The Manifestos of the VP and PRO: A legacy of lies, and of accomplishment
Oluwapelumi King
The Vice President and the Public Relations clearly have different roles. However, in a way, their manifestos were one of the contributors to their election into office. Both of them made certain promises to Afasites which many Afasites expected them to fulfil over the course of their time in office. This week marks the 8th week of resumption of academic activities in the second semester, which means that it is not a big ask to expect a large percentage of the manifesto to be fulfilled or almost completely fulfilled.
Thus, this article examines the manifestos of the Vice President and Public Relations Officer of AFAS. From examination, while the Vice President had a flowery manifesto, it appears that she has failed to fulfil most of her promises. On the other hand, the Public Relations Officer has achieved most of the promises in his manifesto, though not without some exceptions. This article highlights the contrasting similarities between both manifestos and the extent to which they have put plans in place towards achieving their promises.
The Vice President: A legacy built on lies
Vice President Olajumoke Olorunfemi had lots of things proposed in her manifesto, however, it is quite surprising that she has managed not to fulfil most of her promises. She highlighted 5 major points in her manifesto, they are as follows:
Point 1– Awareness of the constitution: She promised that if elected, Afasites would be informed of “the provision of the association’s constitution to create a sense of belonging and consciousness and also to help reduce political apathy in the association”. She assured Afasites through her manifesto that she will create a committee that will release 5 articles contained in the constitution through the assistant course rep to departmental WhatsApp groups. Up till now, there is no existence of any committee and there has not been any release of 5 articles a month through the office of the Vice-President. It can then be said that the Vice President failed to make her promise of increasing Afasites’ awareness of the constitution. In fact, there is no sign of genuine attempt to fulfilling this promise.
Point 2- Faculty Toilets: She promised to maintain the faculty toilet as “it has been tagged as one of the dirtiest faculty toilets in the whole of the University of Ibadan”. She said she would achieve this by speaking to the faculty management about allowing the cleaners to stay till 2 pm or 3 pm to keep watch of the use of the toilet and also remove bad doors in the toilet. It can be observed by anyone who frequents the faculty toilet that the toilet mostly still remains in a deplorable state. Sometimes, the cleaners are nowhere to be found and there are still bad doors. It begs a question: did she speak to the faculty management about the issue at all? This is a question she can answer but she ignored several messages for an interview with the correspondent. This clearly shows lack of accountability to AFASites who voted her in. Since she has not made an attempt at achieving the promises, she then cannot be faced with giving reasons for her broken promises.
Point 3- Tech Skill Training: She promised to organise physical training for interested Afasites on skills like programming, Graphic design, product design etc to serve as a side hustle. She promised to achieve this by working with a tech company that trains young people. It has now become very laughable that VP Olajumoke has not, as of the time of writing this, conducted any form of training nor said anything about it. This is another promise that has caught sight of the wind and puffed out in the mind of the VP.
Point 4- Career Talk and Soft Skill: She promised to invite alumni to speak about their experience building their careers, to train Afasites on soft skills training needed for a job application and important skills needed in the organisation. She promised to invite Jobberman to train Afasites and also invite Alumni and other professionals for the career talks. OnJobberman, the Vice-President has not invited JobberMan to train Afasites as at the time of publication. It also remains to be seen if there will be any form of career talk let alone alumni or other professionals be invited. Did she fulfil this? No!
Point 5- Opinion Polls: She promised that she will create “the monkey survey and Google form to ask Afasites opinion on decisions such as packages, events and also their complaints” yet, it is entirely surprising (maybe not at this point to those who are following) that there has been no existence of this from the office of the Vice President.
It is a shock to us seeing that the VP has not fulfilled even one promise on her manifesto. Recall in her last political interview when she said that she contested for the post of VP to show people how easy it is. But now, we have to ask Madam VP how easy she thinks it is up to this point. It also begs the question if she even remembers she has a manifesto upon assuming office. Did she just draft out something for the sake of it when she was contesting for office and then throw it out immediately she was voted in? She also showed lack of gross accountability to AFASites who trooped in on Election Day to vote her in. To her, responding to Afasites must not be worth it since she has achieved what she wanted and cannot be bothered anymore.
With none of the 5 points being achieved at this stage, it can be said that the administration of the VP and her emergence into office was entirely built on a lie or rather, on LIES. It is more blatant, especially in the words “All these plans are achievable if elected Vice-President of our association.” If all the plans were lies and phonies, then her administration’s foundation is rooted in lies. The Vice-President should endeavour to achieve at least some while she still can.
The Public Relations Officer: The man who paid attention
Oluwaseun OIuseye divided his manifesto into two categories: Media and Information, and Academics.
Under Media and Information, he promised to open a WhatsApp group for freshers and others and also an AFAS UI Facebook page and group, engage class reps and departmental PROs and create AFAS WhatsApp TV and media team. He also promised to utilise Google services and applications ie Google Forms, drive and Photos and also create AFAS Complaints Centre.
It is worth noting that the PRO, Oluseye Oluwaseun has managed to achieve most of the points in this section. He has created the AFAS WhatsApp Tv and also utilized Google services for AFAS events and to store up past questions, constitutions, AFAS review, PDF materials and others. There is also the existence of an AFAS complaints centre, albeit virtual. Although not adequate, he has managed to engage course reps and departmental PROs. There have also been new WhatsApp groups created by the PRO.
In the section on Academics, he promised four major things: Upgrading of AFAS Website Interface, working together with the rest of the executives to organise tutorials for GES courses and also organise online or physical mock examinations and seminars for Freshers on academic life in UI and Virtual smartphone training.
Regarding the upgrading of the AFAS Website interface, nothing has been done about it. According to the PRO, Oluseye Oluwaseun, the upgrading proved to be too costly. There is a question that arises from this; did the PRO do his research before putting it into his manifesto? It is evident in this case that proper research was not made about the process before putting it in his manifesto. On the second point, the PRO indeed worked with the Excos for the organisation of the tutorials and Exams. On the third point, it can be said that there was a form of a seminar for the freshers during the week. On the fourth point, the PRO stated he did the virtual smartphone training but not under the name of the association because he “knew he would not have time for it”. This still boils down to a lack of research before putting it in his manifesto.
The PRO can be said to have done a good job based on the fact he has achieved a sizeable percentage of things stated in his manifesto. He still however has ample time to fulfil the rest.
In conclusion, the manifestos of the Vice President and Public Relations Officer of the AFAS in the University of Ibadan showed contrasting, yet glaring similarities. The Vice President promised five major points in her manifesto, but she has not fulfilled any of them. This raises questions about the foundation of her administration, which appears to be built on lies. On the other hand, the Public Relations Officer fulfilled most of his promises, except for the upgrading of the AFAS website interface, which he claimed was too costly. Leaders need to fulfil their promises to gain the trust and confidence of the people they lead. The Vice President should make efforts to achieve at least some of her promises while she still can, and the Public Relations Officer should conduct proper research before making promises. Ultimately, leadership is not about making promises, but about fulfilling them.
