THE ICONS ORGANIZATION — a frontline platform for accurate, timely, and unbiased news coverage.

            Fawaz Adedeji Media professionals and student journalists from across Nigeria converged at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) on Saturday, June 6, for the 2026 International Campus Journalism Conference (ICJC ’26), aimed at strengthening youth-driven journalism and fostering the transition from campus journalism to mainstream media practice. The conference, organised by the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), OAU, held at the ICT Conference Hall, attracted participants from several universities, including the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Osun State University (UNIOSUN), and Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), among others. With the theme, “Active Voices: Youth-Driven Journalism for National Cohesion,” the conference underscored the role of journalism in promoting accountability, public enlightenment, and effective two-way communication. Speakers highlighted the media’s influence on the soc...

          Fawaz Adedeji  As Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) continues in the spirit of its 65th year of academic and cultural excellence, the university, in its special highlighted event schedules slated Thursday, June 4, for cultural day, with a series of cultural and dramatic performances presented by the Faculty of Arts, to showcase the aesthetics of learning and culture of the institution.  The anniversary event themed; "65th years of legacy of excellence: honoring the past and looking ahead to the futur e" — vividly portrays the impacts of the university on academics, research, innovation, leadership building, national development and international relevance since its establishment in June 1961 as a result of the report submitted to the Federal Government in September, 1960, by a Commission it appointed in April 1959 under the Chairmanship of Sir Eric Ashby, Master of Clare College, Cambridge, to survey the needs of post-...

            Oluwafemi Adetunji  Going down memory lane, as though it were only yesterday, it all began as a gesture of goodwill: a donation by “Màmá Onínú Ire,” the most highly ranked woman of the nation. A legacy gift to her roots, a symbol of progress rolled into Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) on wheels powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), courtesy of her distinguished alumna.                                                                 Photo Credit: Ezekiel Ogunniyi  The optics were impeccable. The ancient citadel of learning now had modern buses, cleaner energy, and what appeared to be a total transport revolution. Unfortunately, what followed was less of a revolution and more of a rapid evacuation. The first decisive move came swiftly and without hesita...

                  Sofiat Yusuf Damilola was settling down into her room in Moremi hall on Monday night, when she received a text that her goods had arrived in Ile-ife and were ready for pick-up.  Almost immediately, she got another notification stating that the students have declared a peaceful protest over the transportation crises.  Her thoughts  immediately were the mode of how OAU students are known to protest by blocking all cars, buses and bikes from going in and out of the campus gate, with all academic activities suspended.  ‎‎Ordinarily, Damilola would have gone to get her goods the next day, but that couldn't as a result of the protest, hence, she postponed the trip to Wednesday.  However, on Tuesday afternoon after a few hours of protests, the university management announced a 3-week mid semester break effective immediately, in which the Dean, Division Student Affairs (DSA) released a memo instr...

                  John Alabi  The management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has ordered the commencement of all academic activities, following the Senate meeting held on Thursday, May 14, where the issue of resumption was explicitly discussed. The resumption and academic activities commencement resolution was disclosed in a statement issued by the Office of the Registrar of the University, which reads: “After an exhaustive deliberation on the matter, the Senate agreed that students should resume on Tuesday, May 19, and all academic activities will commence immediately.” Recall that the ICONS Organization reported that a 3-week mid-semester break was declared by the University management on April 27, via a statement issued by the Office of the Public Relations Officer of the institution, in response to a peaceful protest staged by students demanding an improved and convenient transportation system, as well as a halt to th...

           By  Içons Organization & IndyPress UI     Federal institutions once regarded as the hope of the common man and symbols of Nigeria’s academic pride now mirror the decay creeping through the nation’s public education system. A close look at the big names in the circle, University of Ibadan (UI) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), reveals students battling rising tuition fees, crumbling lecture halls, overcrowded classes, and a teaching culture stifled by rushed lectures and vanishing continuous assessments. In lecture rooms where bats perch on broken ceilings, live inside empty speaker boxes, many students juggle side hustles to survive, paying tuition that rivals a month’s minimum wage, while receiving lectures in poorly ventilated halls. For them, the struggle for education has become a contest between endurance and ambition, a painful reflection of how Nigeria’s foremost institutions are losing the excellence the...