FATSSSA PRESS -- University of Ibadan, Nigeria

It is not always that I set out just to talk about other people but this week, a freshman’s remark about his roommates dug up old memories which before now I had thought were buried deep down in the abyss of my overcrowded memory. Memories whose existence I had grown oblivious to. Memories of gentle John (our loyal doormat), memories of dirty Jide, memories of talking Timothy, memories of my 100 level days, those few months I spent in the same room with three (until now), total strangers. I couldn’t just stop the picture of Jide from crawling into my conscious mind the moment that freshman remarked: “I don’t know how to handle Tolu my roommate, the guy is too dirty!” Unlike every person unfortunate to have encountered him, I never really considered Jide a dirty boy per say. I considered him a special person, one that needed to be understood. Jide could go a week without touching water and you would barely notice, all thanks to his loyal Nivea body spray.

The walk from Awo hall to the Youth Friendly centre on Tech Road was the longest Gloria had ever embarked on since she became a student of UI. Awo to YFC shouldn’t take one more than ten minutes but Gloria spent almost thirty minutes before she could get to YFC. Her mind travelled to the different “fun” she had had in the past. The nights she spent at clubs, the days she stabbed classes just to enjoy the erotic sensation with guys on campus, The one night stands she had to avoid being bored, and above all, the test she was about to undergo at the YFC. To make

Tell us about yourself My name is Adeyemo Emmanuel, a 400 level student of Political Science Department and a panache public speaker. How has it been managing the affairs of Fatsssa? It’s been going on well, thank God. All glory to the Almighty. He has been making everything easy even though it’s stressful. There has been ups and down but it has been a wonderful experience all along. What has been your major challenges so far and how have you been able to manage them? Many of the challenges is actually in house, within ourseleves and by ourselves I mean within the executive council. But with wisdom and the knowledge that God has granted to us, we’ve been able to curtail the differences because when you’re bringing people from different places together and you’re putting them under one administration, obviously, they’ll have their own differences.

“ I don’t think they care about student welfare oh! Because if it were to be their children facing the various hardships we are facing, I doubt that they would like it …” The quote above were the words of a Fatssssaite when asked by our Vox-Pop team if she thought Student Welfare was still on the priority of the management. Read on to see more reactions by other Fatsssaites. Idahosa Silver 200 level Psychology Department I think that they kind of care because most of the students are actually applying Marxist theory in the way they view things happening around without actually knowing what the school management is doing to care for them.

Admission into federal universities in Nigeria never comes without a price tag. It is either the entrance exam is unreasonably tough or you’ll have to “settle” your way in. In other cases where you get admitted by merit, as in the University of Ibadan, you’ll have to pay in some other way – Stress! From the day you secure admission into Unibadan, you struggles begin! The good thing however, is that this stress won’t kill you but prepare you for the mainstream world. Besides, others have passed through this system and are still alive to tell the story.

In as much we can’t deny the fact that we are currently in the freshness of the new session, there's no gainsaying the fact that the session is gradually folding up. These two rather contradictory juxtapositions is in the light of the fact that this session has ended even before it began. This first weeks are what we call the beginning of the end. Although mostly spent in the hustle and tussle for accommodation cum frivolity and aimlessness by some, these first weeks are a major pointer to the possible outlook of the session as a whole. What happens in the first few weeks changes the whole outlook of the session.

NEW BEGINNINGS It’s only the beginning now …a pathway yet unknown At times the sound of other steps …sometimes we walk alone The best beginnings of our lives May sometimes end in sorrow But even on our darkest days