An Open Letter to the Nigerian University Students

Dear Nigerian University Students,

Having been engaging discursively with many university students because of the love in the youth and in education, it was discovered that after every long strike, the universities in general record massive failures. There are many factors contributing to this.

One certain factor is the staying away from studies for a long time, and consequently the hurrying of the academic schemes in order to meet up, and the accompanying exam that comes immediately after the hurry. However, how can one who stayed away from education and studies for a long time survive the heat period of the exam by overstaying on the internet, reading and mostly watching what doesn’t concern academics? How do you expect such a person to scale through such hurdles?

I say this “maka ndị agụọ nkeji iri atọ mọbụ otu awa, apịa ekwentị awa anọ rue awa asatọ kwa ụbọchị,” i.e those that read only for 30 mins or one hour and stay academically irrelevantly on the phone for 4 to 8 hours daily. Later ịṅụ (you hear), “Fr. please pray for me, I want to succeed in my exams.”

Dear fellow students of the Nigerian Universities who just came out from STRIKE, if you want to succeed in the upcoming exams and beyond, visit less your phones during exam period. If you know sincerely that you don’t have the discipline to control yourself, don’t deceive yourself that you are doing academic research with the mobile phone and yet you see yourself moving from Facebook to Instagram, to TikTok, to Snapchat, to Twitter, and just name them. In the end, the night finds you empty headed. Exams come and go; your mobile phones remain.

This period doesn’t need only personal studies but also academic discussions which come after the personal studies. These academic discussions is very informal and happens among group of students, who come together to share ideas from the lectures or last lectures or studies. Within these discussions, certain things are made clear as they should be and more than the lecturers had taught them, by fellow students.

Drop your handsomeness or your beauty, or your ego and form academic group discussions; neither your beauty nor your ego matters under the pen of the examiner.

Find those students among you who understand more and those who read more and add to the academic group discussion. If it’s difficult to convince them, beg them humbly. This is because there’s a difference between reading and understanding. You can read without understanding and yet remember what you read without understanding. But through discussions, what you read is illuminated and their understanding happens, then you can read again if the time is there. This makes you a better person and a better student.

In the end, you will rarely fail your exams because those academic discussions and their accompanying intricate arguments which freely happened with passion, willingness cum reasoning among you stick to your long term memory, and your lecturers will be happier unless they want you to be zombies; garbage in garbage out.

Be that as it may, it may be difficult to pass with distinction those lecturers who want you to represent answers to their exam questions “idem per idem” as they gave it to you during the lectures but you won’t fail either, if they sincerely mark your papers, although certain terminologies are necessary to show understanding.

Nevertheless, Word by word of everything undermines academics and human academic comprehension and effects generally poor human comprehensive attitude after graduation.

After these, thank God for giving you the opportunity to read and understand and, He will give you the opportunity to read the exam questions and pass well.

God bless you and as you read and prepare your exams. Remember, heaven helps those who help themselves.

Break a leg!!!

Yours Sincerely,
Truth Series. ,
Fr. Henrycharles Umelechi .