I Love Musish Football Club Founded by AUN Pioneer Student

I have no idea how I got to this blog. I think I probably just type in the words "aaun blogger" in the google search engine. Yes, I did. I now remember. Because I was bored. I'm sorry, I'm frequently getting absent minded and forgetful. Maybe it's because getting old. Ok, now, new students orientation is going on and today happen to be the day we got the lowest number of newstudents. It was 62 the first day, second was 74 while yesterday sunday was 47. I just went to have my lunch now and I just checked the new students turn up list at the welcome desk of Peter Okocha hall (formally called the General Purpose building) where the orientation is taking place and the number is about 17 so far today. The school admitted about 400 and is especting 250 to enrol. I am very sure we will get up to 300. There is a flight this afternoon. So, we might still have more students.

This post is not surpose to be about new students at all. Ok, I am a volunteer (as I have always been on very AUN orientation but this time I have kinda left the duty of welcoming and directing new students job to the admission section where I help sort out new students file from the cabinent and make photocopies of whatever document outstanding, a kind of continuation of my vacation job but now not being paid for it.) Since no new student have come withing the period I left for lunch, there is probably no need to go to washington hall where the admission and finance clearance, as well as the dorm check-in, the three essential stages of the orientation, are being done. Here I am in the New York hall where the library is housed temporarily pending the completion of the library under construction, doing some blogging because I am bored. I can see some other bored orientation volunteer playing chess here in the library. It was the boredom that led me to search aaun blogger and remembered mustapha because he calls himself the aaun blogger. Then I remembered that he is now well known as mushish because is the founder of Mushish football club. Then I searched musish and got a blog that wrote something about mushish which I fould entertaining and inspiring enough to copy and paste in my blog. It is an interview by one 35 year old Elie B. Smith, who holds Diploma in Mass Communications and a Bachelor in International Marketing. He is a Broadcast Journalist by profession and has worked with the English services of Radio France International and Canal France International,respectively as a correspondent in Africa and sports commentator in Paris where he is now living. Below is the exerpt and click here if you want to read from the original source.

Champions League kicks off tomorrow in Omdurman, the sister city of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, with a thrilling match pitting the Sudanese champions Al Hilal against Nigeria’s champions Eyinmba Football Club of Aba, Nigeria, in Nigeria and also in other parts of the continent, all sees and ears will be waiting for the outcome. A victory of the people’s Elephant, as the Aba based team is fondly called in eastern Nigeria, will give an indication on their ambition in this year’s tournament. MTN CAF Champions League is a competition that, they have lifted the trophy twice. But there is no ounce of doubt that, Eyinmba FC is one of the best managed football teams in Nigeria and also in sub Saharan Africa. But another Nigerian club from the North eastern Nigerian city of Yola wants imitate Eyinmba. But the problem is that, North eastern Nigeria and Yola in particular, doesn’t sound as a place where such pretensions could made. But the promoter and manager of Musish Football Club of Yola is determined to write his city and region’s name in the annals of Nigerian and African Club Football. How will he achieve such a feat in an area not known to be a paragon of the round leather? That is what Mr Mustapha Ayoola Ishola attempts to answer in the interview that follows.

Elie B. Smith: What is the name of your football club and when was it set up?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: The Name of our football club is MUSISH FOOTBALL CLUB. It was set up in December 2006.

Elie B. Smith: In what level is your football club playing in the Nigerian league?
Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: Our club is non divisional at the present. We have decided to remain in this state till we are able to acquire a national division 1 or national division 2 side, sometime in the future. However, we play in the premier league in the American University of Nigeria (AUN) which has been our home soil ever since our birth. We have remained in the premier league ever since.

Elie B. Smith: Given that, Yola and North eastern Nigeria are not sources of talented footballers, who do need players to feed your club?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: The American University of Nigeria houses students from all over the country. This is one of our strength because we have a combination of northern + eastern + south-western + south-southern players. We can boast of quite a good spread of players from all over the country.

Elie B. Smith: Given the dearth of young players in North eastern Nigeria, have you not thought of opening a training centre to train local talents or you just import players from other parts of Nigeria?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: We certainly have a plan to host some sort of boot camp to sift players from Yola and environs. For now, the university is a good enough breeding ground for us.

Elie B. Smith: If you have set up a training centre already, what are the conditions of admission and how long has your training centre been operating?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: We have not set up a training centre yet (though we hope to do so very soon). But we do organize ourselves in the fields of AUN. This has been happening since our birth – will be 2 years in December. We once used the Jimeta stadium when we played in the 2007 Coca-cola FA cup. During that time, there was a mini screening session to get the players that represented the team. After the competition, a reconsideration of the costs was the reason why that very team dispersed. The condition for admission now is that the player should be a student in the American University of Nigeria and that he should be recommended by the manager and/or coach of the team.

Elie B. Smith: What is the name of the centre?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: AUN Football pitch – that is where we are at least training for now.

Elie B. Smith: How is the management structure of your club?

Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: Like most organizations, we have a board of trustees who are at the highest point on the ladder. The board includes the president, four vice president positions (only 2 are filled for now), a manager, and players of the club. What I preach as the president of the club is that every member of the club has an obligation to lead and act in their capacities as players (in other words, as members of the board of trustees), although it is the captain that matters the most when it comes to decision making. Each player has a responsibility he does for the club. Every member of the club (except the patrons) attend training sessions and is qualified to play for the club should s/he be considered fit by the manager. Management and Relational concerns are conveyed to the president, and the president conveys to the board of trustees. The structure is such that there is a “Main” Musish Football Club, and there is Musish Football Club, AUN (Musish FC, AUN). Musish FC, AUN is a sub set of “Main” Musish Football Club. The visibility of this concept will be seen as the club grows over time. The Officials are as follows:Mr. Mustapha Ishola – presidentProf. Beniah Oguzie – patronProf. Stuart Brown - patronMr. Ehidiamhen Okpamen – vice presidentMs. Tara Obiago – vice presidentMr. Effiong Okpo – managerMr. Raymond Jacobs – captain.Elie B. Smith: What are the ambitions of your club in the Nigerian and continental leagues?Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: We have very good prospects. We shall play in the FA cup again for the second time in 2009 and we hope to represent Adamawa State and Nigeria in the Confederation cup. We also hope that in not less than 4 years from now, we should have a representation in the Nigerian Premier league, and in 5 years, in the CAF Champions league.Elie B. Smith: Is there any other thing that, you may have wanted us to talk or ask that we have not? If yes, what are they?Mustapha Ayoola Ishola: Yes, I expect to talk about some history of the club. Club HistoryFROM FOUNDATIONMusish Football Club began life when a group of students at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) decided to form a football team in late 2006. The Club had played under the name LXB FC before this time. Their first match was a 3-0 victory over Java FC, on April 21, 2007. Soon after, the name Musish FC was adopted and the Club continued playing in friendlies and local AUN cup competitions for the next few years.The Club turned professional and joined the Football League in the Spring of 2007. They have since then had their home at AUN, Yola, Adamawa, Nigeria. Musish FC have been playing in the AUN premier league, where they have remained ever since.Musish were champions for the first time in AUN in the first ever AUN Premier league in 2006 as the former League of Xtraordinary Ballers (LXB). They were runners up in the following season having lost in the finals to TB FC. Musish FC participated in the 2007 Coca-Cola FA Cup for the first time. During this time Musish had some of the game’s greatest players in AUN on its books: Littbarski Adeh, Richard Etim, Samuel Abok, Yusuf John, Raymond Jacobs, Quadri Danlami and Abubakar Kele, were just some of the names in what was one of the greatest sides ever to play in the Football League. Better has been the last season when they qualified for the first AUN SUG cup competition and played in its semifinals. The trashing they gave to Java FC and the lucky draw Field Mobs had were enough to secure a space in the Semi final of the competition. Musish Football Club has the most fan in the American University of Nigeria and hopes to extend it through out Africa. With heavy dependence on business intelligence within and outside of the club, we ever strive for success on and off the football field.ColorsDuring the first sixteen months of their history, Musish had several different kit colors. The team originally played in orange but as new players arriving at the club wore their shirts during matches as the depreciation grew, confusion soon ensued. It was decided that the shirts would be individual properties with the names and numbers of players written on its back, both to save on expenses and to instill a much smarter look. The jersey that was made comes in royal blue and this is proving popular with fans and supporters. Musish away shirt will be red with white and red shorts and various other editions (like the “other” jersey which will be in white and black) will appear as time passes by.The kit today remains white shirt with a royal blue short and with a blue and white striped socks. The Jersey LaunchThe Club's management was very happy to inform its fans and supporters on the availability of its Jersey for commercial purpose. All the jerseys were made to the tastes of the consumers as their names and preferred numbers came printed at the back of it. To get a copy, they simply sent their names and numbers to musishfc@gmail.com and in a week, they got it. Though the launch date has been pasted for the sake of having a better planning for the event, The management advice that fans and supporters should buy the jerseys for friends and families at the cheap additional logistics costs. Musish Football Club currently boasts of the largest supporter base in AUN, Yola, and its environs. The Club hopes to be keep on in its strive for success on and off the football field as it looks forward to providing a sizable number of the players that will be in the Nigerian Squad in the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

Elie B. Smith: Finally, could you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Mustapha Ayoola Ishola, a native of Ogun State, Nigeria. I attended my secondary school at the Abeokuta Grammar School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and I am a senior now at the American University of Nigeria. I have for a long time admired European football clubs and after watching several Real Madrid matches, I feel excited to see and belong to a club of such strength and might. That feeling led to the planning of Musish Football Club in the summer of 2006 which eventually started in December 2006 at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa.

I am not a great fan of football though, but I think I like Musish. Particularly his logo. Ok, fine, he is Mustapha is my brother and friend. My brother because we look very much alike. Truly speaking, we are twin from different mother. I don't who is senior anyway. I think it is me even though he has more bears than I do. Little wonder if those bears are really. They could have been got from the babbers shop and glued to his chin by someone who love MUSISH. I love Musish. Click here to read Mustapha's blog about Musish. It was Musish that prompted him to open his blog. He should then be ashamed of himself for calling himself the aaun blogger when he does not blog often. Imagine that he has not blogged since year 2005 chrismas.

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.