“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels, the troublemakers. The round peg in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”– Rob Siltanen
Listening to our own Clinton Chibueze singing the Recovery song, one would acquiesce that the heralding change has come. But looking at the nominal ‘Recovery’, it only suggests recuperation and not exceeding the peak of ‘healthiness’. The activities in the hall need to be revamped, restructured, and recover the grounds the hall has lost as stated in the Recovery mission manifesto presented by the Chairman, Adedeji Faith. This piece is not written solely to castigate the status quo but to intimate the authorities with the gaps that needed to be filled for moral dexterity and peaceful subsistence in the hall.
It is so pathetic that events are taking these tragic turns where ideas of change are being waved in the place of status quo. Leaders, who ought to be the guide to the blind and sign masters to the deaf are in themselves clueless of what to do. The custodians of the laws flout it with reckless abandon but raise highbrow when others try to. One of the points to drive home is the preponderance of marijuana and cigarette fragrance in the hall thereby causing health hazards to her inhabitants. This is common in the block that houses the leaders and cabals of this Great hall. Would it be gainsaying to state that our leaders, by allowing smokers to smoke inside the hall, encourage cultists and social fads in their bustle? It is really disheartening. Last session, some culprits had the guts to write the following on the paper which bears ‘EXAM TIPS’ pasted by the then health minister:
‘Smoke some Good kush, kush helps in stabilising the brain, if you need some you can get in D27’
When the Press investigated the inhabitants of this room (D27), it discovered that the occupants are then executive members; so dispiriting. We hope Great men would be able to handle this simple truth. ‘Recovery missionaries’ should amend this as this daunting ill transpires in their block.
It is also pertinent to stress that the blabbers and rabble-rousers need to be halted and immediately checked. It has been affirmed now and again that religious activities are allowed to take full wave in halls of residence but in legally stipulated places. It was clearly stated in the UI bulletin released on 17th February, 2011 that ‘Religious activities had earlier been banned in classrooms, lecture theatres and the Central cafeterias on Sunday and other days of the week. The regulation which stipulates that all religious activities should take place in designated places of worship is still in force and members of the University community are enjoined to abide by this regulation please’. All religions and religious activities (excluding none) are meant here as evidenced in the above. Now, the atmosphere in the hall has turned topsy-turvy. A reader in the hall reading room could not be spared distraction and interruption because some ‘holy men and women’ are worshipping their Creator. Some of these worshippers would even stay in front of the reading room singing praises to the Lord to the detriment of some studying creatures. Our own brothers also feigned being enemies in this sense, using their screeching voices to intrude into the silent atmosphere at dawn with their claps and hymns speeding into sleeping ears like darts in the hearts; and the next thing one hears is “Good morning C blockites, C blockites good morning, this is the voice of…” What is good in the morning when Kutites’ peace and privacy is being interrupted all in the name of religion? The notice boards are there for information and not for decoration; any religious organization that has some information to disseminate should paste them on the notice boards. Calls to prayer can be made with the most screeching voices so much as it is in a legally stipulated place. There is no basis for calling prayers on one of Kuti’s roofy pavements with megaphones in the name of religion while distressing sleeping Kutites. This, we believe, is not part of the doctrines of Scriptural religions. Our ‘Recovery missionaries’ should please work on these ills and find solutions to them. If the hall management still stands on generating IGR by renting out the café to religious organizations on Sundays, then it’s going against the school rules. If it can’t be checked, then that is typical of the change we had expected.
Of those junctures to be engaged by our Recovery missionaries is the issue of indiscipline. On the blueprint guiding this administration, we have as one of its points, ‘zero tolerance policy on indiscipline’. The leaders should always serve as illuminating examples but the converse is the case. It is off-putting when an ace in this great hall is seen in front of the thirty-first room in D-block harbouring a female at 4 am. We, the editorial board, are not trying to preach abstinence here (that is your business), but as a legislative council member, you are not expected to break rules even when others do. Generally, females are not allowed to exceed 10pm in male halls. You should be an embodiment of moral decency. ‘Discipline is the soul of an army’.
The porters, cafeteria and butchery administrators need to be worked on too. It has always been an arena of exploitation when Kutites are instructed to bring jam locks almost every session when packing into rooms that have spoilt locks. We are even astounded by the trend when porters accost you and inform you they are selling locks; are they businessmen? Where did they get these locks? That’s story for the gods. We urge the executive members to attend to this. The butchery and cafeteria administrators are not left out in this scourge of indiscipline. The prices regulated by UI SRC are still being hyped by these administrators. A price monitoring committee should be set up to examine this affair.
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility of our future”- George Bernard Shaw.
‘Gbogbo wa ma lowombe, gbogbo wa ma lowombe, Recovery mission yii, gbogbo wa ma lowombe’.
All Correspondence to the Editor-in-Chief: 08157439612; kutipress@gmail.com
