Damilare Babajide, a 4th year law
student at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG), yesterday took home a
brand new car and other unnamed
perks after emerging winner of the
2014 Miss UNILAG pageant.

Damilare Babajide, a 4th year law
student at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG), yesterday took home a
brand new car and other unnamed
perks after emerging winner of the
2014 Miss UNILAG pageant.

Ms. Babajide’s windfall immediately
ignited a debate among students
and lecturers, with some criticizing
the material rewards bestowed on a
so-called beauty queen when the
same university hands a mere
computer and some cash to winners
of its demanding debate contest.
One lecturer, who asked for
anonymity, said he was troubled that
the car and other gifts to the
university’s beauty queen far
outstripped the prizes given on
September 10 to the winner of the
university debate competition.
Zainab Olaitan, a 2nd year political
science major at UNILAG who won
the university’s rigorous academic
debate competition, was awarded
N100,000 and a laptop computer.
UNILAG vice chancellor, Rahman
Bello, handed the cash and laptop
to the indomitable 18-year-old
debater.
The lecturer also noted that last
year’s winner of the debate
competition, Ms. Mary Adegunloye,
received a laptop and N50,000.
“I understand that the university
management was planning to give
the same paltry sum of N50,000 cash
prize this year to the winner of the
debate, but decided to double the
cash prize because of criticisms from
some lecturers and student leaders,”
said the source.
In addition, he said that pressure
was put on the university’s
management to give N50,000 each to
runners-up in this year’s debate.
Ms. Damilare received her car gift
today after emerging Miss UNILAG in
a beauty contest organized by the
Directorate of Student Affairs (DSA).
SaharaReporters could not
immediately ascertain the amount of
cash and other perks awarded to the
beauty queen, but Ms. Damilare told
our correspondent in a TV interview
that the sum was “encouraging.”
Reacting to the disparity in gifts for
the beauty contest and the debate
competition, a few students told our
correspondent that the relatively
small reward for intellectual
achievement was likely to affect the
academic morale of students on
campus.
SOURCE:
www.saharareporters.com/2014/10/05/beauty-vs-brains-most-beautiful-girl-unilag-rewarded-brand-new-car-while-most-brilliant

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