Story from Onyinyechi IHEANACHO, and Faridat Ene SULIEMAN, Abuja
Neptune Prime, one of the leading online newspapers in Nigeria, has offered employment opportunities to two Mass-Communication undergraduate students, male and female of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to report campus news, and this would be done yearly.
This was disclosed by Dr Hassan Gimba, the CEO/Publisher of the online paper at its headquarters in Abuja when the executives of the university’s students union paid him a courtesy visit.
The President Comrade Abubakar Ali accompanied by the Vice President, Comrade Ishiaku, the Secretary-General, Comrade Khalifa Kabir, and the Chairman of Governors Forum, Comrade Al’ameen Dahiru, said they came in appreciation of what the news network did for them.
Comrade Abubakar Ali said: “We had unfortunate incident weeks back about the casual staff that we lost, unfortunately. On that note, we really appreciate what the Neptune Network did because it was all over the news, and no other news outlet made any effort to call the students union, because even the Vice-Chancellor of the school would not be as informed as to the union leaders, because we are in charge of the welfare and the academic excellence of the students. Therefore, we are very thankful to Neptune Network for going the extra mile to confirm the truth of the matter, because it really saved us a lot.”
Abubakar Ali on that note used the medium to inform Neptune Prime on the recent development of the SUG team which is an entrepreneurship workshop and summit aimed at empowering the students in different skills to be independent after school, of which the summit has begun already, but the workshop would commence on Saturday, May 15, 2021.
In his words: “We have an upcoming Ahmadu Bello University Student Representative Council (ABU SRC) entrepreneurship workshop and summit which is usually done by the ABU SRC every year and what we do in the entrepreneurship workshop is to identify students and train them on different entrepreneurial skills, like graphic designs, catering, event management, shoemaking, bag making and other categories of skills.
“We have over 50,000 students, instead of leaving that wide gap, we at the level of SRC will also contribute our own quota by carrying out such training for the students, and we will also invite dignitaries and entrepreneurs who are successful to talk to the students based on their experience, and encourage them.”
The President who said that a lot of credible things had been done by the SRC stated that it might not go beyond the walls of their office, but when it’s something that the authenticity is not guaranteed, fake news, or critics, it would travel very far, thereby coming up with the idea of a digital working board, an application for information, that would be posted by only presidents of all department to get credible campus news or information.
“The ABU Zaria SRC has a representative in each faculty, once we have this app well developed, information can only be updated on this app by the president from the department, the faculty president, to the representative of the ABU SRC, and after scrutinizing it and authenticating it that it’s coming from the management, then we’ll have it posted.
“Not only the academic activities alone but anything that has to do with the registration, entertainment, or any social activities in the academics and of course approved by the management is what the platform will carry”, he added.
Dr Hassan Gimba commended them on a job well done, stating that it is an honour and a recognition.
Dr Gimba while on that note said: “Most of the problems we face as a nation is because our educational system is outdated and it doesn’t prepare students to be self-reliant.
“The whole system is like a cult and the entrance into that cult is to get a degree, from there your chances, lack, and ability to manoeuver gets you to the top.
“I welcome your idea on entrepreneurship and we’ll do all we can to help you, and to collaborate with you on how to get campus news from your school, he said.
“On a final note, leadership starts from a young age, your orientation, background, education, friends, and environment shapes your thinking and makes you what you become. If you have a negative orientation of stealing money from the students under you when you get to a higher position, it sticks with you and makes you steal money meant for the masses, but if your mindset is always on putting the interests of the students first and making things easier for them at this stage, when you get older you will have nothing but noble thoughts”, he added.
