Some students of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, COOU, formerly Anambra State University, have taken to social media to disclose that one of their lecturers gave them free textbooks for his lecture.

The students who are of the department of mass communication, 200 level, expressed surprise at the action of their lecturer, saying they never believed a lecturer could do such a thing.

Massmediang gathered that the lecturer had noticed that the students did not resume school immediately after the nationwide strike by university lecturers, so he devised a means to get them back to school.

He then sent a message to the whatsapp group of the class telling them that the first set of students to appear in class will get his textbook free of charge. The textbook is actually sold N1,500 in the University bookshop.

In the end, 80 percent of the class got the textbook free. The lecturer told the students that what he gave them was one of his best textbooks but insisted that anyone who failed to come to class with the free textbook will be walked out. Two of the students actually forgot to come to class with theirs for the next lecture after receiving the free gift.

Below are some of the comments the students posted on social media.

“You can never be a solution provider if you don’t think. Thinkers of all ages are solution bearers. There are many readers but few thinkers. Unfortunately, only 5 per cent think, 25 per cent think they think while 75 per cent will rather die than think. 

Diverse opportunities abound in the nation but only thinkers can access them. Thinking is the raw material for wisdom, only thinkers manifest wisdom. So, it is time to stop and think. You cannot change time and season. You cannot be youth twice. Life is an adventure of time and season.” 


These were the reverberating nuggets of the Chancellor, Dr. David Oyedepo to the University community as Landmark celebrated 8th Founder’s Day on Thursday 21st March, 2019. Dr Oyedepo’s visionary and inspirational leadership, as endowed by God, has been the stimulating force for the University’s new groundbreaking achievements since inception. The “Stop and Think” charge was a great deal apt for the 8th anniversary, signifying new beginning in the scriptural sense. 

Speaking to the student population in particular, Dr Oyedepo enthused that they are in their planting season as youths, saying anyone who failed to plant would reap nothing later in life. He admonished that a foundation laid in Christ is eternal as it would speak all the days of their lives. 

“This is your planting season, never joke with it. I stated hearing God at 22. I started building my library from 20. I turned 50 years in the faith last month. You cannot afford to miss God at this stage of your life, if God is rightful placed at this stage of your life, you won’t run helter-skelter later in life. Give Jesus His rightful place and you won’t regret it,” he admonished. 

While establishing that sound mind is one of the benefits of redemption, quoting 1 Corinthians 2:6; 2 Timothy 1:7; 2 Peter 3:15. Dr Oyedepo reassured them that redemption does not suspend believers’ thinking faculty but fosters sound mind. He gave the example of Jesus, saying that he demonstrated unparalleled wisdom in his lifetime. “You cannot ask any question further after Jesus answered you. He is very sound.” 

According to him, thinking takes one to the realm of exploits like Jesus. He disclosed that the application of the truth of Scriptures available through thinking in line with the Scripture being read is what brings about ultimate exploits (Joshua 1:8 and 1 Timothy 4:15). He therefore noted that anyone who would do command exploits must be diligent and self-disciplined. Citing Proverbs 22:29 and Genesis 18:25 respectively. 

In the same vein, the Chancellor, alluding the biblical prodigal son, cautioned that achievements are non-transferrable, noting that anyone who invest in his youth has the propensity to surpass the achievements of his forebears. “This is my founder’s day anniversary gift for you. Go and start with God. Start to think. Go and embark on a think-read adventure. Think through what you read. To keep your system charged, you have to think by reasoning through the Bible and what you read (Psalms 119:97-100). If you will take this responsibility, you will be wiser than your contemporaries.

“Honour your parents. Never stand up to them. Respect your teachers. Honour them if you want to be great. We are Christ-cultured people, disciplined people. Receive grace to think your way back on track and stay on track,” he concluded.

Multitudes of students yielded the altar call to start new lives in Christ before the celebration of God’s faithfulness in songs of praise and dance that capped the event.

Without wasting much time, let's go straight to the reasons:

1) Amazing Network & Cult like Alumni: Whether you hope to look for a job post graduation or establish a company, private universities offer you a rich resource in your classmates, friends as the first point of call. Most alumni networks deliberately perpetuate and facilitate the growth of their school mates in various industries.

2) Preparedness For The Work Place: most private universities are well known to groom graduates for an easy transition to corporate Nigeria. It's no news that young private universities with relatively lesser number of graduates are dominating the corporate sector. From PwC, KPMG to Access bank it's clear that graduates of private are favoured for these jobs.

3) A place of Incubation: while public universities are trailed with tales of adolescents who miss it at young age - Internet fraud(yahoo yahoo), Abortions, Partying. Many private universities offers you a place where peer pressure has been silenced to a large degree to allow you discover yourself and grow out your impressionable years. At graduation you would be more matured to make informed decisions about your life. There is nothing remarkable about living a reckless life in the name of enjoying life only to bear bitter consequences later on life. Some might point out to certain events where private university students equally behaved immoral. However, this is rather exceptions than the norm.

4) Comfort-ability & Safety: Who would pass over quality on-campus residency with electrical, transport, medical and security services for a leaky room in Unilag?
A lot of people from public varsities wrongly pride In stressful education. But you know, with all the stressful education they had they've failed to make Nigeria a better place for many decades they exclusively produced graduates. You also know that the founders of Facebook, Google, Microsoft where all product of an elite private education system US. Therefore there is obviously no correlation between stress and creativity or progress.

5) Diversity: While public university grads continue to make snarky unintelligible correlation between private universities and secondary schools - It would be important to note that the private higher education sector is more diverse than the public ones.
For deep seated Christians, Church Universities are available to cater for their academic and spiritual needs.
Islamic universities cater for Muslims academically and spiritually.
For socially active kids universities such as Igbinedion, Baze, Nile, AUN, PAU etc offer awesome social activities in addition to top notch education.

6) Better Scholarship Opportunities Post Graduation
As an implication of aforementioned points, Graduates of private varsities are likely to graduate with better grades because of a suitable system that encourages excellence. This becomes crucially important when jostling for scholarship opportunities when applying to schools outside Nigeria.

Feel free to add your reasons too...