By Philip OsunsamiÂ
Pioneer volunteers of Diamond 101.I FM, Ibadan, a community radio owned by the university, on Monday, donated studio equipment to the station.
The equipment worth million of Naira was received, on behalf the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, by the Deputy Vice Chancellor {DVC}, Academic, University of Ibadan, Prof. Aderonke Baiyeroju.
Items donated, which worth a sum of two million Naira, include HP Core i3/4GB/1TB/ 24″ All in one computer, HP 250 Intel celeron 4GB/500GB, C270 Longitech Webcam, HP wired mouse, HP wireless mouse, Behringer HP x 2000 headphones, system hanger and others.
Prof. Baiyeroju lauded the former volunteers for the gesture.
The DVC said: ‘’The university appreciates greatly when people give back and these are people who were not being paid for the work they did. Though they came to learn, they worked for the university and then they are coming back. The university is very grateful for this and we hope that many more groups will do this kind of thing for the university.
‘’For those who have benefited, they should also look back and give back to the university. This is the university that made them, especially those who were students here.
‘’Financially , the university is not doing well. When people come back to help us, we appreciate that. Diamond FM should go further and improve. It is on our list of things to do. We will do something’’.
‘’Talking about funding, for example, the electricity bill per month is over a N100 million. Where do we make N100 million from, is it from UI waters or hotels? So, everything we are making in the university is going towards utilities, water, water treatment, electricity, diesel. We are spending over N200 million every month on just utilities. We’re not getting anything from the government. The government gives us about N10million a month, what does that do?’’
Mrs. Ibikunoluwa Otesile {nee Babatunde}, a 2008 volunteer with the station, who led her other colleagues to make the donation, said: ‘’We were students of UI then and we served at Diamond FM. All of us have left; some are in different countries. Some are still in the media industry. A committee was put together and we taxed ourselves to put this together. We want to say a thank-you to the VC. We cut our teeth at Diamond FM as pioneer volunteers.  We did not forget where we started from. The effort will give a bit more attention to the station. It will add value to the station in promoting excellence. The station is not where it should be’’.
To the current volunteers, she said: ‘’Diamond FM will give the platform, what you do with it is your hands’’.
The Director of Information Technology and Media Services {ITMS} at the university, Mrs. Biodun Alao, who welcomed the volunteers appreciated the gesture.
The General Manager of the station, Dr. Paul Tony Emokhare ;Â Mrs. Helen Akpabio and others were present at the donation.
END