BY TAIWO OGUNMOLA-OMILANI
The COVID-19 Pandemic that has led to lockdown of many parts of the country on a regular basis is not palatable to millions of Nigerians.
This is a virus, which has pervaded every sector of the nation and even the world and it has brought abrupt halt to activities around the world, including academic activities.
Students from different institutions of learning recently reacted to how this pandemic has affected them and their lifestyle.
Michael Okuwobi from the Lagos State University, Faculty of Law 300 level in an interview with Upshot said; “I must say that Coronavirus has affected me in many ways.
“At the beginning of the year, I had various plans, which I intended to achieve before the year runs out. Some of these plans had a time frame, especially my movement from one place to another.
“However, the outbreak of the virus and the lockdown frustrated some of these plans and it has forced me to adjust the plans.
“Furthermore, academic activities, which followed stringent academic calendars have been put on hold. I had expected that by this time I would be writing my 1st semester exam, now, this is impossible because of Coronavirus disease,” Michael lamented.
The undergraduate lawyer stressed that a 10 month session may be prolonged to 15months or more.
According to him, as a person who loves the communion of saints, I have been forced to adjust to new patterns of fellowshipping with the brethren, which cannot be compared to physical gatherings that we normally had sequel to the outbreak of the virus.
“The list goes on and on, we only ask for mercy from the Most High so that normalcy can be restored,” he added.
Osho Oluwa Gbohunmi, a 100 level student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, studying Urban and Regional Planning also shared his experience with Upshot on how this pandemic affected him.
According to him, being a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, an institution with one of the fastest curriculum calendars, my first semester break commenced early February 2020, a break which was originally meant to last a month, the ASUU warning strike followed the break and extended it for two weeks.
“Lockdown of schools over COVID-19 started during the warning strike and this extended the already long break till further notice.
“Some students of OOU Ago-Iwoye like myself have been at home without lectures and without a syllabus for the next semester for three months.
“Although it might not be obvious at the moment, periods like this take a toll on students, because by the time the schools will resume, lecturers would most likely speed up their classes in order to cover their long syllabus within shortest period of time.
“With this, they would not be able to give the students much lectures before tests and examinations commence.
“As an 100 level student of Urban and Regional Planning of OOU Ago-Iwoye, it’s only by luck and chance that I was able to lay my hands on the syllabus of my immediate seniors because we operate from different campuses.
“Although I’ve been able to lay my hands on some past syllabuses, going through them alone without a lecturer to put me through has been really hard and stressful.
“Online lectures have been proposed, but not all courses especially courses like mine are easy to learn online. This period has been really tough for students like myself and we can only wish that this situation passes as quickly as possible,” Osho added.
Oluwadunmininu Sobukola, an undergraduate of the University of Lagos explained that “Coronavirus Pandemic, which resulted in the closure of my school and halted academic activities has affected me positively because asides from being an undergraduate, I’m also a baker, and the lockdown gave me an opportunity to create and try out new recipes and sign up for some online courses on my business.
“The only clause is that my academics has been delayed because I’m supposed to be writing my first semester examinations now,” she said.
Sobukola Oluwademilade an undergraduate of the university of Lagos, said, “Coronavirus Pandemic led to the closure of schools so I had to run back home.
“The lockdown really has its advantages on me because I spent more time with my mom in the kitchen learning new food recipes especially how to make “moin moin” wrapped with local leaves, which was a bit difficult but interesting. I look forward to going back to school soon because I miss my friends and the school environment”.
Uanikhoje Janet is a student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure FUTA), from the Department of Industrial Mathematics.
She said, “personally, I had thought it would be a short break. Little did I know that two weeks would eventually be two months and we are still counting during. We transitioned from total lockdown to partial lockdown and who knows, maybe we will br back to total lockdown with the skyrocketed number of infected people.
“As a result of the lockdown, businesses have been closed down, social gatherings prohibited, large gatherings disbanded, schools closed.
“The slogan now is ‘Stay home! Stay safe!’. All in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. My final year in school wasn’t supposed to be this way, or so I thought. With the pandemic, there’s certainty that my final year will be extended by several months. Even the fire to go through coursework and work on project(s) at this time has been doused as the ever growing number of infected people make the date of resumption bleak.
“I expect that after playing our parts by staying at home, eventually, Coronavirus will be purged out and we can then all return to our normal lives”.
Mayowa Alice Ajayi, a 100 level student of Grajos Institute of Mass Communication lamented how boring staying at home has been.
“The fear of COVID-19 has created fear and restricted my movements since schools have been closed. Even the ease of lockdown means nothing to me since schools remain closed.
“I hope this virus vanishes quickly for me to return to school. I miss my friends and school environment,” she said.
