By ‘Kunle Adebajo.
Like Robert Mugabe who said he guarantees the freedom of but not that after speech, they push us to write unpleasant things about them and then come around to complain that our views are not balanced. Do they not realize that it is their track records and performance indices which are the Olympic gold medalists of imbalance? Don’t they understand that the forth estate of the realm is a mirror merely mirroring the management against the moral compass of the masses?
Needless to say, the current university chancellery leaves much to be desired. I am indeed very disappointed. The administration has been frog-jumping from the pillar of problems to the pole of pandemonium. At this juncture, it appears more clearly to be operating like a pendulum – swinging from one extreme end to the other. And I think the solution rests in the firm hand of the Students’ Union as the conscience of the institution. You may crucify me in your heart for saying this but I really can’t help but wonder whose blood flow would be affected thereafter.
If you are wondering what again is the problem, then perhaps your body has resumed for the new semester but your mind or spirit (to put it more kindly) has not. I ask you; please what isn’t the problem? Is maintenance supplying only my room in the entire university? Or am I the only one enjoying constant and nearly perfect power supply in this school? This is a dream, nay a nightmare, I wish to awaken from. What scares me more is that this nightmare does not stay within its nocturnal limits; it accompanies me for the bulk of my daily 24 hours. Gee!
Let us all note that one of the hallmarks of good leadership is the ability to keep your word at all times. Mr. Vice Chancellor – and I am sure I make no mistake about this – guaranteed us constant power supply only between the hours of 7pm and 11pm. Why is he reneging on this sacred vow? Does he think we are fools? I hate to sound like Godsday Orubebe but we cannot take this! Even criminals and mafiosos are known to keep their words. Uites must unite against this inexcusable misfeasance. Or have we all quickly forgotten the widely broadcast address? Gee!
I am sorry but I simply cannot stand this level of perfection and certainty. I no longer have to worry about pressing my clothes for the week on Sunday. I may decide to press them just minutes before lectures on each weekday. I no longer have to rush to plug my gadgets whenever there is light. I may use my laptop till it has only 10% of energy left – though there was light throughout the period – and then I recharge fully for another downward spiral. Then again, my roommate now bothers to flick the light switch at night because he sleeps better in the dark. Is that no longer the job of the Maintenance Department? Does Mr. Vice Chancellor not know that the mind of the Nigerian student is programmed to be productive only when it faces hardship and inconvenience? That is why our counterparts who journey beyond the Atlantic fail woefully in their studies. Now, the British Prime Minister is desperately looking for ways to send them back home. I thought this fact was an obvious no-brainer. Gee!
Lest I forget, the administration must be called to account for the source of the money used to secure all this electrical energy. A petition should in fact be forwarded to the EFCC without delay. They tell us all the time that they have no money, that the Federal Government has forsaken them in the wilderness, that their Internally Generated Revenue is nothing to write village about. Blah blah! Yet, they have enough money to power over 1,032 hectares of land. Spare me the irony please. Gee!
Now to my final bus-stop, I ask. What is the University of Ibadan Students’ Union doing to curtail this anomaly? I ask again. What is the Premier Aluta doing to restore sanity to this institution? Mr. S.U. President, during your inaugural address, you assured us you will not hesitate to protest whenever injustice and highhandedness is perpetrated. What injustice could be greater than an abrupt change in our lifestyle, more so without our permission? Is it until all the generators on campus pack up for lack of use or our lamps stop functioning due to overcharging? Gee!
