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If you are a student of the UniBen, then here are some things you definitely understand how they work. They are not new to you, and you are not new to them.
1) Shouting don’t pour when you want to cross the gutter in the hostel
If you enter the hostel and you want to cross under the gutter, you better shout with all of your might “don’t pour” if not, Santana pot that someone soaked for three days might be the next thing to land on your head. If water is inside the pot pours on your body, there is nothing you can do. Don’t even try shouting because it won’t solve anything. Just go and have your bath before the smell will soak inside your body.
2) Walking from the main gate to bank road
Someone thought it was a good idea to move the buses from the car park at main gate, to the park at bank road. One might even want to call that person wicked, but that person is the VC and you want to graduate. Imagine all the trekking you would do if you live on 19th street.
You after walking
3) The Sun
Rumour has it that UniBen has a separate sun from the rest of Benin. Don’t believe me? Check your weather map before and after you leave the school. The place is hot unnecessarily. It makes me wonder, maybe UniBen is Nigeria’s portal to hellfire. In fact, maybe UniBen is hell.
4) Shot put
Oh, you think UniBen has enough money and time to teach the actual shot put sport? LMAO
Personally, I refuse to be the only to explain it. God Bless you.
5) Lack of network
The school probably made a deal with internet providers just because they wanted us to suffer. Why else does network almost completely disappear when in school? Especially when you get to faculty??? Now, you’re actually forced to listen to your lecturers in class. Do they think that’s what we came to school for???
6) Always collecting your change
The ten naira other people might leave could be the difference between you trekking to you department, or taking the bus. That is why UniBen students always collect change. How else will they be paying for thirty naira bus all the time?
once they collect all their ten and twenty naira change
7) Stress and suffering, trials and tribulations
UniBen students are suffering. They wake up, take a deep breath and go “God, school again.” Trials and tribulations are things they know all too well. The stress of schooling in UniBen is turning their hair grey and making their blood pressure high. Those people are walking zombies.
that’s why you should be sending them money unprovoked. Please.
If you want to know what is inside this life, please click here
Growing up, a lot of us are taught that there is an exact way we are supposed to progress. We go from primary school to secondary school to university, get a job and then marry. It’s linear and exact. However, real-life isn’t that simple. A good number of people opt out of this race at different points and for different reasons. Today, we spoke to seven people who decided a uni education isn’t for them or had to leave uni.
Mimi, 21. I dropped out but I went to a school in England. My mom and some of her colleagues were being probed by EFCC. And I knew it was going to affect my school fees being paid. Plus I never liked England. So that was my call to back out quick. For now, I’m doing nothing. I really want to relax in Nigeria. I just want to be jobless for a while. As for my mom, I told her to just let me chill and enjoy the money EFCC hasn’t seized from her. I live with mum so most things are covered and the extra things, my dad and my other siblings send me money when they can. I can’t lie I didn’t realise how bad it affected my plans until recently but I plan on moving back to England to just live there and probably work a bit until I figure out what I want to do with my life. My original plan was to go to uni and then go on to become a solicitor. But I don’t think I even know how to read anymore. I’m also a British citizen so it’s easier to rely on another country for my unplanned future.
Afam, 24.
For me leaving uni was a matter of realizing that it wasn’t providing value to me. The university system here is shit, and according to it, I was dumb. I failed courses, I was horrible with classmates and it made me depressed. Then I started coding and designing and I was good at it. It’s funny how when I brought that real-life know-how to classes in Uni where I was studying computer science, I would still fail but outside, I was doing well. That’s when I realized that uni was all about knowing enough to pass an examination, at least in Nigeria. The day I decided to leave was when on my second full-time tech role, I heard how much my lecturer was making and I realized I was earning twice what he was being paid. I was twenty-three, he was several decades older than me, had been working for much longer but I was already out-earning him and I was just getting started. That made something click in me, so I got out of the system. I dropped out two weeks later.
Mel, 22. I dropped out because I realized I was fooling myself, what I was studying wasn’t my career part. I never wanted to study Human Resources Management, I wanted to be a lawyer. Nobody ever noticed but I was unhappy about it. I’m very intelligent but I flunked in school and I never took my classes seriously. Sometimes I just paid my lecturers to get through to the next semester. Now I’m going after the things I love doing and not what my mum wants. I feel at peace being in control of my life. When I was in Uni, I was so depressed because I didn’t know what to do next. The question of “are you done with school?” “have you gotten a job?” “what are you currently doing?” It was unbearable, my anxiety went so high that I almost killed myself. I felt like a failure because why would any reasonable person drop out in their final year right? But now? Fuck it! I don’t give a single fuck if anyone sees me as a failure, I don’t owe them anything. Now I’m happy and I’m currently working on getting my psychology degree from the University of London. For real, I’m happy and I’m making the right decisions for my future so to hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.
Vona, 26. First, I dropped out because I couldn’t pay school fees. I had the money to pay before I even needed to pay but I was in a relationship with someone at the time and he came to one day saying he needed help, I loaned him the money with the promise that he would pay back before resumption. He didn’t and then he moved out of the country with my money, I never heard from him again. When it was time for resumption, I couldn’t pay fees, was too ashamed to ask anyone for help and I, unfortunately, had to drop out. It has changed my life plans, I can’t get a job. I’m not much of a business person and doing small businesses to survive is hard as I want to be in an office space working but I can’t do that as nobody wants to employ an SSCE holder for jobs. I’ve wasted my life and it hurts. I’m ashamed that I’m a dropout, I hate to meet new people because people want to know what you do, where you work. What do I say? That I’m a dropout who has nothing going for her? I can’t show up anywhere because I’m always the odd one out. It’s just safer to stay indoors and never go out. At first, nobody in my family knew until two years later when they started hounding me for NYSC and I had to come clean. My Dad outrightly disowned me, it was one of the toughest periods in my life because I left the house that morning with a bag of clothes and 20k. It’s been a few years now, my mom is no more disappointed but I and my dad don’t talk and haven’t seen each other since then.
Yasmin, 20.
I dropped out partially due to attempted assault. And uni was high workload with low reward. The system was archaic. We were using learning materials from the 1970s and a course that was supposed to be very in-depth and practical oriented was DIY. It has affected my life and plans. I sometimes feel like all the time I spent fighting to study that course is now a waste. But it’s helped me figure out what my dream means to me and how to work around it while pursuing something else. I was very anxious about dropping out. Firstly because it felt like I had wasted their money. A part of me wanted to just suck up the mental exhaustion I was facing and just finish but I couldn’t. A lot of people also felt I was spoiled, they’d say ‘if you go to a different uni and the lecturer tries to assault you again will you drop out again.‘ It is very scary how much sexual assault is downplayed in uni. Up until the day I was going to quit I kept thinking about all the people I left high school with graduating the next year and how I’d be starting afresh but we’re meant for different things. Anyways, so I couldn’t chicken out I didn’t go for exams so that was a sure way to drop out. The funny thing is my parents were so pro-dropping out. They just wanted me to have fun till the semester was over and come home. They kept wondering why I still bothered going to classes. My mum especially was very supportive and she keeps telling me not to run on anyone else’s time.
Olayinka, 24. I was 17. I was in my second year. I just knew I didn’t fit in. I wanted to do it for my family but the more I tried the more it sucked. So one day I just woke up, told myself I wasn’t going to do it anymore. I called my parents and told them I forgot to pay my school fees and although I did intentionally delay my fees but it was still something I could fix but I didn’t want to fix it. Fast forward to today, nobody wants to employ someone who doesn’t own a degree. Sometimes I feel insecure about it. I am one of the smartest girls I know but I’ve had to quit work so many times because I’m constantly being treated like a slave. You do all the work for our so-called graduates and they earn way more than you do. One time I met this guy who said he liked me and wanted us to date. I told him I was a dropout and he told me he couldn’t be with someone who dared to throw her life away. I felt anxious at the initial stage but as soon as I decided to end it. I felt really good about it. I never even thought I’d get a job. Like a real job. Everyone told me I wouldn’t and for a while, that scared me but I’m in a much better space now and I have come to love myself for making that decision. That night as soon as I got home, we had this huge argument at home. My Dad kept on blaming my mom for it and I felt horrible. The next morning at exactly 5 am my parents took me to the park and told me I was going to live with my aunt in Ilorin. My mom didn’t talk to me for four months, and my dad never took me seriously afterwards and that was the hardest part for me
Ofeh, 25. I wanted to study medicine but UNIBEN gave me Educational Psychology. That didn’t make sense so I always planned to leave. In my second year, I wrote jamb and got admission to a different school and aside from it being a rugged school, they gave me Biochemistry. No point going from a course I didn’t want to another course I did not want. At the same time, my dad was trying to get me and my brother out of Nigeria or so he told me. However, only my brother ended up leaving. I stayed because my dad said I’m the first child, I need to be close to home. The gag was that I had already checked out of UNIBEN unbeknownst to anyone. I wasn’t attending classes or taking exams. When I realized I was not going anywhere, I tried to rectify it. I went to my course adviser but she was so mean, shouting at everyone in her office. I was too scared to say anything and even though, I didn’t tell anybody anything. At that point, I was supposedly in 300 level but I had never registered for any of my 200 level courses or written the exams. I didn’t do any assignments or tests. I was practically not a student but I lied for another two years because I was too scared to tell anyone or confront the truth myself. I don’t regret dropping out. It’s one of the events that made my life go the way it is now and I’m grateful I got it. However the years before I told anyone, I would lock myself in my room for days, no food. Just snacks, weed and tears. I went to a psychiatrist in 2018 and I got diagnosed and that’s how I know now that my mental health was a part of it. My parents were actually very supportive of my decision. It was surprising because I told them when I was supposedly in final year. Before then I had been lying that I had issues that would cost me extra year, missing script, etc. I eventually wrote my dad a long email telling him I had dropped out and he called me. He asked if I was alone and told me not to cry and to come home. He kept telling to not worry, that I’ll be fine.
It is not uncommon to witness Nigerian graduates talk about emigrating. A good number of young Nigerians you’ll encounter are either already making tangible plans towards leaving, or giving it some (read: a lot of) consideration. However, it can be quite disheartening hearing the same from undergraduates whose short-lived exposure to the dysfunctional system has formed their resolve on the subject. It threatens that this brain drain we’ve been discussing for ages is only going see an upsurge in coming years. Who go remain for Nigeria?
During the earliest days of COVID-19, all attention was diverted towards the pandemic, away from the ASUU strike action and the cries of Nigerian undergraduates. For some, leaving the country had been always been in the mix. For others, the ten-month long pause was an awakening to their decision. I interviewed some Nigerian students and here’s what they had to say:
1. Ejiro- “I left my private university admission for greatest gba gba.”
Just yesterday, I saw a post that read, “Na mumu dey go Federal University”, and everything about it points to me. I am a mumu. I’m in my 4th year in school, but I have spent nearly six years in FUT Minna.
After secondary school, I was offered admission into two schools: ABUAD and my current school. I was insistent on attending a public university because of the perception that they have more experienced lecturers, and because “public school graduates are considered higher in the labour market”. Those are lies. My father was a staunch supporter of that idea. He’d always say private schools are too comfortable. My siblings warned me, but I wanted “greatest gba gba.”
That choice has been dealing me gbas gbos ever since. I haven’t scaled through a class successfully without ASUU interrupting. But this last strike was the last straw for me. Beyond school, jobs are hard to come by. Current situations (Buhari) are not looking bright. There is no end to it. As for me, staying in Nigeria is not an option at all. Why would it?
2. Chimdiya- “I don’t mind starting all over abroad”
Prior to 2020, I’ve never really nursed thoughts of leaving the country. And no, that didn’t come from a place of patriotism. I’m not proud of this place, not anymore.
The lockdown and afterwards have been trying times. I was so lost, confused and angry. My family’s income is tied to daily trading activities, so when the lockdown was announced, I knew we would suffer financial hits. And girl, did it happen!My mother would unravel anytime I asked for money.
I didn’t even know when I started researching scholarship opportunities abroad with Opera Mini free data. At first, I hoped to discover one that would allow me transfer seamlessly to their equivalent of 300 level. Nothing satisfactory popped up. As it stands now, I don’t mind starting all over somewhere better abroad. I’ll gladly leave UI to take it.
3. Karen- “It a gift to my children”
Leaving the country is a gift to my children. They don’t deserve to grow in this environment. See, my mother had all of my siblings in the US except me- I came too early. Again, I happen to be the only one of my siblings to attend a public university in Nigeria.
Throughout last year, I watched my friends climb up beyond my level and saw some graduate while I remained at home. This past year was depressing. It is a different kind of anguish knowing your predicament could have been averted if you had made informed decisions earlier. My SAT scores were great, but instead, I opted for Unilag.
Leaving here will release my mental health from shackles. It is now an unskippable talking stage question– right after genotype. I mentally check out when the guy starts hinting about contributing quotas to Nigeria’s growth. I have nothing to give.
4. Tunji- “Nigeria is a correctional facility”
Nigeria is a correctional facility –that’s the only way to make sense of this hellhole. I see this place as a punishment for some heinous crimes I committed in a past life. I mean, who shuts down schools for a year?
School is the only sane place I have, and I didn’t experience it for ten months. I still won’t for the next few months. I can’t be a student in peace, I can’t be gay in peace. Nah! I deserve to live in a place where all of me can flourish.
5. Luqman- “Nigeria neither cares about my education nor my life”
I’ve been a disaster since March when the strike began. I lost my father in June. Every time I struggled out of one depressive episode, I fell into another one. All those months kept going, and the government and ASUU were negotiating our future like it is ordinary ponmo.
The most hopeful I’ve felt in a while was during End SARS. Twitter was bursting with hope and support, and that buoyed my mental health slightly. I even dragged myself out to protest because I fit into every tech bro stereotype; dreadlocks, laptop, iPhone. After the Lekki incident and Buhari’s speech, I realized once again that Nigeria neither cares about my education nor my life.
6. Omeiza- “Ngige said I can go”
Chris Ngige said I can go. He said we have a surplus of medical doctors and my eventual departure won’t affect the country. If anything, it will increase foreign remittance. That means I can pay my dues from a saner clime. It is a win-win situation. Provided there are no interruptions, I should be out in three years.
7. Derin- “I need my degree to japa”
My degree has been on the line since last year because of school lockdown and the strike. My colleagues have moved onto the next phase but I’m yet to be inducted. It pains me how disconnected relevant stakeholders are from our plight. I’ve toiled six years to get here but somehow other people’s disagreement has me roped in. I’m tired of being optimistic. I need my degree to japa.
8. Kene- “I’m trying my hand on everything”
This break showed me pepper. My school finally announced that we will resume soon. Because I don’t know how soon “soon” is, I’m experimenting with new skills. I’m trying my hands at everything. In the end, I might pivot completely to one of these or blend them together.
Canada must accept me. Whether as an animator, a data analyst or a doctor. I’m adding more skills to my portfolio and in due time, they will work out in my favour in Jesus’ name.
9. Millicent-“What I don’t pay for in Naira, I pay for in time”
Omo, it was a tough decision to come to. My friends were shocked to know my stance because I would usually preach to them against travelling out. All I know is nothing can change my mind. I’m not allowing anyone to blackmail me with “Nigeria gave you free education”. It isn’t free, it comes at a very huge cost.
What I don’t pay for in Naira, I pay for in time–years wasted. I can’t regain time wasted which is worse. Frankly speaking, I don’t see myself returning in future unless situations improve
10. Praise- “They said schools should be locked up for 3-5 years”
I decided long ago to leave as soon as a dignifying means comes along. My resolve grew stronger over the break when ASUU or FG (can’t remember which party) was saying schools should be locked for 3-5 years so they can be fully developed. I was so shook.
I pray to meet that ASUU chairman some day and ask him why he was always smiling in newspaper reports because from where I stood, nothing was funny.
Names have been changed to maintain anonymity of contributors.
A week ago Unilag students resumed school virtually after a year of ghosting, radio silence and of course ASSU’s ever changing resumption date, which happened not once, not twice, but thousands.
What she said!
I am a 400 level student in this great university studying mass communication and here’s what my first week of virtual learning was like.
After a whole year of chanting “The student in me died in march” I was up by 6 am and excited to resume, even though I was panicking that I couldn’t log in to the portal, or that I’d low-key forgotten my matric number. I put my notepads by my pillow (you can see that I was ready) and went on my group chat, only to find out that no one could log in. Nothing pleases a student like collective discomfort: as long as it’s not just me, all is well.
I was finally able to log in but then the site crashed. Wahala for who wan be serious student, or maybe I’m the one with bad luck. Classes were cancelled for the day and Unilag was trending on Twitter but as the devil will have it, one lecturer still managed in the midst of it all to give us an assignment. I had to double-check to see if I was offering that course and the answer was an annoying yes. I considered dropping it and generally dropping out in two seconds but decided against it in case my father could read my mind somehow. All in all, not a terrible first day.
It was a terrible day.
Tuesday
The ginger I had the first day had died. I was up by 8, but for once I didn’t check Twitter first. I went on my class group chat and saw that my course advisor had sent out a message by 6 am. Classes had been cancelled for the week, all we had to do was familiarise ourselves with the site. God bless God.
People who could log in sent materials from the site and then creation of group chats for different courses began. God save us. Turns out that I registered for 8 courses. In a whole 400 level.
One lecturer even started to hint at asking us to buy textbooks and do group assignments? Then someone stated that we had to download the materials from the site on our own because it counts as attendance. For 21 years, my life has been one big attendance register, make it stop.
There was still no class thankfully and yes I know it’s supposed to be a lecture-free week but you don’t know my lecturers.
This day showed so much promise of laziness and then like a thief in the night — except it was 2 pm — one lecturer gave us a group assignment to be submitted the same day. I was going to ghost them but then I saw the kind of people that were in my group: they won’t add my matric number if I didn’t do anything. So, I waited for a bit and when no one did anything, I created a group chat and added all eight of them. Still, no one said anything, so I posted the assignment. All we had to do was summarize what we had learnt from the five topics we’d been taught before the “pakurumo”.
I went offline and by the time I came back these scammers had appeared from nowhere and paired up in two’s for three topics, graciously leaving the longest two for me and one other unfortunate person. This is why I hate group projects. We sha got it done before 6 when we had to submit it. Not going to lie, it felt nice to learn something and even nicer to understand what I was summarizing — my school fees hadn’t wasted after all but I was also upset because ffs, allow me to be unserious.
Thursday
I’m not sure this day actually happened. We joined more group chats and got more materials but it was an otherwise boring day.
You know how there is always that one lecturer that will ruin your perfectly planned weekend? Yeah, that’s this man. His classes are annoying and his assignments are even more annoying. To show that he meant to destroy my plans, he appeared by 11 am — 11 is that moment in your day when the universe decides if it’ll be good or bad to you. He appeared with not one, but two assignments.
He asked to be added to our main group chat and at first, my course rep was worried because the last time we did that, when he was done talking, someone said “Bye sir” and removed him.
Someone almost sent this. Almost.
We eventually created another group chat for his course and he explained his assignment.
We have one week to submit this one *cries in Nkiru Sylvanus*. After that my course mates went back to posting links to their businesses, blogs, contests and a very long conversation I didn’t care to read through about the silhouette challenge. Besides the assignments, this week wasn’t all that bad (because it was horrible)
I just want to fight my former roommate for telling me that 400 level is a breeze, she didn’t add that the breeze can knock your teeth out. Vivian, it’s on sight.
Students in Nigerian universities have stories to tell, but hardly anyone to tell them to. For our new weekly series, Aluta and Chill, we are putting the spotlight on these students and their various campus experiences.
Earlier this year, I had a conversation with a student of Covenant University, and he talked about how tedious the school policies are and his run-in with the school management. One take-away from that conversation was that it is almost impossible to avoid getting into some sort of trouble if you study at the school. So, for this episode of Aluta and Chill, I spoke to a couple of current and past students and get them to talk about a time they had a run-in with members of the school management.
This was originally published in 2020.
Beatrice – I got in trouble because my friend’s button was undone.
We had just finished service at the chapel and I was walking to a class with a friend. We ran into the dean, but I didn’t think I had anything to worry about. I was dressed in appropriate clothes and buttoned up to the neck, so I was good with the dress code. But I think one of my friend’s buttons was undone and the Dean doesn’t miss such things. Then I heard his voice fill the air, asking my friend to give him her ID card.
I didn’t think it was my business, but apparently it was. He called me back as I was walking away and asked for my ID card too. He collected the cards and sent us to class. After our class was over, we went to the Student Affairs office. He gave us an offence form and he instructed us to write “gross insubordination” as our offence. That was very confusing. I faced the SDC afterwards. Luckily, I didn’t get into more trouble because I had no priors. I got off with a letter of warning.
Alice – I got in trouble for “kissing my boyfriend” even though we were several feet apart.
This happened in my third year. It was the departure service night — it’s this prayer thing we do at the end of the semester before we go home. The service had ended and I was hanging out with my boyfriend. Then this hall officer appeared out of nowhere and claimed that she saw us kissing. That was absurd because we put a good distance between us. She insisted on her stance — that there was a picture she took of us in the act.
There was no picture and we knew that. We asked her to show us the picture. Of course, she couldn’t, so she had to let us go. I returned to school the following semester and found out that she was my hall officer. I didn’t think much about it or the situation that happened the previous semester. One day, I was going to church when she called me, and without a word, she gave me an offence form to fill. She charged me with gross insubordination and dress code violation, but I knew what it was all about. Lucky for me, it never got processed.
Gbenga – Someone on my floor was apparently smoking weed, so they took all of us on the floor for a test.
It was 1 am, but most of my coursemates were still awake — we were studying for a major test we had in a few hours. Next thing we knew, guys in suits were knocking on doors and calling everyone on our floor to come out of their rooms.
Apparently they had gotten a tip that someone on our floor had been smoking weed, so they took all of us to get tested for drugs. We were stuck there for hours and by the time they finally let us go, it was time for class. Most of us failed that test.
Muyiwa – I got in trouble for talking in the chapel.
It was a Thursday evening and I was at the chapel. Papa came to preach, so the MSS guys — they are the school security people — were so extra that day. I was having a discussion with a couple of friends. One of the hall officers knew me and he singled me out. Two of them took me to the Head of MSS. He asked for my name, and I told him, but for some reason, he thought I was lying.
I didn’t have my ID card on me and that was all he needed to book me. Later, I got called to face the Student Disciplinary Committee to answer for chapel misconduct. It was just weird because I wasn’t the only one in the chapel on that day. After that incident, I sort of became a target and they would come into my room any time they wanted to check if I had a bible. And that made me very uncomfortable.
Ann – I never got in trouble even though I violated a lot of their rules.
I never got into trouble in school, never even got to see the popular offence form people had to fill when they got into trouble. And no. I wasn’t a model student, I skipped classes, skipped chapel services, violated dress code rules a couple of times, and I even left school without exeat. But I never got caught doing any of those.
However, an event that I’ll never forget during my stay in CU was the departure service in my first year. The matriculation ceremony held earlier and we had spent most of the week doing mid-semester tests. I didn’t think the departure service was going to be serious. It took a lot to fight the urge to stay in bed and sleep instead. I got to the chapel and everyone was basically lazying around.
In a minute, everything suddenly became chaotic. I saw students running around. Some were even trying to get in through the windows. The Chancellor took to the stage and gave an angry speech. The part I’ll never forget was when he said: “If anyone makes a sound, the curse of the Lord will be upon them.” I’d never seen a place go grave silent in seconds. The members of the student affairs department took over from there, going round to check if students were compliant with dress codes rules and if people had their bibles and chapel note (Actual hard copy bible and note.) I didn’t think it was possible for a bible to look like a 60 leaves exercise book until that day.
It was just really stressful and I was so relieved when the whole thing ended. But it hadn’t really ended. The following day, more than 200 students were suspended. Just like that.
*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the subjects.
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Oh, ye believers, I know you want to make heaven, but if everything we hear is true, not everyone will clinch the ticket. I don’t know really know how this whole thing works, but if there is indeed heaven and hell, these students have to be among the first sets of people to be admitted. You agree with me, don’t you?
1. The students that agree to help you print and submit your assignments
As these people come through for us on days when we don’t have anything to do in school but submit an assignment, so shall God grant them easy passage into heaven.
2. The students that help you keep a seat when you’re running late to class
This is questionable behaviour, but since they ensure you don’t stay on your feet for the duration of the class, they deserve to be among the first sets of people to make heaven.
3. The students that help you write attendance, even if you forget to tell them
They have to make heaven, for obvious reasons.
4. Students that organise tutorials when it’s time for an exam
They give you a fighting chance here, so they deserve all the good of the afterlife.
5. The students brave enough to leave the class before the lecturer when the hour is over
Their kind is rare but they do the Lord’s work, and the lord has to reward them.
6. The students that take your food off your electric stove if it’s burning and alert you
They could have ignored it or stolen it, but they decided to do good. They have to enter heaven.
7. The students that write notes in class and allow you to make photocopies
They are the best!
8. The students that always have money and ready to loan
They don’t have to, but they do. Hell is not their home.
For a Nigerian father, it is not enough that you made it to university. No, no. “Any random person can go to the university,” they’ll say. To them, it’s the course you study that matters.
1. Medicine
This is top 2 and it’s not number 2. A Nigerian father’s ultimate dream is to say, “My child is a doctor.”
2. Law
How else will he be shouting “Barrister” wehn you’re only in 200-level.
3. Engineering
This, along with medicine and law are the holy trinity of favoured courses.
4. Accounting/Finance
You have a Nigerian father’s full attention.
5. Architecture
He just might die from pride.
6. Computer science
For people who can’t change their Whatsapp profile pictures by themselves, they sure love computer science.
7. Economics
This one is becoming more popular
8. Pharmacy
Nigerian fathers just want free medical consultation.
Dear OAU students, everyone knows that you have a vibrant community, so it’s only right that we do a post about the Obafemi Awolowo University experience. This one is for you:
1. When you are coming from Academics at 3 AM and Seun Risky has not closed
I serve a living God.
2. Awo boys going to scatter a show like:
We own this place.
3. Mozambique and Angola students, when fellowship people come to preach
Don’t you people have more important things to do?
4. When you’re a fresher and have to go for lectures at 100-seater lecture theatre
Just spend your nights there.
5. Obafemi Awolowo University students, when an invited artist doesn’t want to “dobale” before performing
Get out!
6. OAU students, every time the school anthem starts playing
Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!
7. When the power goes out and the management hasn’t brought it back two hours later
The spirit of Aluta.
8. You, after devouring a plate of Pounded Yam at Iya Ila
This is the life.
9. What the owners of ‘As E Dey Hot’ probably do at the end of each day
Moneyyyy!
10. When someone tries to convince you that ‘Forks and Fingers’ food is actually good
If you don’t shut the fuck up!
11. When you experience the calmness of Faj and compare it with the chaos of Awo
Is this how Lagos Island is different from Mainland
12. You, when none of the ATMs in Banking Area is dispensing
Just kill me.
One year ago, we left Nigeria for an 80-day adventure across West Africa. Something is coming. Unshared stories. New perspectives. Limited series. 10 episodes.
