By: Ibraheem Fiyinfoluwa
Election periods all over the world are characterised by hope, change, and a view of a better future. It is one where candidates speak of their roadmaps to deliver the masses of current troubles and issues. It is one where promises and plans are made by candidates not only solely for societal progression but also to give themselves an edge over their opponents to get into office. At the University of Ibadan, promises and plans of candidates are encapsulated in their manifestoes. These manifestoes are part of the criteria that some students scrutinise before voting for a candidate, so it becomes essential that the promises that have already been made by candidates be followed through when such candidates get into office.
The current House Secretary, Elemide Daniel, also came up with a manifesto before he was elected. His manifesto, tagged “The House Agenda,” which captures his promises to the students of the University of Ibadan, is divided into seven agendas ranging from health to light and security, price control and regulation, transportation, bursary, academic welfare, and socials.
Moreover, while some of these promises have been delivered, the fulfilment and enactment of some are yet to be clearly seen done by the students of the University of Ibadan.
Health Matters
The House Secretary mentioned in his manifesto to collaborate with the University Health Services and publicise health hotlines for the students, ensuring that such hotlines are widely known and easily accessible. However, the hotlines have not been being publicized to the students following his election into office. The availability of such hotlines is one that is unknown to most of the students of the University of Ibadan at the moment.
Speaking to UCJUI regarding this, the House Secretary, Elemide Daniel, said that he met with the Director of Health Services the following week after being elected and have had subsequent contacts with the Director regarding his collaboration with Jaja. He also mentioned that the Jaja emergency lines were sent to health ministers of various student associations in the school and pinned the unavailability of the hotlines to the general student body on the issue of efficiency on the side of Jaja.
“There are times that it does not go through due to issues of people being available to handle it. In an ideal setting, the customer care job is to do customer care, but they are understaffed in UHS. The numbers were not trended because they were not fully functioning,” he explained.
He also stated that in cases of emergency, health ministers also reached out to him to use the union’s bus to get students to Jaja.
Another issue on this agenda has to do with the regular inspection of stalls and food vendors in the university. As stated in the manifesto, this should be an activity that should be carried out with the health ministers regularly but one that has not yet been concretely executed by the office of the house secretary.
The House Secretary, while speaking on this issue, stated the inspections have not been as frequent as they should be.
“It should be something that is periodic and should have a specific time, but then, the activities of the semester have been so many, but that’s something to work on and make it more periodic activity,” he stated. He, however, gave instances of responding to health complaints in cafetarias and food stalls in different parts of the university community.
Another promise that is yet to be solidly materialised has to do with the organisation of health programs, awareness campaigns, seminars, and workshops to enlighten students on health practices and give necessary health and support.
The House Secretary, in response to this, said that the health programmes and campaigns that have been organised have been carried out online due to the high costs of carrying out a physical one.
“We do mental health campaigns online and health tips as broadcast by the office of the PRO, but to have physical programmes is quite a cost burden,” he said.
He, however, stated that there are programs lined up for the health day that would come up during the student union week, and the University Health Services have been reached out to for assistance in providing medical personnel for the day. He also mentioned that a private organisation has been reached out to for support with drugs that can be prescribed to students or that would be urgently needed.
Lighting and Security
Similar to the case of the unavailability of health hotlines, there is also the lack of publication of the general student populace security hotlines as promised by the house agenda.
In response to this, the House Secretary said that there is a council of defence ministers that has met with the CSO several times. He said though all the defence ministers have the security hotlines, the reason why it was not sent to the public was because the security unit made him understand that it was better if it went through the defence ministers because there would be instances of trivialisation if sent to the general student populace.
“They are trying to mitigate against issues that could have been handled by their hall chairpersons or their defence minister in-house,” he said.
Another issue yet to be seen as promised by the House Agenda is the installation of efficient lighting in dark pathways on campus. It was, however, acknowledged in the ‘house agenda’ that it was the duty of the school management, but one that would be worked on upon getting into office.
In response to this, the House Secretary noted that though the project has not been worked upon yet, he has reached out to numerous people, among them one of the senators representing the constituency where the University of Ibadan is located, requesting street lights. He further went on to list the areas as indicated in letters sent out to request support where the street lights were needed and, when supplied, would be installed.
“…school gate through Barth Road to Awo Hall; Queen’s Hall through Love Garden to SUB; from SUB to Zik Bridge; Idia and Awo halls and the private hostels in the same vicinity. We have been reaching out and following up on different people and philanthropists as well as politicians, and by God’s grace this will be made possible,” he explained.
Price Control and Regulation
The house agenda promised to set up an adhoc price regulation committee for the purpose of managing and preventing traders from leveraging inflation to exploit students and increase prices on campus. However, such a price control committee does not exist.
The House Secretary admits that such a price control committee does not exist yet but also stated that he has begun to work on a framework to ensure price control regulation on the university campus. He stated that there would be a meeting at the SRC Chamber with the Hall Chairpersons on Sunday and a price control committee would be created in each hall with the Student Union taking a supervisory role. He stated an instance where he went to a hall of residence to address a similar issue, and the hall leadership was not in total cooperation on the issue at hand.
“If the union is trying to fight for price control and the hall leadership is not on the same page with us, then it would not yield much,” he said.
He also stated that a meeting would also be had with all vendors in the school, beginning with the cafeteria vendors next Sunday after the meeting with hall chairpersons.
“We have met some of the vendors informally, but we want to make it official now,” he said.
The house agenda also promised to create awareness and prioritise proper communication of all committee activities, investigative reports, and price lists through an easily accessible online medium to ensure the student populace is well informed and can hold committees and vendors accountable. There is, however, not a specific online space where all these can be accessed by the public, though the office of the PRO does send out special releases concerning price lists and similar announcements on campus.
In response to this, the House Secretary stated that the PRO is already working on a union website where such aforementioned materials can be accessed by the public, and when the school management endows the union, it would be done expediently and the website would be active.
However, during the discussion he mentioned that he just noted the idea of making use of a Google Drive folder that shows the welfare aspect of the union temporarily before the launch of the website.
Socials
The House Agenda promised collaboration with the TEDx UI Team to follow up for an event on the platform that will bring together diverse minds to spark cross-disciplinary collaborations and showcase talents to international audiences.
Though such an event is yet to hold, the House Secretary said that the team is planning on hosting an event this semester.
“We are still in the planning phase in conjunction with the TEDx UI team, but the event is slated to hold on December 7. We are still reaching out to partners at this point,” he said.
In terms of promotion of creatives, the house secretary mentioned that some events like “campus wave” and “trace in the city” have already been hosted by the union and more are still to come.
“We also have an event, “Unknown,” coming up by November 30, and it is hosted by a Uites, which will be to bring out U.I. creatives, and speakers will be present to talk out bringing out talents. We still have a list of events to come out.”
As regards the learning of skills, he also mentioned that a leadership program held on Saturday, November 16, and there will be another program on November 26th and 27th that will be partnered with a foundation that would bring individuals to train people on digital skills and literacy.
State of the Student Union Building
One of the major constitutional duties of the house secretary is the management of the student union building. However, the state of the student union building over time has been one that has raised criticism to the office of the house secretary over performing these tasks.
Some parts of the building are filled with debris, dirt, and litter, and sometimes the toilets in the student union building are mostly locked, prompting some individuals to go to the Faculty of Arts to relieve themselves.
In response to this, the house secretary mentioned several challenges that have hindered his ability to ensure that the environment of the Student Union Building is in an optimal state.
He said upon coming into office, Post UTME students were using the building at the time, and they would litter the building despite several instructions and warnings not to.
With the toilets, he mentioned that he opened one and put a drum there, and the other was locked, and only a few people were given the key to access it. He said he had to close the one made public due to poor use by people.
“Managing the student union building requires that it be done with tough skin. With the drum in the toilet and after pumping water, people will still mess it up, and at some point, I had to lock it. When it was locked, we had cases of people who would defecate in front of the toilet and wrap it with paper, so eventually I had to open it again and just try to be strict with it,” he said.
As regards the areas in the building clustered with debris, he showed UCJUI pictures he had taken of these areas, which he had sent to the individual managing the building’s cleaner so it could be worked upon.
“I saw the places, and I took pictures, sending them to the person managing the cleaners to come on Monday. However, nothing has been done yet. I would make sure I call the cleaner after this meeting to make sure that she comes tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 21) to clean it up. It is not befitting of the union building; it is going to be a lot better,” he said.
