₦airaland Forum

January

Very often, the tertiary institution is being mistaken for a cocoon of fantasy or a tasty mucilaginous marrow at the socket of a bone that needs to be sucked before it is too late. Nigerians, who have not yet been admitted into a university few years after secondary studies, will surely ponder on why their fates have chosen to form umbrellas of melancholy above their heads. Some persons would fight in between strings to be admitted and most times end up learning something but not the stipulated course. The word ‘student’ is not a phenomenal title, neither is it an acronym nor a gong on special foreheads. A student is one seriously devoted to some subject, whether academic or not. Learning never ends, so goes a saying. This gets everyone to fit into the description of a student. It is rational to know that people who are on study in academic environments especially the glorified university are human beings with their lifetime ticking away in the clock. They are using a tangible part of their lives during their studies and therefore, should take calculated steps and informed decisions.




The campus is not only an animal farm but a zoo in which YOU, a new animal has just been lapped in. Your species and others are in there, hence it is incumbent upon a person to choose how to live. On campus, there is one thing to say yes to which is learning in its broadness but there are several other acts to say no to which is often where the problem emanates. Among young people, there is so much difficulty in saying NO.




As one arrives on campus, the parrots will first take the floor to talk and chirrup about what they think they know about the university, in a form of loud advice that might instigate fear as though experience is for few. Returning students and elderly ones are wont for this. The tortoises come in next to process your admission forms, as if to guide you, they swindle and squeeze enough money from you. They do this unabashed, like it is the norm. At the inception of the matriculation ceremony, the foxes bounce in, they start prowling and coercing selected preys to be a part of their misdemeanors. To your chagrin, they act like they own the school.



We might think that the lions are the kings of the forest, hunting and tearing their own prey at once but turn your heads to the hyenas and wolves, examine them. They haunt in packs and together can bring down any other animal. In school, they are the Christian fellowship groups as well as various ethnic groups. They love you to identify with them and attend meetings in order to defeat your obstacles and wrestle other animals with them. The lions, tigers, pythons, leopards, crocodiles, sharks and lot others occupy the top of the offices, above young heads, teaching and hurting students simultaneously. Try not to let their snares bend you into who you are not and can never be. Young ones can also teach elders lessons. You are an individual of your own, an important breed in the society. Abdicate what you do not want to involve in so that years later you can read the story of your life and adore. Do not be excessively gullible, gauge information and actions.




You are young does not mean that you are not a species of your own. As the lions bellow, roar back. You might also be a lion. When the dogs bark, make a hound face and bark too. Be identified!