For the simple and quite uninformed, NUGA is the acronym for Nigerian University Games. A bi-annual sporting event among Nigerian universities which aim, I think, apart from being a noise-making jamboree and student gyrations, should be a mean of bringing Nigerian university youths together for a particular education and societal integration through sports. This event also should be one that would build in the youths of the university communities a spirit of sportsmanship on an intellectual level in other to be able to translate such into an active nation-building tool. Furthermore, a population upsurge in a host community will be an economic advantage for local business owners as students alone cannot benefit from such in isolation. This great sporting activity however had its first outing at the Premier University of Ibadan in 1966.
And here we are. The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife had won the hosting right of the 24th NUGA games with a lot of excitement, expectations and sheer pride on the part of several students for probably no other reason than the fact that a once in a student life event would be held in theirs and they would tell tales of same to even generations yet unborn. The hopes of a set of students were however dashed as they graduated before the D-day due to the continuous postponement of NUGA by the university management as a result of unpreparedness and the non-availability of infrastructures. Times and times again, rumors were echoed of the approach of the long awaited event only for the larger community to be disappointed again. The five months long show-down between the academic staff of Nigerian universities and the federal government did not also help matters,—oops!—maybe it did. At a point, the games were slated for October 2013, right in the middle of the FG-ASUU tussle. The university management led by Professor Idowu Bamitale Omole could probably have been forced to hold the event then, but the obvious was that the needed infrastructures were not just available and an embarrassment would have been inevitable. To OAU management, the ASUU strike was nothing short of a saving grace and another pretext to postpone the long awaited NUGA. For some students who left their various comfort zones in that period and travelled to Ile-Ife just to witness the sports, there was nothing more annoying than that particular disappointment. But for the terminal students who should have graduated in the strike period, they had a hope of seeing the games—if they are very interested is another question entirely.
The strike eventually ended, school magically resumed and February 12th-22nd, 2014 was chosen for the final D-day. As part of preparations, the university management in all “wisdom and prudence” ordered all students resident on campus to evacuate themselves and valuable belongings latest by 12pm on the 7th February so as to give the residence a facelift for the comfort of expected guests.
This move, as may be expected, generated a lot of heat among students with some issuing a blatant refusal to comply. Their arguments:
°NUGA is an event held for the benefit of students and not the university management or staff, therefore, the purpose would have been defeated if students were not on campus to partake of the benefits.
°When a sporting event is held, the home team needs the support of their fan base. If OAU students are not available to sheer their own, who will?
°How on earth can we hear that a landlord asked his tenants to leave the house, while their tenancy hasn’t expired, because he wants to throw a party and would be expecting some guests? OAU students paid accommodation fee for a session, so, they believe, it would be an injustice to send them out while the session still runs. There are even rumors that the university management had received allocations for the hotel lodging of expected participants.
Some students on their own part, even from the 6th had begun to move their properties out of the halls of residence to friends’ place in the staff quarters and Ile-Ife township so much that by evening on the 7th, the mass exodus was very visible. As a means for the management to show its seriousness, on the 8th, there was power cut in all student rooms. Then the drama began.
It was a time when some students had to show their tenacity and dare-devil traits as a good number of students still stayed behind despite the “get out” order, power cut, and even rumors of the deployment of mobile policemen to forcefully eject students. In Obafemi Awolowo hall popularly called ‘Awo’ for instance, lots of students can be seen going about their their daily life and spicing it with the traditional “aro”. In fact, on the 10th, a stray antelope met its waterloo when it journeyed into the hall. In Adekunle Fajuyi hall popularly called ‘Faj’, the story remains pretty the same, but no antelope. However, it was a different story in the female halls as the evacuation order had more effct. The relatively gentle female nature may be an explanation for that.
For students who stayed behind, certain spots in their halls of resident became the new centre of activities. In Faj for instance, the café, upper buttery/television room, and “photocopy area” as popularly called, all became what can be called room annexes as students could be seen charging their devices, ironing their cloths, playing musical instruments and even cooking (since electricity is the conventional medium of cooking in OAU). The situation could be nevertheless stressful as some students are forced to go far into the academic area to get the most basic of their works done with electricity. The argument here is that the university management has been insensitive to the plight of students by asking them, presumably, to go home for a period of two weeks not long after resuming after six months. What about students who came from a long distance? They asked. What about the expenses to be incurred? They asked again.
Some renovations are on the way, infrastructure projects are being finalized, NUGA approaches faster, the resilience and resolution of OAU students are about to undergo more test. Management or students, who will bend or break? Only time can presently tell.
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