An undergraduate’s quest for excellence continues until he or she rounds off the academic programme. While the first year is seen by many as ‘a year of grace’ and therefore fundamental, the second year is often referred to by many as ‘the year of reality.’
Most of the lecturers who are students’ favourite had warned students going into their second year programmes: ‘We made things easy for you in your first year; to complete your National Diploma holder, you must tighten your seat belt and apply yourselves to your studies.’
Three weeks into the new semester, most of the lecture halls were scanty with most students choosing to add at least two more weeks to their holidays, a practice which many of the lecturers find annoying and believe is rooted in a low level of seriousness. The lecturers however chose to go on with their classes irrespective of the high number of absentee students since the academic calender was already up and running and the pressure would soon be on them to finish their curriculum.
At the time, Nigeria had already recorded a compendium of catastrophes. Top on the list is Boko Haram, the daredevil terror group whose activities was growing rampant by the day. Fresh on the minds of Nigerians everywhere were the church bombings among Christians in the northern part of the country.
Of all the lecturers, one was the favourite and many year one students loked forward to attending his classes. His name is Williams Osogbue (not his real name). To some extent he is an handsome man and his black skin colour and bulgy eyes accentuated his features. He was to handle the course Investigative and Interpretative Journalism, an interesting course which he made more interesting. The lecture, scheduled for 8am on Tuesdays always lasts two hours.
The don has zero tolerant for students with nonchalant attitude towards academics especially writing. His constant criticism for poor performances in writing was always a case in point. He is quick to inform students that as an intending journalist, we should get used to the art of writing. “Only a handful of you can write; in fact, not more than two among you can write a good news story, he would always say.”
All these criticisms alongside his gesticulations made the whole talk hilarious. For us the lovers of humour in the department, we found his lectures interesting and we would also laugh endlessly. Before 8am most of us would strive to be present before he enters the class.
On the first day of his lecture, he had used the deadly attacks of Boko Haram as an illustration to explain the meaning of investigative reporting. His constant emphasis on Boko Haram had fetched him the fitting nickname of ‘Boko Haram’ right from that day.
In my opinion, his method of teaching has in no small way made him my favourite lecturer because he not only creates an atmosphere for the cross-fertilisation of ideas on many divergent issues and areas of knowledge, his method of delivery is so apt that students cannot help but understand.
JUSTICE GODFREY
