THE NATION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012
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CAMPUS LIFE Dept loses student From Michael Adebayo UNILORIN
•The late Zainab •Prof Omole(seventh from right) with OAU staff after unveiling the board last week
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HE Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Prof Bamitale Omole, has unveiled a giant billboard that displayed the map of the university and the location of every building and route on the campus. Erected at the main entrance of the university, the large billboard is visible enough to direct a firsttime visitor to locate his way on the campus. Prof. Omole praised the staff of Advanced Space Technology Appli-
VC unveils OAU map From Sikiru Akinola OAU
cation Laboratory, OAU, under the supervision of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja, for donating the location guide, which he said was the first of its kind since the establishment of the university 50 years ago. Presenting the location guide to
the VC, the co-ordinator of the technology, Mr Ezekiel Eguaroje, appreciated the management for providing a conducive environment for the staff, stressing that the cordial relationship between OAU and the body would continue. Prof Omole stated that management would continue to provide the needed leadership for the university community in order to maximise the potentials of all staff and students.
•Biogas Digester built by students of the institution after the workshop
Students trained on Biogas Digester
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S part of capacity building and to deliver trained personnel in public health, the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) in conjunction with the department of Public Health, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), organised a threeday workshop on design and construction of Biogas Digester. The experiment was supervised by the head of Public Health department, Prof Amadi Nkwa. Students of Environmental Health Technology in undergraduate and post-graduate level, lecturers and participants from Colleges of Health Technology across the Southeast and Southsouth regions of the
From Mohammed Sani FUTO
country were trained on methods to manufacture a functional for Biogas Digester. Biogas Digester is a technology that digests organic waste products like cow dung, pig waste, effluent, garbage, human faeces, saw dust, rice mill, crops residue, dairy etc. This is possible in the absence of oxygen to produce methane gas. The gas is used as fuel in cooking and also for various industrial applications. The technology reduces deforestration and improves sanitation by linking toilets with biogas plant. The trainer was Prof M.C. Sridhar, who was assisted by Mr Hameed
Taiwo, Dr Gbolade Ogunwade, Prof Amadi Nkwa and Mr A. Ashak. After the training, Celestine Onah, 500-Level Environmental Health, said: “The training on Biogas technology construction and installation is timely. It comes at a time streams of waste in our cities have reached epidemic proportion, but the technology will utilise wastes and produces a gas that is useful in our life”. Bello Jibril, 500-Level student, said the training was to increase the knowledge of students in the technology. He added: “Though methane is dangerous in causing global warming, nevertheless, tapping it for utilisation will certainly reduce its effect on the ozone layer.”
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EARS flowed uncontrollably at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) when 300-Level students of Computer Science heard one of their classmates, Zainab Towolawi, was dead. The news hit the campus on a Monday morning when students were preparing for lectures.
Zainab, who was known among her colleagues as Zeelahwee, participated in a game of chess held during the West African University Games (WAUG) at the University of Ilorin. Zainab, 19, could not resume the present session because she was in hospital for an undisclosed ailment she had been battling with for over three months. She finally gave up the ghost last week. Her course mates, who were already prepared for lectures, cancelled the classes immediately. They also called off lectures the following day. Students moved round the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences in black shirts to mourn their late colleagues. A classmate, Omodolapo Yakub, said: “Life is a journey and the world is the path we have to pass through. We were all born and definitely we shall all end our journey one day. Towolawi Zainab concluded her journey just like that, so also everyone will one day. We all love her but God needs her now. Zeelahwee, you shall live forever in our hearts.”
Students benefit from Okorocha’s scholarship
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MO State Governor Rochas Okorocha has delivered his major campaign promise to the people of the state by issuing cheques of N100,000 each to undergraduates of Imo State University (IMSU), who are indigenes of the state. Those who also benefitted from the gesture were students of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo who received N80,000 each and the students of College of Heath Science and Technology, Amaigbo, who received N60,000 as scholarship. In a speech at the ceremony tagged Investment for the future and held at the Hero’s Square, Owerri, Governor Okorocha said the event was a great moment of his life. He said there was no legacy that is greater than the provision of free education to the people, adding that with such legacy, the children of the poor could acquire formal education to develop the society. Okorocha said that of all the projects embarked upon by his administration, none endeared to him as the free education given to over 19,000 students of Imo State origin. He added that his administration achieved the feat through sacrifice and commitment to service, adding that he forfeited N4 billion security vote just to ensure that the free education programme succeeded. He charged the students to be of good behaviour and ensure that the “candle of free education for Imo indigenes, which has been rekindled is kept burning beyond this generation.” Earlier, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Adaobi Obasi
•Gov. Okorocha From Jennifer Ngerem IMSU
,said the ongoing revolution in the education sector in the state included the building of 12 classroom blocks in each of the 305 wards in the state, building of the Young Scientists’ College, the Owerri City School, College of Advanced Professional Studies (ICAPS), increasing the subvention given to Imo State University from N57 million to N152 million among others. The high point of the occasion was the presentation of cheques to hundreds of retirees from the state’s civil service for their gratuities and the presentation of four buses and a hilux van to the government by Diamond Bank Plc.