Fears and hopes have continued to trail the resumption of the University of Maiduguri for the 2014/2015 academic session. Despite the ongoing insurgency in the North-east part of the country, students have continued to troop to the ancient city of Maiduguri but not without some fears and apprehension.
The only sin the students of the University committed was that they chose to pursue higher education in Maiduguri. Today, they live in perpetual fear of the unknown. The fears of these students are predicated on the security challenges that besieged the campus during the last academic session especially the March 14, 2014 crisis when stray bullets and grenades hit the university. This was followed by many other crises around the university community that sends reverberating shock down the spine of students. The July sand storm was another incident that left indelible experiences in the memories of the students.
Fears and hopes resonate in the minds of these students, as the university reopened for a new session recently. A returning student, Aliyu Saidu who spoke on a sober note said, “Resuming for the new academic session is a great risk. Many things have been on this campus that mouths cannot say. After long hours of lectures and class activities under the Maiduguri sun, one would expect a peaceful night rest but the occasional night explosions and gunshots from neighbouring communities negate this expectation. There were midnight explosions that lasted for hours, daylight gunshots, sudden rumour of insurgents’ attack and many others. Yet we aren’t relenting. We are not fools; we are just desperate.”
James Agwu, a newly-admitted student of the university who expresses surprise at the large turn-out of students for the new session said, “It amazes me when I resumed and saw large number of students. I thought Maiduguri crisis would discourage resumption but I was wrong. It’s as if nothing negative is happening in Maiduguri. The students seem to have accepted the insurgency as a normal way of life.”
But for some students of the university, the challenges of the previous session left a psychological effect on their mind. Emeka Uchenna, a graduating student of Chemical Engineering who shared his personal experience with our reporter said: “It was when I left Maiduguri that I understood that some things are not normal. I had thought living in Maiduguri amidst the security crisis is normal until I travelled out of town for the break. If I suddenly hear any loud sound around me my heart leaps and my body becomes alert. Even when I was in the South, I responded to sudden sound with fear. At such times, my mind only calms down when I reminded myself that I’m no longer in the North.”
When asked about his fears for the new session, Halima Mohammed said: “My fears are many but the forthcoming 2015 general elections tops the list. We’ve seen the violence that trailed election results in the past. The Ekiti crisis is a typical example. For a town like Maiduguri that is sitting on a time bomb, next year’s election is going to be a defining time in Nigeria history. If the outcome of the election isn’t what the Northerners anticipated, Maiduguri can be overrun by insurgents and that worries me.”
Ayodeji Hamzat, a 300 level student of Accountancy narrated his many futile attempts to secure inter-university transfer to the universities in the Southwest. He said, “I’d already given up on those schools. I will finish my studies here in Maiduguri”. When asked if he wasn’t deterred by the security challenges in the city, he said: “I can’t just wake up one morning and say I want to leave Maiduguri. How can I go to sit for JAMB again after five years of heat, explosions, gunshots and sandstorm? I’d gone too far to begin again. It’s not everybody that has the courage to gather the broken pieces of their lives together and start again.”
The life of an average UNIMAID student according to Victor Mshelia is a life of total faith in God. He said: “When mid-night explosions rock neighbouring communities, where will you run to? It’s at such moments you look up to your creator. With the look of things, the insurgency does not appear to be nearing an end considering the fact that the Chibok girls are still being held hostage. My cardinal fear is that the insurgents might at anytime launch an offensive attack on Maiduguri and by implication, at UNIMAID, after-all the March 14 crisis wasn’t a direct attack at the campus, we were just victims of their conspiracy.”
In his own words, Idris Suleiman, the Chairman, Mosque Committee, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, College of Medical Sciences said: “We plead that the government find a lasting solution to the problem posed by these insurgents. The remedial approach of the government to this crisis only provides temporary solution to a permanent problem. It’s high time government stopped putting our lives on the line. It is self-deception to think that all is well when we know that Maiduguri is sitting on a time-bomb. We plead for a peaceful and an enabling environment that is conducive for learning.”
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