Undergraduates trained on writing, as host bemoans dearth of writing on campuses

Opeyemi Peter (Guest Writer)

Expert writer, Efosa Taiwo who is also a final year student of the Department of Mass Communication, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic on Sunday trained 177 undergraduates across 21 tertiary institutions on how they could maximize writing on their campuses.

Taiwo who recently released his first book, Writing Unboxed, held the training on a virtual platform with three guest speakers: Samuel Ajala, President, National Union of Campus Journalists; Ifeanyi Nwapkoke, a professional writer and Busayo Oyenuga, a professional copywriter joined him on the panel of speakers.

In attendance were undergraduates from the University of Ibadan, University of Benin, Lagos State University, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Biga College of Education, Sokoto, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, University of Lagos, the University of Ilorin among others.

During the training, Taiwo brought to the spotlight the various challenges confronting writers on campus while proffering practicable solutions to conquering those challenges.

Speaking after the event, the host, Taiwo said that he decided to bring together these undergraduates as a result of the dearth of writing campuses in Nigeria are experiencing based on so many campus-related factors.

“I wrote on campus. I am still writing on campus. I know there are challenges one faces in the academic environment that might want to douse the writer in an undergraduate. I have been there before but I am glad, I never stayed there. I found a way to be a student and yet write for the betterment of the school, the society and lives.

“And the truth is, if we don’t tackle the increasing dearth of writing on campus, it will have a ripple effect on our literary industry in the coming years. The best moment to catch them and encourage them is when they are young. And for the fact that they are in an academic environment, with the writing-enhancing opportunities abound in there, there can’t be a better ground than this. Hence, I decided to contribute my own quota to ensure Nigeria still churns out writing giants that will take the world by storm,” Taiwo said.

The undergraduates, after the training, had praises for it, ushering gratitude to the host for the opportunity to learn about how they could be better writers on campus.

“I got much value from the training and I learnt a lot. It was interesting all though and value-packed,” said Chuke Goodness, an undergraduate at the University of Benin.

“The webinar organized by Mr Efosa Taiwo was a resolution of selflessness. As I went through the teachings and guidelines, I was imagining how much I could have paid to receive such if not less quality lecture. I did not pay a dime to partake. I only filled an online form,” said Peter Paul, a 400L Sociology student from the University of Ilorin.

“The training was really impactful. Knowing that I can wisely manage my time for both academics and writing, understanding why I feel that there is no time to write and how I could also make money from writing,” Popoola Esther, a 100L undergraduate of History and International Relations at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti said.

For Oluwatoyin Bolaji, a student of Biga College of Education, Sokoto, the webinar was unique and he suggested such takes place more frequently.

“To say the truth, it was a great webinar. Though I have been participating in webinars, this is just different. I suggest this type of training should be happening more often for upcoming writers like me to know what steps to take and to better our writing skill,” Bolaji said.

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