casualties even though the car involved was greatly damaged.

When asked what had caused the accident, the driver of the car claimed that the brakes of the car had failed and he naturally opted for the nearest obstacle to break the motion of the car.

This incident, despite its non-casualty, raises the number of auto accidents on the Obafemi Awolowo University Campus over the past few months.