Our hopes were high as we all earnestly
anticipated our project defenses, dinner nights, send forth parties and
our graduation ceremony, amongst other activities that accompanied the
final year sessions. We had all numbered our days in the Lion’s den,
UNN.
We all told our dreams and aspirations
to ourselves and what we will all be doing in say, two or three year’s
time. And our plans was almost materialising knowing that we had written
our final year exams, done some clearance in school, submitted our
projects and earnestly waited for defense.
Little did we know that the worst was
awaiting us. Little did we know that our dreams and aspirations for the
limited time we had was almost about to shatter. And it came as a
surprise to everyone, like a lamb about to be slaughtered, ASUU STRIKE
hit us all.
It came at the moment we never expected
it; at the point where our future was about to be decided. It has been
four months now after our exams, and everything came to a halt. Our
project defense, dinner
night and graduation ceremony is no longer a
reality. None of us ever prepared for this unforeseen circumstance.
Ever since the ASUU strike commenced,
some of us had forgotten those dreams. After I did a good research on
how many people still flip through their project work, it was a
disappointment to find out that not up to 10 percent still read their
project work since the strike commenced. For those of us that were at
the border line of making a second class upper, how do we still scale
through, with this new development? Some of the students have started
doing one thing or the other to make ends meet.
Some of us are learning one hand work or
the other, such as fashion designing, baking, decoration, painting
amongst others, which I will say is a good development. However, those
doing this are but a few of us. According to my statistics, about 15
percent of us are doing this presently.
It will interest you to know that about
5percent of us have gone into learning one trade or another and all of
them are doing it with so much enthusiasm. The reason for their
enthusiasm is simply because of the money they make daily from the
trade. Some are so engrossed in what they are doing presently, since it
fetches them a good amount of money. At the pace they are going, these
ones may focus on making as much money as they can, which may have its
negative implications.
So, what happens to the remaining 80
percent? They obviously sit at home, waiting till ASUU calls off the
strike. This situation is the most dangerous, as it is often said, ‘An
idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ When a student who ought to be
learning or going for their youth service, becomes idle, then it may
amount to a lot of dangers.
Some of them, while staying at home, may
get involved in one obnoxious activity or another. When this happens,
they become nuisances to themselves and their family, instead of
becoming useful to them.
The implication of this strike on the
country cannot be overemphasised. When there is a problem with the
education of any student by way of delay in their educational pursuit,
it leads to the breeding of incompetent students, which will carry the
mantle of leadership in the country tomorrow.
When the strike is eventually called
off, how will these ones get themselves aligned to the system of
education after this long period of trading and skill acquisition? Some
students may even need motivation and enough drive to continue from
where they had long stopped.
There is an urgent call for the
government as well as the ASUU, to reach an agreement in order to help
the students and the country.
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