₦airaland Forum

There is no way I would write about my account of life and struggle at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) that 4 names won’t be mentioned. These four people are prominent part of our struggle and they contributed in no small ways to our journey so far.
These for (4) people are:
Iyinkaye Al-Ameen (Lagos), Elias Ozikpu (Lagos), Adedayoh Buremoh (Ilorin) and Tewe Taiwo (Benin).
Al-Ameen is a vibrant fellow who detest falsehood in all dimension, he always strive to stay on the path of truth in all his dealings. Due to his conviction in our struggle, he took a prominent role in all our activities and he his never scared to stand alone. He his a leader and a true example of a good friend.
Elias Ozikpu is cool, calm, focus and assertive person. He knows what is good and he his always with it. Elias is also a prominent part of our struggle, he was the Chairman of our constitutional review committee. While others take pleasure in condemning without proffering solution, Elias object and proffer way forward. He his a balanced personality.
Adedayo Buremoh is another person I can’t forget. With him, we founded the Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Student Association (PESCORSA) and also organized our first Peace Summit after 3 months of starting the Association. He his never tired of doing good things, just mention anything good to him, he shall ensure it is accomplished. He his currently the President of the Association.
Tewe Taiwo is another down to earth fellow whom I have so much respect for. He his always there initiating good ideas to advance the interest of NOUN Students. While doing his part in CONS, he his equally taking a leading role in LAW society.
These four people are part of my life in NOUN. I can’t also forget ID Collins who is part of CONS from its early stage and till date, acting in leading role. I wish I can mention the names of all our respected friends and colleagues who made CONS active till date, but be rest assured, we shall make a more comprehensive listing of all those who contributed to this struggle for future references.
Finally, let me conclude this writing by telling you in confidence that by the grace of God, you are special. By being a student of this first of its kind University, you are indeed a very special person. Don’t betray the specialty in you by acting contrary to your rightful being.
Anywhere you find yourself, you must be a proudly nounite. Represent the slogan, ‘’first of its kind’’. You must keep your head up, knowing you are first of its kind. And talking about quality, you are unmatched. You are first academically, better in conduct and most especially,a self developer. You are from Open University, the first of its kind university.
Anywhere you go, you have to act special. You must act special in conduct by being of the best conduct, you must think special in reasoning by being creative and anywhere you are found, you must indeed show them how special you are by being distinguish with substance.
Don’t allow any one strip you off your specialty, you are first of its Kind.
I look forward to meeting you someday in the future, looking forward to being invited someday to this school as a guest speaker, looking forward to a day when all of us would take more active role in shaping the life of the Nigerian people and even beyond, shaping the world to be a better place.
Don’t be mistaken, its still the same person, Abdulrazaq Oyebanji Hamzat aka. Mr.Rights.
B.Sc. Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution.

Relax bro. More names would be released b4 convocation. Make sure you have done final screening.

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its just impossible for GEJ to fight corruption

its updated in full

the final part set it right

War against corruption is a lost war (part 1) by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

We must understand the reality of today, that a war against corruption is a lost war and it has never been won by any nation. Even in China where death is the penalty for culprits, corruption still strives and flourish. ‘’ Going by definition, corruption is defined as a dishonest or illegal behavior especially of people in authority. However, I see it more as the bad habit of every individual. For example, if a political office holder deceitfully inflates the award of a contract, or he or she gives undue privileges to his or her friends and family to secure government contracts, that is corruption. If a market woman systematically reduced the congo of garri to make more gains at the detriment of her customers or a fraudulent banker deduct funds from customers account without their consent, that is another corruption. Or may be a motor mechanic deceives his clients to take money for a vehicle spare part he claimed to have bought without actually buying it, all of them are corruption and we must first understand it from that perspective. ‘’Corruption is not just about the actions of leaders or those in government, it is those bad habits exhibited by people of different strata in their everyday life activities.’
Therefore, if law had been the strongest method of curbing evil practices such as corruption, internal and external terrorism, murder, robbery, rape, abortion and many more, heinous crimes would have been eradicated long ago. In the case of corruption, it is a self inflicted vice. Bad human traits are the cause behind corruption. This cannot be rectified by mere pressure or punishment, positive appeal and diplomacy must play critical role. In the case of pressure or punishment, one offender may be caught while the other one may be not, then the evil practice goes on. Provided one offender may escape justice, no judging body can ever eradicate this evil practice entirely. However, corruption don’t just occure, many factors aid its root. Every now and then, there is a rise in prices of commodities, but the question is how many times in a year have salaries increased? There is a huge gap between income and living index. It should be at par. Life has become miserable with the current inflation. Due to the need of money, many people fall prey to the cheap means of earning such as bribe. Government lacks the basic compassionate understanding towards its own people. The government does not control the fee hike of the private schools which is enormous. Same is with the private hospitals. Treatment is very expensive and government is not bothered to put a control over it. It seems life and quality education are only meant for the rich. For example,Lagos state government increased the University of Lagos (LASU) tuition fee from N25,000.00 to N250,000.00 and claimed it was done to provide quality education. Obafemi Awolowo university (OAU), University of Ibadan (UI) University of Portharcourt, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and many federal universities also increased their fees. This happens in a country which struggle to pay its worker N18,000 minimum wage. If workers of Lagos state government can’t afford to send their children to state owned university due to fee hike, where can such children acquire their education? It is tough to afford, but people strive for it by indulging in corruption. Who is mainly responsible? From Wikipedia, it is said that, corruption is in philosophical, theological, or moral perversion. Corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from the good ideal. In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due under law. This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh. In government, it is when an elected representative makes decisions that are influenced by vested interest rather than their own personal or party ideological beliefs for the good of the general society. It can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes. Systemic corruption is the complete subversion of a political or economic system. The word corrupt is from Latin corrupts, past participle of corrumpere, to abuse or destroy: com-, intensive pref. and rumpere, to break) when used as an adjective literally means "utterly broken". Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly acknowledged in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. By the above submissions, it is crystal clear to every individual that corruption is not healthy or desirable in a progressive or aspiring progressive society. However, despite this clarity, many across the world are today corrupt in one way or the other due to the above submission. And if we truly want to prevent corruption as it is being widely said, we must correct all identifiable anomaly to make any progressive headway. Limiting our discussion to political corruption which has been described as the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gains, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes, etc. Corruption they say destroys a nation, but I say if properly understood, can be used for transformation, at least as a temporal measure. Evidences had shown that, government’s effort to arrest the menace of corruption in our society have proven not functional, especially in a world were democracy is regarded as the most acceptable form of government. The same democracy has proven in most cases, as being responsible for the increasing corrupt practices across the world, because the more the politicians, the more the corruption. Corruption and democracy are said to be inseparable. Unlike in military government, where the head have power to order certain and immediate actions against any culprit and to a larger extent hinder his juniors officers from massive corruption, a democratic head have no such power. However, democracy by itself cannot be blamed for the increasing act of corruption, as it had clearly defined mode of engagement which when applied properly would prevent any act of corruption, but failure to abide by those rules and principles such as separation of power, rule of law and many others have been a major source of concern. Again, corruption has always been there before the advent of democratic governance. It is my believe that, democratic principles such as separation of power and the rule of law must be re-defined and re-applied to meet the challenges of the 21st century. For example in Africa especially in Nigeria, separation of power seems impossible when the same political party controls both the executive and legislative arms of government. By definition, political party is a group of people who share the same ideas about the way the country should be governed, they work together to introduce new laws and try to control what happens in the parliament by securing a majority seat. This means that, the primary purpose of a political party is to promote its ideal, either at the legislative or executive arm of government. If a political party produces heads of the executive and the legislative at the same time, there can hardly be any separation of power, as those occupant shall continue to protect the interest of their party against the state. This is so because, when those at the legislative arm act contrary to the executive, it is assumed that they are working against their party’s interest which may give other political parties advantage over them. Therefore, it shall be more meaningful if the principle of separation of power emphasis on the need to have two different parties as head of legislative and executive arm of government. By this, when a party produced the head of executive, the first opposition party should produce the head of legislative. Different party heading different arms of government should produce meaningful check. Furthermore, it is important to ask at this juncture, can corruption be prevented in the real sense? According to expert analysts, many believe it cannot be prevented considering its nature, but they say it can be reduced to the barest minimum. What is the barest minimum of corruption if we may ask? In answering the above question, some people refer to U.S as a country with minimal corruption, though transparency international in its corruption perceptions index ranked the United States 24 out of 183 countries. In this regard, using the U.S as a measure for a minimal corruption may be justifiable. However, If U.S is to be used as a measure, we must first refer to U.S and listen to what its citizens are saying about their own corruption within their society and its impact on the people. The American dream, a US based organization waking people up and getting them to realize the American dream is quickly becoming the American nightmare, in one of its publications titled: 25 Bizarre examples that show U.S. Government is absolutely brimming with idiots, incompetents and incredibly corrupt politicians says: ‘’If our founding fathers could see us today, what would they think? Unfortunately, they would probably come to the exact same conclusion that so many of us have come to - the U.S. government is absolutely brimming with idiots, incompetents and incredibly corrupt politicians.’’ The organization noted in the publication that, “today it is very rare to come across a politician that still has any integrity left in U.S. Washington D.C. has become such a cesspool that it seems to corrupt even most of the politicians that originally go there with good intentions’’. They went further to say that, U.S have created the most complicated government in the history of the world and we have hundreds of thousands of pages of laws, yet nothing seems to work right except lawlessness. The American dream added that, “U.S economy is dying, our relationships with the rest of the world are a mess and we have accumulated the largest debt in the history of mankind. Meanwhile, our politicians openly hand out our money to their friends and to those that have donated money to their campaigns and they waste our money on some of the stupidest things imaginable”. It asked: Have the U.S now gotten to the point where our system of government has become so corrupted that it is almost impossible to repair it? There it seems as though almost everything our government tries to do is cursed and nothing ever seems to turn out the way that it is supposed to. The more our politicians promise to get spending under control, the more money they seem to waste. It is almost as if there is a "drought of common sense" in Washington D.C. right now. Not only can't our politicians fix our problems - everything that they do only seems to make our problems even worse. American dream said. So, if the U.S is to be used as a measure for what analyst call minimal corruption, it shall not be out of place if we adopt the title of the American dream’s publication which says, THE U.S GOVERNMENT IS ABSOLUTELY BRIMMING WITH IDIOTS, INCOMPETENT AND INCREDIBLE CORRUPT POLITICIANS. The above description of corruption in U.S is similar to that of every other country across the world. Therefore, if the U.S is as corrupt as mentioned in the above, there is no justification to refer to U.S as having minimal corruption.
Continue reading on http://mrrightsng..com/2014/12/war-against-corruption-is-lost-war-part.html

The idea behind the project is to ensure that even students take responsibility and show compassion despite having limited or no resources. And also, the project offer us an opportunity to tutor a child or children in the ways of peace, so they could become future example of a peaceful citizens aswell as be peace ambassadors.
Similar project can be started in our respective places to assist less previlegged children.
As the Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Student Association (PESCORSA) was birth in Ilorin Study Centre, my aim was to ensure that it spread across the other study centre so we could then have a national body, but time didn’t permit me to complete this project. I urge my respectable fellow peace personalities across the federation to follow suit by establishing the PESCORSA in their respective study centres and someday, form a national unifying body that would standardize our peaceful field of study.
Also, it is in my dream that in a not too distant future, an association of Peace Personalities shall be established in form of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). I look forward to such a day that it would become a reality and we can all be re-united.
Talking about our dear Congress of Noun Students (CONS), now that i am through with my programme, i couldn’t complete the final step of our struggle with you as desired, but I hope that some one from among you will find it worthy to continue the struggle until it become a reality. All the documents are available on our facebook page. All the work has been done by the close to 9000 students who are members of the Congress, they lay the foundation for what we have been able to do so far. Some laboured, spent money, risked their lives to travel, write endlessly and contributing their intellectual gift, but irrespective of what we all contributed, its for the good of the institution and not for personal glory.
Let me place it on the record that, no one single individual has done more than the other, we all contributed what we can and I hope that others who will come after us shall do their best to contribute to the growth of our ‘’first of its kind’’ university.
We are all born free and equal in rights and dignity, so no one can claim superiority over the other. While some might have contributed than the other in certain areas, other also contributed what they can and no one did beyond their capacity. Everyone did what they can, that is what mattered most, doing what you can when you should. What we all contributed is never less than that of others, because without our respective contributions, we would never get here. I have no regret for being one of you and I am proud to be product of this unique institution.
I thank all those who believed in our struggle despite all odds, I also thank those whose criticism helped us become better. I appreciate the contribution of those who didn’t believe in us, hoping that some day in the future, they may find what we did during our time worthy. And hopefully, some day, they may believe in us in future engagements.
We do not see anyone as our opponent, though we may have disagreed on many issues, but it was all to make institution better. I urge you all to show more understanding in the future and extend hand of cooperation to other fellows struggling to make things better for all.
My philosophy of life is that, even if you cannot make the world a better place for all, at least, make a life better for the world. If you cannot feed the world, try to feed one person. If you can’t end poverty in this world, end ignorance of one person by providing information and education. And even if you are not educated enough to do this, try to always give people positive advice to better their lives and enjoy them to desist from bad behavior.. Don’t stand against any positive idea even if you are against it, instead try to aid it and make it better. Help correct some of the things you consider wrong about it. Don’t sit while condemning those standing, you should stand to understand their position. Even while you are standing with them in distress, be the hope that is holding them up,never be the falling pillar that would bring them down. Even if you can’t stand up with them in distress, in your sitting or crawling position, raise your voice up with them and give them hope to stand tall up. You may not have stood up with them shoulder to shoulder, but your voice may become the needed tool to keep them standing firm. Your voice is powerful than you gun. If you bring people down with your voice, they may never rise up again, but if you make them surrender with your gun, when they acquire bigger weapon, they might rise again. Also, if you make people standup with your gun, they may only stand temporarily, but if you make them stand with your voice, they may be up forever. Make use of your voice, not your gun. A single word is far more active than uncountable chemical weapons. When all odds are against positive ideas, be the last man standing with it. Never depart from truth no matter the obstacles, always seek for better ways to make it manifest. Never side with falsehood, let sincerity manifest in your life. Truth may indeed be bitter, but it is better than the lying pit of hell. The comfort we derive from lies may be desirable and sweet, but the seed of lies and deceit is sorrowful, appalling and discordant. Be the light of truth, not the shadow of lies.
The charter of demands to present your case to the management has been prepared, it comprise of the best practices in other Open Universities across the world. The charter of demands is a document that is anchored on the democratization of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and demands for formally granting students its constitutional rights of freedom of association as it is obtained in other Open Universities across the world where ours take as a source of reference for best practices.
The constitution of the association is also ready and if need be, you may edit it. All that is remaining, is for you to proceed to submit the official request of the students to the Vice Chancellor, requesting for a formally recognized student association like it is done in other Open Universities. Ensure that atleast, each of the over 30 study centres in CONS assign their signature to the charter to indicate that this is not just an individual demand or that of some few people, but a demand of the entire students of the institutions from across the federation.

In addition to my activities in CONS, I along with my colleagues, Mr. Adedayo Buremoh, Mr. Edwin and Mrs Adeniyi whom I meet at the Center for Peace and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) founded the Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution Students Association (PESCORSA). These people worked day and night to ensure the association became a reality and through the understanding of our study centre and other students, we made it a reality.
Within 3 months of establishing the association, we hosted the first ever Peace Summit in Partnership with Center for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin. This is a landmark achievement which we believe our colleagues shall continue to improve on in coming years. I and Mr. Buremoh walked tirelessly to ensure the summit became a success. The resources spent is beyond account, the time, energy and sleepless nights is also uncountable. Here, I must specially commend the zeal of Mr. Buremoh whom from the first time I suggested the summit, he single handedly took it as a responsibility to implement it for the association, and with the cooperation of all our respected fellow peace personalities, it was accomplished. This credit must go to Mr. Buremoh for serving the association diligently, as he lead Pescorsa by example. Other departments in the school felt challenged by our timely action and are all working to learn from our example. If I didn’t meet someone like Mr. Buremoh, it is very unlikely that such association would be given birth to,neither would we have done such a tasking summit despite not getting one single naira from any quater.
We did the summit because it was very important to the survival of our association and we knew it would also serve as an opportunity to educate the society. As we all know, in contemporary times, peace has become a central issue of concern of research because of the overhanging shadow of protracted internal conflict leading to riots, communal clashes, state failure, collapse, terrorism, thermonuclear, chemical and biological warfare. As competition for global resources between states is intensified; academics have become drawn to how ethnic, regional and class divisions within many states become deepened into fierce and bitter competition over access to resources, intense rivalry among elites, and open conflict that have sometimes led to the break down of law order among ordinary citizens. The peace Summit we held was an event hosted to take a critical look at the unfolding conflicts situations in Nigeria and possibly proffer lasting solution to prevent future recurrences as well as identify mechanism for preventing escalation. The aim was partially achieved as there are ongoing effort to consolidate the gains of the summit.
Also at the summit, we launched a project called child of peace (COP), with its motto, educate a child (EACH). It is a campaign against violence and out of school children in Nigeria. Child of Peace (COP) is a project conceived to reverse the downward trend of out of school children in Nigeria. The project is to campaign for the identification of out of school children from less-preveleged homes and return them back to school.
UNICEF in a recent publication stated that, 45% of the entire population in Nigeria are below 15 years, and 40% of those children between age 6-11 do not attend any primary school. With such a scary statistics, it is safe to conclude that, almost half of the entire children in Nigeria have been robbed of a future, and that future, we must do everything within our capacity to give them back.
The UN also stated in a report that, 57 million children are out of school globally, but Nigeria currently has the highest number of out of school children in the world. 10.5 million children in Nigeria are out of school. In a nutshell, Nigeria account for 20% out of school children in the world.
Also In 2010, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a report quoted a 13 year old Nigerian child, Aminu Harona saying, I just want to earn some money to help my parents. In search of that money, Aminu became a bus conductor since aged 10. To him and many others like him, there is no thinking of any future, there is no dream, no expectation. The only thing they think of is how to work to feed themselves and assist their parents.
Honorable ladies and respected gentlemen, If we are thinking of educating our children alone without thinking of the less privileged children,those uneducated children may grow up to become threats to our children’s education and even to our children’s life. While the educated children might be hoping to be great, the uneducated may be hoping to destroy all greatness. If we are thinking to build, they might be thinking to destroy and when we are hoping to save lives, they might be hoping to kill. The insecurity in our country now is as a result of such situation. Therefore, We must prevent such a catastrophic future by simply supporting the child of peace project to educate a child.
Furthermore, study also shows that, some children that were enrolled in primary school later dropped out due to compounding challenges. Current data shows that, 30% of pupils dropout of primary school and 54% transit to junior secondary school. Reason for this low completion rate include child labour and economic hardship.
As a result of the above reasons, almost 1 out of every 3 primary school age and 1 in 4 junior secondary school aged children are out of school in Nigeria. We must rescue the situation.
Education is the reason why we are all here today. It is the key to lock and unlock wealth. The roadmap to civilization, tool for growth and route to development. It is the beginning and ending of every successful nation. If we had all been denied access to education while growing up as children, it is very unlikely that we would be where we are today. And if we are not here, ladies and gentlemen, where exactly would we be?
To some extent, all educated children have a reason to dream and look into a future they desire. They have reason to hope and dream of wanting to become a lawyer, enterprenuer,law enforcement agents, doctor,lecturer, engineer, president, governor or peace personalities. What is making them dream and be hopeful in such a bright future is their education.
On the other hand, what can the uneducated children in our society hope for? What can they dream of becoming? I do not know, but all i know is that, an uneducated mind is an ignorant mind, and an ignorant mind is likely to end up a tool for evil agenda. I therefore call on all of us to support the Child of Peace Project by educating a child individually or collectively.

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Hum

Since establishing CONS, many things have been achieved. We have been able to raise student awareness about the issues needing attention. We have also tried to connect students with each other. We were also able to open a communication channel with the management and all these are geared towards making NOUN better for all. To be able to engage the management on issue of student association with intellect, we have developed charter of demands, which contain best practices as seen in other Open universities across the world. Before now, students are deceived that in open universities, there is no room for student associations, but with a well researched document titled charter of demands, we have been able to prove that all over the advanced world where Open university exists, there are student associations contributing to the development of the school. We picked U.K, India and China as a case study. In U.K for example, student have representative the institutions senate. That representative is appointed by the UK Open University Student Association. With such an expository document, it is impossible for anyone to say Open university students cant have a student association. Besides, Students Associations in Open Universities in other other countries are playing major roles in popularizing the school and making the public recognize its capacity. Through the activities of their Open University Student associations, the public are able to access their quality and by such, accept them to be of high standard. We intend to replicate the same in NOUN.
Also, CONS was able to engage the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). We were formally accepted into the association after much deliberation at the senate and NOUN was given a go ahead to field candidates to contest for election in NANS if we deem it proper. Furthermore, we have been working on getting a special and permanent position in the association in case we can’t be contesting for elections.
Additionally, we have developed a constitution for the association. A draft of the constitution was made from contribution of all members and Mr. Elias Ozikpu as the committee chairman along with other members were appointed to review and make further edition. This was done and finally, the constitution was adopted.
As we speak, the charter of demands which shall be tabled before the management as our official request for student association is ready and the constitution is also ready.
These two documents have been available since early 2014, but due to numerous challenges, we couldn’t present it to the management. As at when the document was completed, examination was fast approaching and since we can’t afford to place other interest ahead of academic interest, all engagement was suspended until after examination. Then after the exams, many issue also came up like the increase in tuition fee and others. Those events were very vital because at a point, many students thought that staging a protest would be the best option to express our displeasure with the situation. As a matter of fact, students from Benin Study centre indeed staged a protest. Lagos protest was averted.
Despite the fact we didn’t participate in the protest, we were blamed for the protest. The management were said to have held that, the protest was spearheaded by CONS. So, we have to take a more wiser approach to avoid jeopardizing our efforts. It seems some people are trying to blame us for what we didn’t do, more like calling the dog a bad name to kill it.
Without shying away from the truth, it was indeed suggested by students that we should stage a protest to reject the increase, but we ensured to get the true feeling of the majority of the students and from our observation, many students didn’t support the idea. So, since majority of the students disapprove of it, we advice those pushing for it to step back and they did.
We had no hand in the Benin protest whatsoever and we can’t be held responsible for it. While the management knew this, it seems some people are bent on blaming us for what we knew nothing about. This is not unconnected with our intention to present our charter of demand to the management, as the school are up to date with all our activities. If we had presented the charter at that time demanding for official recognition of the student association, the protest staged in Benin would have been used against us. We are aware of this and for that reason, decided to put a hold on the associations demand.
Besides the above, some of us had been questioned or cautioned by the management on few occasions, some were even threatened with explosion or withdrawal from school I was told.
Someone once called me and said the management had threatened to deal with anyone involved in our activities, they might not graduate it was threatened. But such cannot be the case as far as I am concerned. Provided we didn’t violate any law, such threat can’t come to pass and even if it did, it shall be reversed I am certain.
Prior to that information, report that got to me indicate that, the VC called a senate meeting to address the growing influence of CONS and they warn study center managers/directors not to allow students engage in our activities.
More than 5 times, management had sent letters to my study centre asking them to caution me. At others times, they were told to query and warn me to desist from all we are doing in CONS. But we are not doing anything bad, we are not violating any law, we are good students who want the best for ourselves and for our institution. We are promoting quality ideas, promoting our institution and developing socio-political understanding of our students. But i had it on good account that the study center manager was warned that if they can’t caution me, it might affect the manager employment because it would mean that they are not capable of controlling their student. I know this is taking a more strong dimension and I can’t afford to put anyone in trouble because we want an association. Our aim is not to cause any trouble for anyone, but to make our dear NOUN better. I want NOUN students to be able to do,what other Nigerian students can do. I also want NOUN students to be able to do, what other Open University students across the world are doing. Why should that be seen by the management as being rebellious to the authority? After all, this is a democracy and it is only natural for us to demand for the democratization of our institution to serve our interest better as students. To avoid any ugly scenario which is unplanned for, we employed the use of diplomacy to reduce the tension and since then, normalcy had returned. Let me state it once again that, we at CONS are not trying to undermine the authority in whatever way, we are only seeking for the managements understanding on the need to grant students the formal recognition to have a student association which can be used to advance the interest of the institution.The management also stand to benefit from such association.
To be continued

lol

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H

Hum

Picture of Awolowo and his beautiful wife in young age

Until the End (Story of an Open University graduate)
https://www.nairaland.com/2042353/until-end-story-open-university

When the idea of engaging the management was birth, many students criticize the move. They said we want to chew more than we can swallow. But to us, the fact that we are being argued about and being criticized is a sign that we are doing something worthy of concern. It is our believe that, such argument and criticism if done objectively would serve the general interest of the students. So, while some students are indeed criticizing objectively and adding value to the issue, others are being mischievous. They just felt we shouldn’t do anything beyond staying online, but that is not our vision. We have a dream of championing to the end, the liberation of NOUN students to have a formidable and recognized student body which shall not only communicate and protect students rights with the school management,but that which shall also popularize the quality of our students to the world through variety of means as a means claiming our rightful status among other institutions.
While the argument lasted, something came to my mind, that instead of direct engagement with the management, we should use diplomatic engagement. As a result, we propose to publish CONS magazine and a letter was sent to the management for notification and approval. Here, we must note that, management have no right to stop our magazine, in fact, we do not need any approval to publish a magazine, but we decided to notify the and seek for their approval to create an avenue for formal communication.
Some students mock us, they say it would be rejected. They criticize and did all sort of things to undermine our efforts. Their reason for such attitude is unknown, because if the efforts we are making succeed, they stand to benefit from such as students. But they seems to constitute themselves into major opposition. Instead of contributing ideas on how best to get it done, they are rather trying to mock our efforts, describing it as fertile. They didn’t know our major target was not to do the magazine, but to establish a formal communication. While we want to do the magazine, we want the communication more. With or without the management approval, we could have done the magazine if wanted to.
Finally, the letter seeking approval for the magazine was sent to the school and after about some weeks, we have a response. It was from the office of the registrar.
In the response, the registrar commended our efforts and recognize that we indeed mean well for the school, but our request for approval was declined. No reason was given.
On my part, I know there can’t be any reason since the school don’t have the power to approve or disapprove our magazine. We can always do our magazine when ever we wish, but we decided to start from that premise for strategic reason.
Those against our move were happy about the decline, they thought they had won. Many came to the page to boast of how they had earlier warned us not to try it, in their mind, they have won because our request was declined by the management. They boast about their intelligence and about how we are wasting our time.
On our part, we know we won. For the first time, the management raised a letter that was addressed to us as congress of noun students. That is an evidence that the management can’t deny in the future. What ever we do, management can’t claim not to know CONS, we have a letter from the management in which they recognize our efforts, though deny our request. To us, this is the beginning. As a peace student, I know that the first means of achieving any thing is communication. Now, we have opened a channel of communication with the management. While to those thinking from a myopic perspective, we lost, to us, we are moving forward.
To get clarification about why our request was declined, we raise another letter to the management, making some clarifications and asking some questions. We know the management cant find answers to those questions, they are legitimate questions that the management cant afford to answer because if they do, that is a direct victory that would jeopardize the stance of the management on discouraging students from having an association. So, we raised a letter without expecting response and truly, no response came.
After that, we begin to address issues by raising letter after letter, notifying the management about students challenges.
We raise several letters to complain about many issues, one of which is inadequate course materials in our study centres. we also gave suggestion and recommendation on how best to address the problems. We do get response from the management promising to address the issue or sometimes saying such complain should go to our study centres.
To be continued.

Will do so soon

When I resolved to start the Congress of Noun Students (CONS), I talked to two of my fellow Nounite. Mr. Segun Jobi and Kazeem Olatunde, they both encouraged me to start the group. Their reason for supporting the idea was that, they are aware of how people often call me everyday demanding for information about Noun. I was also their compass to Noun and so they knew, many would benefit from such a group. Another major reason was that, I believe with a group such as Cons, I can always direct those calling me for information to come to Cons page to interact with other students. That, I believe would help a lot of students and prospective students.
Finally, the Congress of Noun Student (CONS) was established in 2012 and ever since, the story hasn’t remained the same.
Although, I was aware that the management discouraged students from students association. In fact, both students and the management often regard that discouragement as banning student association in NOUN. But of course, the management are very much aware that they have no right or power to ban students from association through a student association. That is against the Nigerian law.
The Nigerian constitution enshrined in it, a section of the universal declaration of Human Rights. That section is what guarantee every human, a right to free speech, a right to free movement and a right to association. No local law can deny any human these rights. We have freedom to express ourselves, freedom to move to where we want and freedom to constitute ourselves into an association to pursue our interest. That rights is universal and constitutional, it can’t be denied by any authority. Noun managements are very aware of this, they didn’t ban students from forming an association. They didn’t make any law regarding it because if they do, it would go contrary to the constitution of Nigeria, and any by-law from any agency within Nigeria, that goes contrary to the constitution of Nigeria is null and void by law.
So, what they simply did was that, they discourage students from forming an association and in case we do, just like we have Cons, they didn’t recognize it officially. Yes, the management have power not to recognize the association, but they don’t have power to stop us from forming it, neither do they have the right to stop any of our activities.
We and the management knew that, if we start the group and grew to a stage, management would have no choice than to formally recognize it unless they are willing to face legal tussle. Even right now, if we decided to drag NOUN to court for failing to recognize or permit us from forming our association, we will certainly win the case, but things doesn’t work that way. What is better, is for us to engage the management through diplomacy and pressure them to make certain concession. They know its our rights, and when we are organized enough to make the demands, they have no choice than to grant it. It is my believe that, all the management wanted is to be assured that our student association wouldn’t be used to disrupt academic activities and engage in unnecessary protest that may affect the working of the school. Once students demonstrate such in their organization, management have no choice than grant the request if we persist, but we all know, nothing comes easy. Student must be firm and upright, we must be sure and assertive, and they must see the understanding and capability in us.
So, when we started, many students that were aware that the institution frown at student association started by condemning us. Many joined our group to criticize us, they call us names and describe us as people violating the school’s directives that let no student association exist in the school. While many of them truly wanted the association to exist, they are scared of the consequences that may follow and often advice us to desist from going ahead with the group to avoid being punished by the management or being expelled from school. But we are focused, dedicated and determined. We know the nations law, we read the school’s act and we know we are not violating any law. We know that though, the school might frown at us for creating the CONS, but we didn’t break any law by creating it and so, we cannot be unduly punished. Even if we are punished unduly, we are certain that such punishment wouldn’t hold, law court shall reverse it without any question. So, we didn’t mind the critics as we understand their concerns, we instead concentrate on our vision for creating a voice for Noun students.
Gradually, we began to grow, from strength to strength. Cons which started with one member grow to 100 within a very short period. At a point, we begin to award titles to most active members. We awarded titles like, Cons member of the day, member of the week,Cons person of the month etc. Our membership continue to grow. From 100 to 200, 300, 400, 500. The pressure is mounting, criticism is intensifying, but we are not bothered. We thought that, if the managements are against us, the law is behind us. So, provided the law is with us, we have no cause to panic. As our membership continue to grow, various study centers were being represented and we decided to constitute a temporary exco to coordinate the affair of the CONS. People from various study centres were represented and it helped us to spread our wings. One of those exco still active on Cons is ID Collins, some had graduated. I was then nominated as the president of the group. Although, most of those constituted then failed to function as planned, but we didn’t allow that to affect us or draw us back, we continue to match forward. Students were being helped, information is circulating, people are getting direction, we are solving our own problems, we are sharing information about our difficulties and studying in NOUN is becoming more easy.
More members are joining from various study centers and we are assuring students that we are not doing anything wrong by having such a group. It’s a platform to learn and be guided.
Unknown to us, the management are already aware of our group and activities, they even have eyes and hears as our members. But instead of being scared of such development, we believe it is a positive development. When we get that information and some key members are scared, I wasn’t bothered a bit. Why should we be scare of having the management representatives among us? It only shows we are progressing I reasoned. Since we are not doing anything wrong, we can’t be scared. We should rather demonstrate our capabilities to gain the confidence of those management staffs among us. Although, I must agree that they often try to discourage us from going forward, but we can’t be stopped or dragged backward. Its forward ever.
Iyinkaye Al-Ameen came and became a very resourceful contributor. Through him, many things were accomplished.
When we had grown to a certain stage, we knew there must be more proactive action towards advancing our cause. We knew students need more than just talking about their problems online without helping them solve it. We knew we can’t continue to be online, we need to do more and become a more formidable force. We must transform from online platform to real life, but this can’t be easy.
First, since we are not recognized by the management, it is almost impossible for us to be publishing about our activities in the over 25 study centres we are well represented. It is also impossible for us to be holding physical meetings in school with the name of this group, the school would move against it. That was a difficult situation, we explored various means to find away out, but there was no way. But instead of holding ourselves back, we decided to engage the management through constant letter writing. Thanks to Al-ameen who is always there to deliver our resolution.
To be continued.

Contrary to popular believe, many things have improved in NOUN since its establishment. Those who had earlier withdrew from the school due to various challenges would certainly jump back at it if they are aware of the numerous improvement it has recorded since their departure. Although, there are still much challenges that should to be worked upon, but the school is indeed improving every day. While most students in NOUN today may not appreciate the current situation, those who experienced the tougher and rougher period in NOUN back then would certainly commend the management for such a giant stride within a very short while.
For example, when i first came in 2007, there was nothing like instant admission. You have to wait for some months before getting your admission, but today, everything has been made more easier. You get admission immediately after your application. That is an improvement. Before,there was nothing like E-exams or online TMA, students do encounter various challenges while writing the POP exams and also in their result, but today, we have E-exams and online TMA where students get instant result to their TMA and exams. Also,there was nothing like Course-ware- the online course material that students can download in case they couldn’t get the printed course material before, but due to the improving nature of the school, NOUN now has online course material as a remedy for those who couldn’t get the printed material. Again, back then,NOUN do take 1 full year or more to write first semester examination, but now, the school calender is stable as students complete their two semesters in a year and even did 3 semesters a certain year. You will agree with me that NOUN is certainly improving. Although, more needed to be done by the management. Issues of NYSC and Law school are prominent on the list of to do’s by NOUN management, it must also ensure adequate availability of course materials, empower the various study centers to be more responsive and timely and finally, NOUN management need to officially ensure the formation and recognition of a student association in line with best practices in other Open universities across the world.
Despite having some challenges in NOUN at a point, I never stopped responding to student queries or questions from prospective students. I continue to encourage people to come to NOUN.
While offering consultancy services which ordinarily should be the job of the management, it occurred to me more than ever, that the students need a voice and a platform to develop themselves. The students can’t continue in silence. Students need a platform to meet and share ideas. We need people to talk to about our problems and challenges, yes, students must create a voice for themselves.
As a result of constant thinking of how best to create a platform for NOUN students, this platform, Congress of Noun Students emerged. It was a perfect solution to my concern.
As a peace students, I had little time with studies. I am always engaged in one activities or the other. From writing articles for publications in various newspapers, to writing short pieces on national issues in online publications. Attending human right events here and there and delivering speeches in conferences and summits. Some times, I would be busy traveling around to persue human rights cases, or at other times, engaged in educating people. Its part of my duty as a Goodwill Ambassador For Peace. Having been doing this so well and enjoying it, I was given another role by the International Human Rights Commission. In July 2011, I was appointed as the Nigerian Ambassador for International Human Rights Commission.
With my new appointment, I am responsible to formulate policies, create and manage events as well as coordinate the general activities of the commission in Nigeria. It’s a 5 years voluntary assignment as my tenure in that capacity would expire in 2016 which is subject to renewal. Due to this new role, I hardly have time to study. It would interest you to know that, since I started my course till I graduated, I never checked my result grade or G.P for once. In fact, I never bothered to check my result, I always believe I would pass, though, I didn’t bother about what grade I would have or try to improve on them. At a point, I mostly rely on result status usually posted on our portal, where it would be indicated if you fail or pass any course. Once I saw that I had passed my courses as displayed in my portal, I never bothered to know the grade. And through out my study, I never failed any course except constitutional law (LAW243) which I strongly believed I passed, but was recorded otherwise. I had to write a letter to the management demanding for my exam paper. Lol.
To be continued

While doing all these, my human right engagements is taking me places. Within a very short while, I had become a member of several civil society organizations both within and outside Nigeria. I had also co-founded other organizations such as Nigeria Development Movement, Transform Nigeria Movement and others in which I serve in various leadership positions.
I had become a writer who contribute to national issues in public and social media. I wasn’t going to stop any time soon, human rights advocacy is my hobby. I had become a transformational speaker who is being invited to conferences and other youth events to deliver paper.
Through my numerous human rights engagements and associates outside the country, I was nominated to the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and I was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador For Peace. It occur to me that finally, it seems i am destined to be in the human right field.
Don’t forget, I had already gone for post jamb and did well in all, but the admission is not forth coming. So, i went back to NOUN prospectus to check other courses i may consider and suddenly, i saw the course that was destined for me. It’s a perfect course that fits my new status and vision. I didn’t bother to go back to BUK or Lapai, they can’t offer my destined course, only NOUN offer such a beautiful course in the entire Nigeria. Even till date, only NOUN is bold enough to offer the course in first degree.
The course is unique, its in high demand, every home needs it, every nation seeks it, every religion want it and every person aspire for it. Its wide, encompassing and global. It is the combination of LAW, International Relation and Diplomacy, Political Science and Criminology. I had earlier enrolled many people to NOUN to study the course without taking my time to think about it. I enrolled Buhari Gumel to study the course while I was in Abuja Study Center, I had also enrolled some people to the same course while in Ilorin, yet, that’s the course I had to study now. You may be wondering which course it is, well its what you desire. PEACE.
Without peace, Lawyers can’t practice, Doctors can’t do their jobs, Engineers had to stay back home, no one can come out in a violent condition. Law can’t bring peace, Police force can’t keep peace, no one can build a peaceful society, only the peace personnel.
The one and only major reason of establishing the United Nations in 1945 is to ensure global Peace to prevent re-occurrence of World wars which may threaten humanity. Since the establishment of that global body where all nations of the world converge to find ways to ensure peace, they have constantly been searching for better ways of meeting up with the aims and objectives of the organization. Boutrous Ghali, Former United Nation Secretary general in early 90’s wrote extensively on the Agenda for Peace, this was inline to provide mechanism for future engagements.
Having identify such a beautiful course, Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution, I knew from day one that I am covered in peace. Only NOUN offer the course in first, second and third degree, other Nigerian universities now offer it in second degree.

I applied for a change of programme in 2011, supplied my new O level result with the appropriate conbination and my course was changed from B.Sc Communication Technology to B.Sc Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution. Gbam….I am good to go for peace.
To be continued

I went to Lagos, the headquaters of NOUN to have first hand information to ensure I have the right information. Upon getting to lagos, I was told the counselor who registered me for full degree did it in error and for that reason, there was nothing the school can do about it. Instead, I was advised to start afresh, i.e, go back to start from access. This is a very sad news. I was admitted in 2007 and we were in 2009, how can I go back to start from access after 2 good years I asked? But there was no other way, it has to be done I was told.
I left lagos not sure what next to do, but I was surely in charge of my destiny.
During the same period, a devastating incident happened to our I.T firm. The situation was so bad that I fogot about my challenges in school. Our company was destroyed due to greed and selfishness of humans with flesh. We receive for the very first time, a contract worth celebrating. Because of this contract which worth about N14.9million, friends turn foe, friendship turn sower, life was lost and my life was shattered. It was sad, but it was true.
I could no longer bear living in the same environment in which such a tragic incident had happened, it is affecting my mental state. I always feel unstable knowing a very close friend had died as a result of struggle with another friend, both whom are desperate to outshine other members of the company on one hand, and also trying to outshine each other on the other hand. Both guys collided to outshine and betray me and other members of the company and we didn’t fight back considering their despiration, but after getting through with us, they decided to outshine and betray each other. But because both of them are desperate and none is willing to let go for the other, one had to poison the other. A young promising tree was cut down prematurely. How can friends be so mean to each other because of money? Why can’t we just execute the job together as a team and share the proceed? Why would some people be so cruel that they deny other people that labored the fruit of their sweat? Why should one person take what ordinarrily belong to many? Why the threat, why the desperation, why the sudden change because of money? I can’t still understand till date.
It was hard for me to bear, the experience strange and life seems like hell.
As a result of this experience, i decied to relocate from Abuja to Ilorin to recover from the tragic and traumatising experience. I took transfer from Abuja to Ilorin Study Centre. Since there is nothing I would be doing back in Ilorin, I quickly registered for the access as advised by NOUN.
While in Ilorin, I developped my writing skills to be a writer, empower myself with wide range of information for activism and learn about human rights law for human rights advocacy. I used this to keep myself busy. I became engaged in both civil society and human rights activities and I was linked to Student World Assembly (SWE). SWE is an association of students from all across the world. I became NOUN representative in the association.
While doing my access programme, I made a plan B since i was beginning to enjoy my human rights activities, I enrol for another O level with different combination and the result was perfect. Towards the same period, I did my access exams and am set for full programme despite all challenges.
At that point, I was beginning to doubt if was ready to continue with Communication technology due to the change in my life. First, our I.T firm is gone and I am not ready to remember anything that happened back then. Secondly, I wouldn’t be able to give the course the kind of concentration needed due to my new engagements. I felt I should chage field. I was contemplating, what should I do now? I listed out other likely courses I may persue. Courses like International Relation, Political Science, Law and few others were considered, but International Relation was top on the list.
I begin to doubt if I should continue in NOUN despite my wasted time, energy and resources. Many thoughts came to my mind,but I couldn’t just decide to quite my dear NOUN. I checked to see if NOUN has the new courses I intended to persue, but unfortunately, International Relation which I place much priority on wasn’t available. It seems I was destined to quit NOUN afterall, I took JAMB form, did it for the first time and scored 271. I applied to Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Ibrahim Babangida University lapai.
To be continued

I came into NOUN proud,purposeful and visionary. While there are challenges obstructing mine and the school’s vision, I knew we (I and the management) can solve it together. I meet many interesting young lads and we all have one purpose, to do what we can to better our lives and that of our country. Ordinarily, I registered late and I wasn’t expected to be part of any student leadership, but because in me, there exist a relentless struggle towards seeking a perfect atmosphere of learning. I love to struggle for my own seek and for the seek of others. I invested a lot of time and energy in knowing about the school and many other information i believe could be helpful to students. I give out these info to ensure that students don’t make mistakes. I carry everyone along and in my little way and soon, lots of my colleague rely on me for any vital guidance or information about school, instead of going to the school for information, they come to me. While there already exist a class governor known by the management, everyone seems to be connected to me due to my natural ability to take responsibility. Soon, I was made the assistant class governor. But as if that wasn’t enough, virtually every student in school of Science and Technology seems to be connected to me and some how, i can’t really remember how, i was known as the governor of the school of science and technology after just few months in the school.
Additionally, sharing information with my colleagues in school is not my only hobby, instead, I took it upon myself to educate Nigerians through the various online medium.
I became active and vibrant online, dishing out vital information to the public and recruiting students for NOUN. I was always online, correcting wrong perception about the school, answering questions from people both prospective and existing students. I have my phone number and email address all over the internet. Many people through the largest African website, www.nairaland.com most have came across my number, we may have spoken. Since 2008 till date, hardly can one day pass without me receiving at least 1 call, seeking information about NOUN. Some times, I get up to 10 calls in a single day, they call me day and night. Some flash me and only to call back and they said they want ask question about NOUN. Without trying to exaggerate, I would say that, I have through my numerous engagements online, directed over 1000 students to become NOUN students. This apart from providing vital information to existing students. In fact, I recall that through my online activities, many who had earlier withdrew from the school due to many complains and lack of adequate information and response from the school re-enrolled back and they mostly rely on me for guidance rather than go to the school counselor. Many of them would say, it seems I know more about the school than their study centre counselor.
Since 2007, we didn’t do any exam until September 2008. It was a very difficult experience for many students. Often times, exams were scheduled, but failed to hold. Student were angry, wondering when they would graduate if it takes 1 full year to write 1 exams. But despite this challenge, I keep giving people hope both online and off-line.
Furthermore, lack of writing exams is not the only problem. There was also inadequate course materials. Many courses registered were not examinable due of lack of course material and there was virtually nothing anyone can do about it. Students were restless and frustrated, but we have to keep faith.
Also, in my personal capacity, I had problems. Since I was registered for full degree against the access given by the management, I was expecting the school to change my status on the school portal, but it never happened. I was unable to do my full registration online, but because the counselor was sure it would be done, I was allowed to write the exam. But after holiday that we resume, the change was not effected and I became more restless. I continue to inquire how to go about the whole thing and there was no positive response. Even the counselor don’t know what to tell me any more. She seems not to understand the situation any more. The last time I went to her about my condition, she simple told me, I don’t know what to say anymore. My heart was broken.
According to her, it seems the school had changed the policy of not accepting further maths in place of maths. But she don’t know the way out.
In my mind, I reasoned that, the counselor is the only mouth piece of the management, so if the counselor is saying she don’t know, where else can I get clarification about my status or what to do? I was so disappointed and felt being betrayed by the school. Reluctantly, I asked the counselor again, ma, what should I do now and she said, just do whatever you like. I left school, a sad person, but I was not going to give up. My destiny is not in the hand of my school or anyone else, rather, its right in my own hands.
While I can blame the counselor or the school for the misdirection, I chose not to blame anyone too much, instead, I devise a solution by myself.
To be continued


You can also follow the discussion on Congress of Noun Students on facebook.

https://www./346177985458918/

POLITICS: IT IS UNISLAMIC TO SUPPORT AN UNJUST MUSLIM by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

I am compelled to write this short article after reading an unfortunate post on facebook which seek to mislead Muslims into making decision based on religious sentiments. The post was made by one Dalami Babantakko who claimed to be speaking for Islam.
In a writeup titled Islam and politics, Danlami Babantakko wrote that, ‘’It is wrong and mischevous to say that one should separate religion from politics, it may be so with other religion but not with Islam. Islam is a total way of life and nothing has been left to chance. From mannerisms of eating, drinking, going to toilet and public conduct, all acts have been documented and muslims have been shown the way to do it. Politics and religion (Islam) are inseparable. In Islam, politics is too important to be left to people who are not credible and trustworthy.
Without any doubt, I agree with the writer on all the above, but like all the misinterpretation of Islam, the writer went astray to ascribe to Islam, what never existed in it.
The unfortunate, false and misleading remark was made when Danlami wrote that: In election contest between a muslim and a non muslim,it is a religious obligation on muslim voters to vote the muslim candidate.If a muslim votes a non-muslim in preferance to a muslim into an elective office, such a muslim becomes an unbeliever. This is because he or she prefers the triumph of Kufr over Islam.
Likewise, if a muslim decides not to vote at all, especially when the contest is between a muslim and a non-muslim, that muslim becomes an unbeliever too because of his or her indifference as to whether Islam triumph over Kufr or Kufr triumph over Islam.
There can’t more ignorance than the one displayed by this writer.
The above submission is not only false and incorrect, it is wicked and a delibrate efforts to serve a political interest and mislead Muslims, but the prophet warn against such falsehood.
The writer of such a fabrication against true islamic teaching is being unjust and the Quran in suratul hud verse 37 reads, ‘’who is more unjust than one who invent a lie against Allah ‘’These are the ones who lied against their lord! No doubt! The curse of Allah is on the wrong doers.
Prophet Muhammed had said, ‘’Do not tell a lie against me, for whoever tells a lie against me (intentionally) then he will surely enter the hell-fire.’’
In an effort to correct the writer from speading falsehood, a simply request was made. I asked that, which chapter of the Quran or saying of the prophet did he came across this falsehood, but there was none. He simply quoted the following verse: Allah says in the Quran, 'THE ONLY RELIGION IN THE SIGHT OF ALLAH IS ISLAM.
My dear reader, please, in what way did the above verse talked about any politics or any consideration for choosing a political candidate? Certainly, this is a delibrate falsehood by the writer and away to misled Muslims into political sentiment.
Two primary reasoning bordering on Quranic injuction and hadith of the noble Prophet (SAW) informed this article.
1. Quranic injuction
‘’….Judgement must be based on justice, even if it goes against yourself. This is ordained (Quran 6:33)
‘’…You must do justice even to your enemy (Quran 5:

2. Hadith, the Prophet Muhammed (SAW) commanded 15 of the early Muslims to emigrate to Abyssina (now Eretria) between 614 and 615 in the 5th year of his prophethood.
The choice of Abyssina by prophet Muhammed was very important in underscoring issues of justice in Islam. He said, ‘’if you want and if you can, seek shelter in Abyssina. There is a (Christian) ruler (King Najjashi) there who has never oppressed anyone. It is a country of right and truth. Live and stay there until Allah makes things easier.
Also, according to hadith of the prophet (sohihu Bukhari) on page 282 Vol:3 chapter 1 he said, ‘’if a Muslim deputized a non Muslim warrior in a country of infedility or a Muslim state, the contract is valid’’. It is therefore halal for Muslims to support an upright Christian.

Therefore in an electoral contest, any candidate which has the best quality and capability to lead must be the choice of the Muslim Ummah irrespective of his or her religion. Muslims must at all times, support the candidate that has the history of pursuing truth and justice in the interest of the common man.

Hum

Some people might ask me, why Communication Technology?
While I was a child, I attended Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (F.A.A.N) Staff School in Kano state, and as a result of my constant encounter with airport,pilots and aeroplane, I had developed interest in being a pilot. But as I grew up, I learn that there are many ways to fly without being a pilot. Gradually, my interest in pilot faded away. I later thought of studying petrol Chemical Engineering, but it also didn’t see the light. I eventually find myself in computer related activities and i was enjoying it. I thought studying Computer Science is my way.
Before applying to NOUN, I along with some friends had established a small I.T firm (IDE-links Ltd). So, when I saw the list of courses being studied at Open University, 3 courses caught my attention. 1. Computer Science. 2. Information Technology. 3. Communication Technology.
Upon inquiry, Information Technology was reserved for only Masters student, though I saw it as unique and interesting. But when I saw that Computer science is already a popular course, I feel going for Communication Technology would be the best,coupled with my I.T firm, its going to be a good match. Since i have an IT firm, i should be studying ICT. I believe after studying Communication Technology for degree, I would study Information Technology for Masters. For me, it’s a wise choice.
On my provisional admission letter, there are steps to be taken to register myself as a NOUN student. I have to prepare some of my documents, make 3 photocopies of each and then proceed to Abuja Study centre for screening. I did all that and here I am, before NOUN counselor, Mrs Omuya, I forgot her saw name.
She took my documents and after looking for some time, she said no, this is not correct.
She turned to me and said, you are qualified. Mrs Omuya explained that, you were not offered a full degree in this admission letter, you were offered Access, more like a pre-degree. Access in Open university is a situation where a student want to study a particular course without having the required Olevel credit passes needed to study it. Instead of turning you down or rejecting you admission out-rightly, NOUN will offer you admission on access (pre-degree). As a Jonny Just Come (JJC), I didn’t notice the access thing, though I saw it, but didn’t know its meaning. You will have to do the access for 1 year to cover the courses in which you had deficiency in your O level before proceeding with your full degree. This is related to the foundation year courses being done in United Kingdom. If you have deficiency in any course in your O level, you will have to do a foundation year course for 1 year to remedy your deficiency before proceeding to your full degree. The same happens in Open university. The school doesn’t deny people admission because of a deficiency, rather, they help you remedy that deficiency by giving them opportunity to improve. I wish all Nigerian schools are like that.
In my O level result, I passed all courses except Mathematics. The result was missing, though i had B in further maths. Before my application, I inquire if further maths can be used in place of Maths and I was told yes, since further maths is even more admiring I was told. But based on my admission, the school obviously didn’t accept my further maths in place of maths which warrant me being given admission on access basis,but the counselor felt it shouldn’t be so. She said you are qualified for full degree, your result is fine, though maths was missing, but you had good grade in further maths. Don’t worry she said, I will register you for full degree. Take, she gave me a form to fill to indicate to the school that I was wrongly given access, I took it. Filled and returned it within seconds. I was registered for full degree, paid some fees and the study began.
To be continued