Nigerian campuses are communities with a groove of its own; there is a certain buzz in the social life of its undergraduates who create something out even the worst situations to make life on their various campuses tick. Though the Nigerian polity might complain of the poverty ravaging the masses and the general economic decline in most businesses, undergraduates in the nation’s universities seem not to feel it much, most especially while they are still in school, if the purchases of blackberry phones made by these young and vibrant individuals are to be taken into consideration.
According to Adeola Phillips, an undergraduate of the University of Lagos (Unilag), “On Nigerian campuses today, the most asked questions have nothing to do with academics, its “What is your BB pin?” she said. And so the desire to owning a Blackberry phone has today, on Nigerian campuses, become the ultimate task. In some cases, some students have even been known to spend their school fees to purchase the phones, hoping to raise the deficit in some other way. Many undergraduates, most females are culprits of this desire as according to Mike Anyawu, a student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, most gifts they demand for from their boyfriends or lovers are mostly Blackberry phones. “Most girls won’t even date fellow students anymore because we may be unable to afford the latest Blackberry phones that they crave”, he said.
One cannot but notice that the reasons for the purchase of the Blackberry phones among these students is not mainly for the variety of services and packages it provides. In fact, not many are aware of its functionalities and applications. The reason they own the Blackberry, as was revealed, was simply to enhance their social status.
“They want to be counted amongst the biggest boys and girls on campus. Some would go the extra mile to own a Blackberry phone; this is common amongst especially the females. Some ladies in the universities would sleep with big men in exchange for the latest blackberry phone or for BIS subscription. They do this in order to show off to their friends or to ‘’feel among’’ their friends using BB. So many youths get a blackberry phone simply because their friends also own one”, Stella Owolabi, a student of the Olabisi Onabanjo University told Campus gist.
The desperation of Nigerian students to own a Blackberry is best explained in the Nollywood movie, “Blackberry babes”. Though owning a high end Blackberry phone offers immense opportunities and helps keep one in tune with happenings around the world and with his/her contacts, the unholy methods of acquiring them has raised questions in certain quarters as to the morality of youths and the mentality of wanting every flashy new gadget on sale. Also the seeming addiction associated with the phones recently raised health issues. In what seems like a confirmation of a recent study by the New Jersey’s Rutgers University School, the Blackberry is fuelling a rise in email and internet addiction, with sufferers able to survive only a few minutes without checking for new mail or message.
Medical personnel have advocated that control of one’s impulses or urge to stay glued to the phone is important but as regards the popularity of Blackberries on Nigerian campuses, there’s yet to be a cure.
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