An Evaluation of the President and General Secretary’s Promises and Performance in AFAS: A Manifesto Evaluation
By Olanshile Ogunrinu
Akoem came with a lot of expectations for Afasites, at least a recent chat with an Afasite who voted for him in the last election affirmed that. Over 500 Afasites voted for this man who promised to provide AFAS with “a strong mind, a great heart and the ready hands of someone who will not lie or compromise in the face of any situation.” They believed this guy who promised to “ensure an impactful and all-inclusive administration, to be accountable to Afasites and to set the pace for selfless and effective leadership in AFAS”. However, after more than a year in office and in continuation of the AFAS Press manifesto evaluation series, it is salient and fundamental to attempt an evaluation and appraisal of the faculty’s Executive President’s performance based on the promises he made during the elections.
In the 2-page manifesto he presented while campaigning, Akoem grouped his plans into 5 which are; administrative plan, welfare plan, academic plan, social and entrepreneurial plan. Under the administrative plan, he promised an all-inclusive agenda and revealed how he intended to achieve it, which is by creating a platform that will allow Afasites to actively take part in the decision-making process of the association, and that the platform will be a monthly town hall meeting. This promise was not actualized as there was nothing like a monthly town hall meeting called by the president and even the congress called recently was the opposite of the all-inclusive agenda the president promised as Afasites accused the president of “shutting down’ a motion they want to be discussed. In his reaction, the President said though the monthly town hall meeting did not materialise, the decision-making process of the association has been all-inclusive as he has been carrying all stakeholders in the association along in the decision-making process.
“When I first assumed office, I had stakeholders meeting with all arms of the faculty, which has never been done in a long time by past administrations. We have been having meetings regularly on issues. A group was also created for all class representatives in the faculty where we also engaged them regularly on issues affecting them. We also carried the freshers along, I had a meeting with the freshers even before their Orientation and some of the freshers have been participating in the association’s activities actively,” he narrated.
Under the welfare plan, the president promised the resuscitation of the E-learning centre as he claimed that it will serve as a means of Internally Generated Funds (IGR) for the association. He also claimed that the money generated from the centre will be used to cater for the welfare of Afasites and that payment of services through the centre will be subsidized for Afasites. While this promise is unclear, a cursory look at the timeline of the activities of Team Altruism will reveal that there is nothing like that going on. In his defence, the president said it took the help of the Sub-Dean for his administration to regain access to the Mike Okiro centre after being locked for about four years.
“The place is now open for Afasites which is not obtainable in previous years. The arms of the faculty hold their meetings at the centre regularly. We planned to renovate it and rent it out to outsiders for activities and use the proceeds realized from the renting to cater for Afasites but the renovation has been impossible due to unavailability of funds,” he said.
The president also promised that he will prioritize the welfare of Afasites. To do this, he said he will work with school management, corporate sponsors and wealthy individuals to help indigent students. Reacting to this, the president said this is one of the things he mentioned to the Vice Chancellor when he met him and an Afasite was also one of the beneficiaries of the Student’s Union school fees payment scheme. Akoem also mentioned that there is a plan to secure sponsorship for the provision of exam packages for Afasites.
“In a bid to ensure the welfare of Afasites, the team was able to procure two public address system recently for Afasites’ use in large classes. At the beginning of first semester, I also used my personal money to repair sockets and fans in all lecture theatre in the faculty except the SLT and the LLT,” he also added.
On his promise to work with the executive council to ensure AFasites’ identity cards are ready on time and of value, while which of the student’s identity cards is not stated, it is noteworthy that the AFAS ID card has been disbursed to Afasites, however, the University’s student identity card has not been given to Afasites even though some faculties have gotten theirs. When asked, the president said the ID card he meant is the faculty’s and he has delivered on that.
“Unlike in the previous administrations when ID cards are not readily available in the first semester, we have disbursed the ID cards to those who paid and registered since the first semester and those who are having issues with it will be getting theirs this week,” he stated.
The President’s academic plan was broken into four, in the first part, he promised to organize a GES tutorial for all levels offering it in the faculty. Riding on his antecedents, he made it known that there would also be mock examinations before the school’s exam. It can be confirmed that there was a GES tutorial and a mock examination organized by the faculty’s executive in conjunction with the Students’ Union Executive, however, it is difficult to ascertain if it was indeed for all levels or just the 100-levels.
In the second part of his academic plans, the president promised to upload all available past questions of departments across the faculty on AFAS Websites. According to him, it will aid quick and easy access of Afasites to reading materials. At the moment, the website is not available and the uploads on the drive are scanty and not all-encompassing. Reacting to this, the president said the website’s unavailability is due to the expiration of its hosting subscription.
“We are trying to do a subscription that will last for more than a year but there are no funds to actualize it,” he said
For the third part, Akoem promised to look out for scholarship opportunities and posted for AFasites to benefit from. While there are instances where scholarship opportunities were shared but it has not been regular, the only regular opportunity AFasites are getting from the President is ‘parties opportunities’.
For the last part of the academic plan, the President promised he shall work alongside the faculty management towards the reopening of the faculty library. Reacting to this, he said work is ongoing towards the reopening of the faculty’s library as the library was painted just recently.
The only social plan the President promised Afasites is the introduction of AFAS TV, which the description – “For the projection of AFAS to the world and also be an avenue for the numerous AFAS creatives (which includes but not limited to Entrepreneurs, Podcasters, Artistes, OAPS)” – suggests a YouTube channel which is different from the AFAS TV obtainable now. This promise like most others has not been fulfilled. In his defence, the president pointed to the lack of sponsorship for equipment as the reason why it has not been fulfilled.
“We realized we will be needing equipment, teams to be in charge and other logistics which will require a sponsor which we are unable to get. So, we started with AFAS WhatsApp TV which has been serving several purposes to Afasites,” he asserted.
Under his entrepreneurial plan, the President promised that his team will organize a well-planned trade fair in which students of the faculty who are entrepreneurs will benefit from. The president, however, promised that the trade Fair will be included in the faculty week activities.
A Peep into Rhozlan’s Manifesto
In a bid to extend the manifesto evaluation to the General Secretary of the Association of Faculty of Arts Students (AFAS), Abdulrasaq Hassan alias Rhozlan emerged as the secretary in a keenly contested race. Rhozlan made a lot of promises in his manifesto which include;
The General Secretary promised to organize mock examinations for 100-level students for the major courses he listed; PHI102, ENG101, GES101, GES107 & 108, CLC101, and ISS101. However, only a GES 101 tutorial was held by the secretary in conjunction with the Students’ Union, there was no mock examination from the secretary concerning the other courses he mentioned. When reached, Rhozlan said he was only to organize the mock exam for “feasible” courses like GES 101,201,301,105.
“We held tutorials for other courses but the turnout wasn’t encouraging,” was the General Secretary’s response on why the mock examination for the courses he listed as major courses in his manifesto couldn’t hold.
He also promised to make past questions that will cut across every department available for every 100-level student. Nothing like this has also been done by the general secretary. When reacting to why this has not materialized, he said;
“There some things that could not be singlehandedly done when in office. Hence, as a team, an E-Library was created to that effect by the PRO.”
He promised to do this by constituting a 12-man committee, one from each department, of which he will be chairman. He explained that the past questions will be gotten from the general office of each department, scanned and sent to Afasites as soft copies. He also mentioned that the committee will be in charge of the mock examinations as he has chosen capable hands to see to the effectiveness of this promise. However, there is no past question in circulation by the secretary general and only one GES 101 mock examination jointly planned with the Union has been held. When quizzed on why the 12-man committee is yet to be seen, the general secretary said instead of 12-man committee, 5-man Committee was created and tutors were reached out to to make sure the tutorial holds.
Rhozlan also promised a 2-days seminar for finalists on CV writing and research methodology. However, at a time when most finalists are concluding their project works, both events are yet to hold. When asked about this, he simply said “still in check, wait for it.”
He also promised to boost Afasites’ financial stability by creating an avenue for students to acquire entrepreneurial skills like digital skills and cryptocurrency. He highlighted two ways to actualise this promise which according to him is by creating a telegram group where intellectuals in the fields will train Afasites who are interested and also a 2-day intensive training where every participant will be awarded a certificate. Nothing like this has been done by the general secretary too and when asked the Gen Sec said the event will not be holding again.
The promise of a public address system was also included in the General Secretary’s manifesto. He promised to include the budget for a public address system in his first budget to the FLC which will be suitable for large classes like PHI102, ISS101, and ENG101. He promised to donate 10,000 naira personally and source the rest from reputable alumni if the FLC did not approve the budget. While it is true that a new public address was procured by the executive’s a few weeks ago, it is unclear if the General Secretary facilitated it. While reacting to it, he said his only role in this is giving a supporting hand
“When I attained office, I met in plan the purchase of PAS from the last administration which we orchestrated during our administration. My role was to give a supporting hand in getting the PAS.”
Reiterating the position of AFAS Press’ last editorial, student leaders must take cognizance of the promises they make while seeking office, sweet talking to the students’ populace with empty words is condemnable and appalling. Good leadership goes beyond scribbling something on paper to present at the press night. Deliberate efforts must be directed toward preparing a plan for an aspiring student leader. The feasibility of the plans must be taken into consideration when promising electorates during the campaign.
