My Most Memorable Experience As Campus Journalist

It was on a Tuesday, I had just been commissioned by a leading online newspaper to carry out an investigative report on the impact of the NEEDS assessment scheme of the Federal Government in public universities.

With the excitement of scaling through a rigorous pitch review and selection process, I set out to achieve my laid out objective of identifying and appraising projects affiliated with the programme.

After walking the length and breadth of the campus, evaluating NEEDS assessment-sponsored projects – taking pictures and interviewing students as well as lecturers – I felt the compulsive need to approach the bursary and obtain financial records of all monies released to the university under the interventionist scheme.

On approaching the bursary and stating my mission, the officials were unwilling to provide the necessary information and documents I had requested. They saw no reason why a student – albeit a journalist – should have access to their records.

However, I was going to have none of that, partly because I grew up in a home that had two practicing lawyers and was very conversant with the Freedom of Information (FoI) act that empowers citizens to have access to public records and information upon request, and also because of an adrenaline rush that stemmed from my desire to justify the confidence reposed in me by my editor and mentor. So I insisted, and for a minute or two, things got heated up. I was eventually ejected out of the office.

About an hour later I was back, armed with an FoI request to formalize my demands. I watched in excitement as the officials became jittery at my seeming audacity, the whole office became tensed despite the seven-day grace the FoI act gives. On my way out, I noticed an array of bursary and registry staff speaking in hushed tones. I was unbothered. I was finally going to have the last laugh, I told myself.

I was still basking in the euphoria of my premature victory when a call came in from my Head of Department, I couldn’t make much out of what he was saying but it had to do with my FoI request, then came the threats. Moments later, I was on phone with my level adviser. She was pleading with me to withdraw the request for the sake of my academics. My parents also heard about the issue, all in less than three hours.

I consulted my editor and he advised I succumb to pressure; he chided me for approaching management prematurely and being confrontational.

The next day, I was back in the office, with a letter to withdraw my earlier request. I was defeated, and  the bursary officials finally had the last laugh.

I was embarrassed and discouraged, I vowed to focus solely on my engineering career, I had just experienced what journalists go through in the quest for accountability.

However, I consoled myself and picked up again, I had chosen the journalism life and won’t let one incident truncate my aspirations. I want to taste the honeycomb and the incongruity of the axe was not going to deter me!

Mr Ayotunde in Minna, Niger State

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Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.