By Sheriff Folarin

The UCJ is an abbreviation for the Union of Campus Journalists. It is fashioned after the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), an umbrella body made up of pen-pushing professionals. The NUJ comprises of men and women in the print and electronic media, private and public owned. Like the NUJ, the UCJ caters for the interest of campus journalists, festers their nests and promotes the intellectual spirit of dialecticism.

 The organization is made up of press clubs in all the halls of residence, including Alexander Brown Hall (UCH) in the University of Ibadan; all the departmental, faculty and independent press clubs jointly owned or controlled by a group of students. At present, the UCJ has more than fifty member-clubs and a conservative number of over five hundred members. The organisation is managed by an eight-man executive committee, with the president at the helm of affairs. There is a congress of all member-clubs and pressmen on campus, which is the most potent force as far as decision-making is concerned.

 The UCJ has a suite in the Students’ Union Building where it runs its secretarial/administrative activities. There is also a large press board by the entrance of the Union Building by which the Union coordinates its reportorial activities and reaches out to the general campus public.

 The UCJ is a member of the University’s Press Council, which, incidentally, has been moribund for some time. The UCJ president is a member of the council, which is made up of the Dean of Students, the Deputy Registrar(students), the University PRO and a number of principal officers of the institution.

THE PAST 

The UCJ was an idea conceived of in 1985, but came to become a reality in 1990 when it was officially launched. The idea behind the UCJ was to create and auspicious climate for student journalists to operate in a university where prejudice against student writers from the authorities had reached a crescendo. It also reflected the change in trends namely, the increase in awareness among Ibadan students that writing about their situation can create consciousness that may help to improve their situation. 

Campus journalism is however as old as the University of Ibadan itself. From the moment the University College Ibadan began in 1948 at the old site at Eleyele, a group of students had started a magazine called The University Herald. The magazine, which subsisted for more than five years, had columns and sections for a variety of social issues. The magazine however dwelt more on students, members of staff, and general campus matters. At different points in time, there were editors, columnists and writers, who made it popular and who later became big shots in their different chosen professions. Among the writers and columnists were (Ambassador) Iyalla, (Prof) Chinua Achebe, (Chief) Bola Ige, (Mrs.) Mabel Segun, (Prof.)J.F.A. Ajayi, Gbajabiamila, (Prof.) Wole Soyinka, (Prof.) Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, (Prof.) J.P.Clark, etc. 

The Herald, however, went into oblivion after the first generation of Ibadan student journalists graduated from the school. (J.P.Clark also had a magazine at the time, The Horn, which was both creative and poetic, in capturing university life). The hard nature of campus press at that time was partly responsible for its collapse. University authorities, who were made up mainly of colonial elements, discouraged it for its sharp bites on racial discrimination between the white and black members of staff, “colonial mentality”, administrative ineptitude, etc.

 When the columnists and writers were forced to start writing spasmodically due to the prevailing difficulties created by the school, hard journalism died naturally. The outcome of this development was the springing up of a new kind of journalism, a soft one, which comically but deftly criticized the community. But the attention amply shifted from the authorities to the student: the way  they dressed, behaved, talked, reasoned, their waywardness, sexual habits etc. This greatly marked a turning point in the history of student journalism. The new dispensation was represented by The Bug, a magazine that bit and stung – however with a comic undertone. 

The era of The Bug in the early sixties through the early seventies was an eventful one. The Bug actually laid the foundation of soft-sell gossip journalism in Nigeria. Some of the writers in the magazine graduated to establish or work in Nigeria’s earliest soft magazines. 

By the year 1976 – a time that military rule had become institutionalised in the country – university students became more agitated, and thereby more aggressively outspoken in condemning the ills, social injustice, and hounding of the society. This particular situation brought the students out of their era of The Bug. Writing on various boards then became hard, harsh and extremely critical. This led to several punitive measures meted out to student writers by the school authorities. During this time, several campus journalist were asked to face strict disciplinary measures. 

The University of Ibadan initiated a counteractive measure with their own magazine which was the only approved publication that could be circulated within the community between 1980 and 1984. The situation worsened instead. Student writers were not only being monitored in their writings but were also severely persecuted and intimidated to the point of frustration. 

The necessary ingredients already manifest, student writers decided to take the war to the doorstep of the university authorities, and to protect their interest collectively in the fact of tyranny. In February 1985 therefore a group of student writers, specifically from Independence and Nnamdi Azikiwe halls of residence, came up with the idea of forming a Union. For them, the Association of Campus Journalists at the University of Ife, which was already in existence, would be an ideal organisation to fashion their Union after. The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) thus came into existence, with only about five press clubs and sixteen members constituting it. By 1990, the UCJ had come of age such that, in the same year, it was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony. Then the size had not grown too large but its presence had become considerably registered.

 Among those who had been the president of the Union from 1989 to 1995 were Bode Ojomu (who later became the president of the Students’ Union), Laolu Akande (now in the USA), Victor Osinaike, Adeniyi Adedoyin (now a director with the Ondo State Veterinary Board), Shefirr Folarin (the author, now a lecturer in the University of Ibadan), and Bisi Crown Olawuyi (a Masters student in the University of Ibadan). Other UCJ leaders within this period were Wale Ademuyiwa, Festus Owete, Bolajoko Olusanya (Bally Jay), Oni Oluwadamilola (Millie Cannister), Bukola Olajide (Mr. B.) Femi Oke, Soji Egbejobi (Parle), Ossai Ossai, etc. All these have become masters in their fields – journalism, administration, medicine, etc. 

The UCJ reached its apogee in 1995 and thereafter began to decline. This was due to the waning culture of writing and the calibre of writers that joined the organisation. Again the frequent closure of the University took its own toll as students always came back to be rushed, with little or no time for creative, aesthetic and journalistic activities. This remained the situation until 1999 when the democratic rule in Nigeria provided some new lease of life, and managed to restore associational atmosphere on campuses in the country.

The UCJ is at present faced with a number of problems. The first is apathy on the part of members in particular, and Ibadan students in general. Student now join the association but soon fade away. Second is the problem of lack of commitment of members of the group. Members usually have ulterior motives for joining the organisation. Such motives include the quest to launch themselves into limelight with the intention of vying for Students’ Union offices in the near future. Such intention had killed the genuine intention of the UCJ, namely, to develop the skill of members and make the pastime a worthy venture.  

Third, there is no financial commitment on the part of all members, including some of the executive members. Only the President, in most cases, squeeze out from his pockets to do most of the running around. This is often a traumatic experience for a student-president, or executive member who does not have a fat monthly allowance for himself.

 Forth, the UCJ lacks adequate recognition from the school authorities. This is why it is not taken into consideration or carried along in all university functions. The UCJ itself is doing little or nothing about this. The body is expected to push itself to the front in campus activities. Being constructive always might as well help. 

Finally, the UCJ has a local approach to all student activities, and confines itself to the UI community. It is expected to make a link with other press clubs or association of press clubs in other high institutions. It is also expected to place itself in that forerunner position in the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ). This was the case between 1991 and 1995.

THE PROSPECTS

 According to a friend and old time UCJ comrade, Bisi Crown, “The press on campus is a reflection of the outside press.: Bab Sheriff always sang too, that “campus journalism has gone beyond a mere pastime; it is now a serious business.” Those who started as campus journalists before, during, and after the birth of UCJ, are now leader in their chosen careers. Some of them, today, are veterans in professional journalism. They have all made it. Interestingly, they all began as “professional amateurs.”

 The UCJ can make campus journalism more attractive and a good ground to develop potential career journalists. The organisation should be outward-looking, relate well with the outside media and professionals in the field. They should organise conferences, training workshops and public lectures in which media executives and gurus would come and give talks. The UCJ would by that establish sufficient connections with the outside press, to which its members would fit in subsequently.

 Finally, members should no longer see themselves as playing away their precious time. They are not doing that. They are only investing. Only time and the larger society would drive home the point, that the time they have spent have only been invested, and will be gained, in different ways, in the near future.

Mr Sheriff Folarin (Babs Sheriff), a past president of the Union, is a lecturer in the Department of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.