By Shereefdeen Ahmad
In 2016, when Bashir Turawa was offered admission to study Literature-in-English in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, he was among the disciples of the philosophy that everything cannot be learnt within the four walls of the classroom. He made up his mind to study beyond what he would be taught in the lecture halls.
Though equipped with this conviction, he was still confused as to what exactly he would venture into.
After a rigorous exercise for marshaling his thoughts, Turawa decided to engage in campus journalism. But he was also afraid that his new endeavor would not conflict with his academic activities.
Not long after, he got used to both and created a balance that would enable him to excel as one of the brilliant Literature-in-English students among his cohorts.
Turawa is proud of graduating with Second Class (Upper Division), the highest grade ever achieved by graduates from the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics (MELL), in the university. And nobody, not even those who had come to the university to obtain their certificate only, had graduated with higher results.
Also in 2018, he bagged the award of the outstanding Digest Journalist of the Year and subsequently, just at the peak of his graduation, won the award of the most outstanding Editor after serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the News Digest Press, a campus press outlet he had been a member since 2016.
How he did it, he said, was just knowing the right thing to do at the right time.
“It was difficult at first. [Sometimes] I had to make a lot of changes to my studying schedule in order to give room for other activities.”
Just like Turawa, his colleague from the same department, Taoheed Adegbite, joined campus journalism the same year.
Now a graduate and advocate, Adegbite would always give thanks to campus journalism, an extracurricular activity he had dedicated time for when he was in school.
His involvement in campus journalism got him an opportunity in Advocacy that did not only earn him an income as a student but also gave him sustainability even after graduation. But before he achieved this feat, he reminisced, the experience was just like that of processed gold.
“There were times I sacrificed class or reading for workshops and advocacy outreach,” he said. But there were also times he would read overnight to cover up anything he might have missed.
“When you learn the art, you corroborate it with the act. And many of us got these values and skills through the act. That’s the value extracurricular activities did to us.”
“I graduated from the MELL department with a second class upper division in Literature-in-English. It was never easy. But we sailed through because we so much believed that academic and extracurricular activities are helping hands to each other and not the other way.”
Learning What Professors Couldn’t Teach
Combining both academic and extracurricular activities in an environment like Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto is very challenging, said Mohammed Yakub, who used to be the President of the National Association of Kwara State Students, (NAKSS UDUS Chapter).
Being a student in the Faculty of Art and Islamic Studies, he coupled as a campus politician with an outstanding reputation among his peers. Despite all warnings that his political activities would affect his grades, now a graduate, Yakub considers himself successful.
“I graduated as one of the best students from the Department of Islamic Studies as nobody has graduated above the second class Upper division I got.”
In addition to that, his time in politics has taught him what his Professors could not teach him in the classroom.
“I was able to realize my leadership qualities,” he said.
Expressing what extracurricular activities could do, Professor Jimoh Amzat, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said engaging in such activities complements what the students are being taught in the class.
For instance, communication and confidence-building which can be built in book or debate clubs, he said, could help students develop skills that are not taught in classrooms but essential in labour market.
“Combining those activities and academic work produces well-rounded students and graduates. It helps to meet people beyond their department, thereby enhancing friendship and fellowship that could also be beneficial.”
But with all the advantages that come with engaging in extracurricular activities on campus, Lawal Olakunle noted, it is often met with condemnation that it injures academic grades.
But Olakunle, a former Sports Editor at Pen Press, a campus press outlet in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, did not buy the idea.
He described his time outside the classroom learning stuff he could not be taught in his lecture halls as his best moments.
“It widened my horizons and upgraded my thinking,” he said softly tapping his head. “That’s what it does to students.”