Chrismas day in AUN

I use to feel the urge to write and also create time to write. But that was those days when I was just growing up. Days when I was still a youth. Well, I'm still a youth anyway, but have become older. Maybe I should say young youth. I know you want to know my age but it is probably not necessary because I don't look it. The truth is that I am above 25. So I consider myself an adult. I mention this so that you would not wonder why I did not travel home during this year chrismas holiday. Yes, I am in Yola and in fact, in school, today that is 25th december. And Yes, chrismas is for kid but that wasn't why I did not go home after the fall semester. Okay, maybe I am not home sick anymore since I am no longer a freshman. But that would have been correct if a nostalgic feeling is the only reason people go home. Maybe if I tell you that I lost my home address you may not believe. So let me not tell you that even though it contains some elements of truth. Don't wonder because I could not actually only be such a dullard but the fact that I am aging could be a factor that makes me write down and keep somewhere, my home address. Never wonder because everyone is not the same. My Poor memory is actually what makes a friend, who thinks I'm a intelligent, wrong. Well actully, it has been my concern for a long time. That I have a very low IQ. This was proved wrong until yesterday when I did an IQ test inwhich I scored 149 on a scale of 200 and in fact I don't believe this IQ test. I am yet to find a reliable IQ test. But I agree with that test in some regard that I have a low memory capacity. The test says I can take on complext task. I use to believe this until I took a course MTH 212 titled Linear Algebra which I call QLA - Quarcoo Linear Algebra this last semester. This course is really abstract and the fact that the toughest professor in AUN one Dr Joseph Quarcoo, Ghanian is the sole teacher of this course in AUN makes it a course that can be called a hell bound course. I'm pretty sure I cried shared tears on one or two cases in class and many times outside the class trying to grasp the concept which was just too abstract. I later drop the course because I was failing it. I'm pretty sure I would have got a "D" and not a "C" if I had done the final exam. I actually dropped on one sunday which was the final exam day when my mates were writing the exam. I will blog about it someday. It just seem this blog is unnessarily getting too long. May be I should end it now. I have no idea of what to title it. May be I should say chrismas day in Yola because it is the first time I will be experiencing chrismas celebration in Yola - I'm not like Mustapha who has celebrated chrismas here before, you know. See his Chrismas in Yola post here. But this post did not really talk about how Chrismas was celebrated in Yola. I think I should titled it Chrismas day in AUN. I will leave now but not until I say "Be good to yourself and stay out of trouble." I promise to write again very soon. Until then, bye.

NUC accredites all 12 programs of AUN

I was just trying to let you guys out there know that AUN have been accreditated by the NUC. I got this infomation pasted below from the NUC website. You can check yourself: http://www.nuc.edu.ng/pages/news_detail.asp

A total of 17 universities accreditated one program or the other that year. You can view the details here if it is no longer available in the nuc website.

I am yet to resume my blogging activity. Actually, lots have happened in AUN all these while and I really don't know what to let you know: whether the current happenings or the past. I totally don't know why I have not blogged all these while. Maybe because I have no camera to have a snap of events, because a blog that have not pictures is really very boring. The truth is that this semester is hectic. I have 19 credits and I'm like, this is the end of my life.

Today, GIEVAL, the Nigerian representative of the Education testing service body, came to offer a seminar specifially for seniors who would like to go to graduate school immediately after graduation next year may on the regisration process for the GRE and GMAT. I attended the program and I must say I gained so much expecially from our new dean of student affairs, Dr David Kosoko who gave the opening speach for the seminar. He talked about his personal experience as an undergraduate and graduate student in the US. I will have another entry to write soon I promise. I really need to study some stuff right away. I have learnt to use my weekends well because I am taking 19 credit this semester and the weekdays are very hectic. I had not started being serious for the semester until I failed my first quiz last wednessday. I just took it for granted. I had my first exam yesterday, Linear Algebra by Professor Joseph Quaco and as always, was hell.

Until I write again (not any sooner though), be good to yourself and stay out of trouble.

AUN Students In Free Enterprise Bag Awards

I have really not blog for a while now. And blogging used to be my hobby. I really don't have explanation for this. Maybe it's because I feel overwhelmed by the lots of things I had to do as at last semester. But this is summer and I had not been so busy not to have at least write some nonsense. Yes, nonsense because I really hate editing my work. Each time I blog, it is usually the first draft. I'm too lazy to proof read it.
Last week, I was asked to write a report to be published in the AUN newsletter regarding our participation in the last SIFE Nigeria competition. What you see here is however a second draft of the write up. I'm just trying to get through that habbit of being lazy or reluctant to proof read my work. I would find time to update you on what happened last semester, what's happening right now and what we are looking forward to. Meanwhile this write up bellow is kinda very formal in the style it was written. You can guess why, of course. Happy reading.

Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a global, U.S.-headquartered, non-profit organization that was founded in 1975 with the goal of improving the quality of life and standard of living around the world by teaching the principles and values of free market economics and entrepreneurship. Working in partnership with hundreds of universities and businesses, SIFE organizes, motivates, and trains university students to form “management teams” that design, develop and implement thousands of community-based micro-business, training and educational projects to create and expand economic opportunity through hands-on and practical training projects while they develop the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. In simple terms, it means students using the knowledge they gained from the classroom to make impact in their

community through the exhibition of project that transform lives economically and otherwise. SIFE Teams are active on more than 1800 university/college campuses in 46 countries. Each year, each SIFE team from around the world meet other SIFE teams in a competition, and this draw them together with business leaders who judge the various projects based on certain criteria. Our University is one of the newest institution to join this organization, yet has made an impressive achievement during its maiden participation in the competition this year. Our SIFE team was inaugurated during the month of December, 2007. The first major event in the SIFE AUN history is the SIFE Leadership Conference which was held in Jos. We were able to distinguish ourselves on all SIFE judging platforms. Our outstanding performance encouraged the SIFE Nigeria Country Director, Mrs. Ifedi Adesuwa to pay the SIFE AUN team an unannounced visit. She was so impressed at what she saw that she encouraged us to signup for this years’ SIFE Annual National Competition. With a bit of reluctance, we decided to take on the challenge. We immediately proceeded with the registration and began planning for the competition. We set out to carry out the various projects we conceived based on our assessment of our immediate environment and how the meet SIFE’s judging criteria. The projects include: (1.) public enlightenment on investment in the stock exchange market (titles EM-without-S), (2) Ethical customer care in banks, (3) Assisting a small scale entrepreneur in the acquisition loan for expansion of his business, and (4) Teenagers leadership training (titled Let-them-Lead). These projects address a number educational topic area which includes market economics, success skills, financial literacy, and business ethics.

1. Earn-More-Without Stress, our first outreach project in the Yola community was aimed at creating awareness and sensitizing the society on how they can be part owners of companies through the purchase of shares.

2. The ethical customer care in Banks was a project in which we, after careful planning, studying and piloting, we randomly selected some banks in Yola and a few of their customers and administered series of questionnaires to them. We used various statistical tools to analyze the results and then set out on a series of seminar interventions of sensitizing the banks of their responsibility to be ethical in carrying out banking practices.

3. Assisting a small scale entrepreneur in the acquisition of loan for expansion of his business was a project in which we assisted Yola poultry farmer who at that time found it difficult to access micro finance to expand his business. We carefully studied his business and outlined his business growth potentials. We assisted him to write and document a proper business plan for his business which he used in accessing micro finance. We also taught him how to use various financial and accounting record systems to project the state of his business.

4. Let-them-lead was a project that provided some teenagers within the Yola community the tool to become effective leaders. These projects were presented to a panel of judges during the first round of the competition held on June 13th this year at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua center in Abuja. It was our maiden participation in such a competition tagged SIFE Nigeria National Entrepreneurship Education Competition. This event which has 27 tertiary institutions across Nigeria participating in it was in a league format and each league had a minimum of five schools. We were in the coca-cola league and other SIFE team in our leagues were from University of Portharcourt , University of Uyo, Tai Solarin College of Education and Lagos State Polytechnic. We came second in our league. The following are the ten members of the AUN SIFE team that represented the school in the competition. Peace Ugochukwu, Oluwafeyidamilola Moronke Akapo (aka Feyi), Aja Ekpei ogban, Fatima Adamor (aka Fati), Samson Oyemala (aka Sam -Team Leader), Wisdom Omuya (aka Wiz, yes his really a Wiz kid), Ogbonnaya Ukwa Kalu (aka Java), Temitope Bankefa (aka Tope), Omorogbe Omorogiuwa (aka Omorx), and Ishaq Sa’adu (president). The faculty advisor is Dr Benjamin Botchway Earlier this month, we received an invitation from SIFE Nigeria to attend the final round of the competition held on 15th July, at the Shell Hall of the Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos where the finalist teams competed for the chance to represent Nigeria at the SIFE world cup in Singapore. After the event, the award of prices followed and our SIFE team bagged four award:First Award- 1st in our League on Ethics project and presentation, Second Award- 2nd in Coca-cola Entrepreneurship.Third Award- Overall WINNER on Ethics Project and presentationFourth Award- Cheque of N250,000. for the 3rd Award.