The reward for the beauty pageant was far cry from the reward given to the winner of the university debate competition last month.
Today, Friday October 3, 2014, Ms. Damilare Babajide, a 400 level Student of Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) was rewarded with a new car alongside other unannounced sumptuous perks as the winner of the 2014 Miss UNILAG pageant.
The reward for the beauty pageant was far cry from the reward given to the winner of the university debate competition last month.
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On September 10, Olaitan Zainab, a 200 level student of Political Science who emerged from a rigorous academic debate competition was handed a sum of N100,000 with a laptop computer.
The fiery debater, 18, was handed the package of a laptop and a cash prize of N100,000 by the university Vice Chancellor, Professor Rahman Bello.
Last year, the winner of the university debate, Ms. Mary Adegunloye, was given a cash prize of N50,000 with a laptop computer. Sources familiar with management organizers told SaharaReporters that the paltry sum of N50,000 would be repeated this year, but criticisms of some staff and student leaders on the campus prompted an increase of N50,000.
In addition, the management was also persuaded to give runners-up in the debate competition a sum of N50,000 each, although this was not done in the previous year.
Receiving her car and gifts today, Babajide, who emerged Miss UNILAG, was presented officially by the office of the Directorate of Student Affairs (DSA).
SaharaReporters could not immediately confirm what the other perks were, and particularly what the cash reward was, but the winner told our TV crew in an interview that the sum is "encouraging".
Reacting to the disparity of gifts made to winners of both the debate competition and beauty pageant, some students on the campus said the measly gifts to winners of academic competitions compared to the sumptuous packages to winners of beauty pageants will definitely affect the morale of students in the course of their studies.