Exclusive Interview: “We Were Able to Help Some Persons Pay School Fees”— AFAS President, Olaniyi Esther, Recounts Major Achievements and Experiences in AFAS

Ayodele Aduwo

Half into the ongoing academic session (2022/2023), it is important that AFASites are able to identify how the prestigious Association of Faculty of Arts Students (AFAS), University of Ibadan, has recently fared under its elected leadership, whose mandate is to promote the aggregate interest of her members—thousands of students from about twelve departments.

Premised on the above, this exclusive interview with the incumbent Executive President of AFAS, Olaniyi Esther, a 400 level student of the Department of Linguistics and African Studies, discusses strands of experiences which the Executive Council of AFAS has sailed across, since its inception in August—five months down the line.

In addition, Miss Esther Olaniyi, commonly referred to as Àyànfé, has in this interview given an enlist of activities that AFASites should look forward to as the Association proceeds into the year 2024. Other areas of concern in this publication include responses to issues about the obligatory purchase of journals in the faculty, the acclaimed congress/town-hall meeting held in the just concluded first semester, constitutional report of the financial state of the Association, among other important concerns.

AFAS Press: To start with, your administration is, first of all, the coming together of different personalities who are today’s Executive Council. How will you describe, thus far, your experience with other members of the Executive Council?

Olaniyi: My administration so far with my co-executives is more like a family relationship, because even though we may have clashes of thoughts within ourselves, there is this space of being able to accommodate all of these different thoughts.

One thing I tell my executives is “it is a joint effort. Whatever you are doing, you should realize that it is a joint effort.” Sometimes I go out of my way to assist somebody in his or her position, on whatever the person is doing, just because it is a joint effort. I understand that we are actually here to assist ourselves in our different roles.

Though there have been some issues like freshers’ welcome where some people felt like only one executive did the bulk of the work involved in executing the event, or whatever they said to anyone from outside, whereas it was actually a joint effort from the executive council as a whole, and we all did it together from the first day to the third day of the event. From day one to day three, gbogbo wa lajo ṣe (we all did it together). If I did not approve of money/budget, or if other executives didn’t join in planning, nothing would be done.

One thing I have trust in is the place of accommodation, but I noticed that there was a lot of accommodation. Places where some people were meant to sit up and be active, they relaxed because they felt Ayanfe does not like trouble. I feel like I accommodated a lot in the first semester. I know excuses are not tenable, but I would not accommodate too many excuses and negligence of duty. When I’m certain that an executive did not do well in an area, I won’t have to romance it or cuddle their incapacities just to avoid trouble. If you don’t call a spade a spade, things would go wrong.

AFAS Press: What are some of the notable achievements your leadership has been able to record since its emergence?

Olaniyi: First, I will start with the establishment of a cordial relationship with the faculty management, because I know there is always this consistent issue of the faculty students Association always clashing with the management. But I think this time we have been able, to an extent, to maintain a balance with them. Then, the Freshers’ Welcome went well. We were able to get support from some alumni in top positions who have pledged support for our events. And also, we are working on Nescafe Garden, we want to revamp the garden. I have spoken to the manager of the garden to write a proposal to them, because we want to improve the aesthetics of the faculty.

Also, the cleaning of the environment, the New Annex Hall. When they opened the building, they didn’t assign any cleaner to it, so the Association’s General Secretary worked on that, as well as the Social Director who doubles as the welfare director. Two or three Saturdays in the first semester, the Social Director and his team cleaned the toilets with their own personal resources.

For the academics; there was a clash in the academic constitutional issues, the House Speaker was insisting it is a new constitution, and according to which the Vice President is supposed to take the role of the academic coordinator, but then the Gen Sec. had already started it. So along the line, the Vice President took over, but she was not doing as expected, which caused a glitch. We had to assign the role back to the Gen Sec, while the Vice President had to just focus on getting sponsors and the likes for the second semester.

In terms of finances, this year was really beautiful. My plan was for us to have a bursary, but we could not actualize it because UISU also had a bursary scheme. But personally, and as an administration, we were able to help some students pay their school fees. For example, I paid three students’ school fees this session.

AFAS Press: What are some of the challenges you have experienced?

Olaniyi: Well, personally, people were not expecting me to be President. There was this “let’s watch and see what she is going to do as President” vibe that I got from people. It was a bit suffocating and uncomfortable for me, because most people were just like “o sha ti di president” and all sorts of things, they felt I didn’t even know how. Then, some other set of people started trying to get close to me because of my ‘position’. But it was barely on the surface, “Ah Ayanfe, president”. Even when I’m trying to move close, there is this feeling of “don’t move close, I’m only greeting you because you are just the president, don’t try to come too close” and all of that. So I think that was it at the beginning and it was a major drawback for me, because I really wanted a faculty where I could easily vibe with people. But I noticed people have this stereotypical notion of me being an ‘SU (Scripture Union)’ girl that doesn’t speak to people.

Within the Executive Council, one of the major challenges was setting up Committees, the executives did not quickly gather their committee. Even when they had committees, they had few members and we couldn’t do much with just a few people. So it was a setback that we didn’t have many people working with us, it is one of the things I will look into in the second semester— to make people see that this is the Faculty of Arts and it is for everyone, and not just the Executives.

AFAS Press: There were two specific issues of students being compulsioned to buy journals last semester. How did your leadership address them, and what is the position of AFAS Executives on them as well?

Olaniyi: The two issues we had were the faculty journal and the Classics journal. For the faculty journal, I had a meeting with the Sub-Dean and the departmental Presidents, where he (the Sub-Dean) said that finalists would be buying the journals. He didn’t inform us of the price, he only mentioned that finalists would have to purchase it. I asked for the reason and he said that that was the faculty management’s decision and also because the journals would aid the finalists in writing their final year projects. Besides not informing us the price, he also didn’t tell us that it was this semester the students would have to buy it. The matter didn’t continue after that day, because the assumption was that whenever they decide we have to buy it, they would inform us (the Executive Council) duly to inform the students. That was it.

Later on, he said everyone, as opposed to only finalists, would have to buy the journal. I was skeptical, because it’s not proper to make people purchase items without giving them specific details about the items. That was it for the time being, until someone complained to me that the Sub-Dean refused to sign their course form because they didn’t buy the journal. It was even through this person that I got to know the journals were going for 1,500 naira each. I knew nothing about it, that was the issue I had with them. If you want to sell anything, inform us so we can disseminate the information to our students, or write it out in a written form. But they didn’t do that and it gave off this assumption that we were in support of whatever they were doing.

Another huge downside to the whole situation was that it was during the exam season, when most students are not financially buoyant. So, we wrote a letter to the management, stating all of these things, requesting that the purchase of the journals be fixed for the next semester instead. But the letter was not acknowledged. We tried reaching the sub-dean twice, but they were all futile due to different reasons.

After that, I sent out a memo to all department Presidents to tell their students not to buy the journals. That was it. Then, one night, a student sent a message from their HOD to me that they will not be allowed to complete their exams without the purchase of the journals. That’s when I decided to really take the matter up and stand on the fact that we have pleaded for an extension to the next semester. I also wrote another letter to the management, to which we’ve also not gotten a response. We sent a public broadcast concerning the journal, explaining that we have tried and have reached out to them before now.

Regarding the Classics journal, I was informed that they would not be allowed to sit their exams if they didn’t buy the Classics journal, and this didn’t pertain to just Classics major students, but everyone who was taking a course from the department, I found it hilarious.

A day before the exam, I learnt that some of the affected students had gone to the Dean of Students Affairs office to report the situation. At that same time, I also decided to call Host, the UI SU President. I did not want to reach out to the faculty dean instead, because we were having the same situation at the faculty level too—the purchasing of faculty journals, and I didn’t want to be at the center of the whole cycle. Host said he was already at the Dean of Student Affairs office and that the Dean instructed that we should always reach out to him if we are asked to pay for the journals, the Dean explained that this is the same measure he took in settling the issue of compulsory payment of lab fees in the Faculty of Education. Immediately I was told this, I sent out a broadcast to Faculty of Arts students, instructing them not to pay for the journal, neither should they be forced. I let them know that they should go ahead to write their exams, and if any attempt is made to stop them from writing, they should not hesitate to inform me so I can relay it to the Dean of Students Affairs. So that was the effort we took and that was our stand.

I also visited the exam halls to make sure that things were going smoothly. The lecturer who was invigilating them was asking them for the journal, so I called Host and he called the Dean, who then called the Classics H.O.D to let him know his stance, the H.O.D in turn called the lecturer in the examination hall to instruct him to allow the students. So, they allowed everybody to write the exam.

In my opinion, I don’t think we should be forced. If they wanted students to buy the journals, they should have made it known earlier, that as you are coming to take this course, you are also buying this journal alongside, so people can know what they are getting into, but they only said it when the pressure of exams was already there. I don’t think it was fair, it was not fair at all and I didn’t appreciate that.

AFAS Press: Students need to know the level of relationship between your administration and the leadership of the Students’ Union (both SRC and the CEC). What are your thoughts on the state of the union?

Olaniyi: In the first semester, our relationship with the Student Union was normal, in the sense that they always reached out to us whenever there was a need for us to carry out some actions or work on some things, and we also reached out to them when we needed their cooperation or assistance. So, it has been more of a cordial relationship, especially with the President, he is accommodating. I tried my best to attend most of the meetings, especially ones where I’m representing my faculty. I also try to cooperate with the policies and events as best as I can.

And concerning deliberations with them, it’s been quite smooth too. First off, it started with the whole issue of paying lab fees and technology fees. I never knew we would even have that issue in the Faculty of Art because we don’t use laboratories in the Faculty, we only do classroom learning in the Faculty of Arts, so I never imagined that we would be asked to pay laboratory fees. Whenever discussions and deliberations on that came up amongst the Union, I always only spoke up in favour of other faculties. I was confident that my faculty will not be affected, but still, I should be able to stand in favour of other faculties.

When the development got to Faculty of Arts, I spoke to Host about it, and we arrived at a conclusion to make a general release notifying students of the faculty not to me pay lab or studio fees. I even personally told someone that we don’t pay these fees in this faculty when they came to the secretariat for the purpose of paying the fees; also because the faculty had not officially said anything about the payments, they had not even provided an account to pay into or anything of the sort, so, we were standing with the UI SU’s decision.

Then, regarding the very principal issue of transportation, we did not really make a move as a Faculty council. When the new prices were introduced, we deliberated on it but there were no changes. Also, the Faculty of Arts wasn’t really affected because it had the same destination prices as Queens II hall, Tedder hall, Melanby hall and the school area in general. Though the 100 naira is still unfavorable, we cannot do much about it since it is still the same with the surrounding areas, and we didn’t want to look selfish.

Then, for the extra charges attached to food, snacks and other items sold in the school, we also didn’t have much to do about it because we don’t really have much vendors in the faculty. The only vendor in the faculty charges just 20 naira, which is in accordance with the Students’ Union’s release.

Our relationship with the SRC works through the Council of Faculty Presidents. The council has a group where we discuss issues and we highlight the ones that we intend to present to the SRC, and our Director of Information and Publicity, Mrs. Obapelumi from Renewable and Natural Resources, relays the issues to the house (SRC).

AFAS Press: How will you describe the relationship between AFAS Executive Council and the Staff Advisers, Management and even Dean of Students?

Olaniyi: Well, I would say we have had a very cordial relationship so far. Some months into our administration’s stay in office, we paid a courtesy visit to the Dean of Students Affairs, we have also not had any clashes with his office. Then, for the faculty management, it has also been cordial, except for that issue of the journal, but we are still trying to maintain a balance and not let the issue cause friction. Then the Staff Advisers have been more of ‘just update me’. They have not been imposing and they have not been interfering in a negative way. They’ve just been giving necessary updates as and when due.

AFAS Press: Quite important, how has the payment of basic dues fared under your administration?

Olaniyi: For basic dues, the turnout has been relatively good, because when I asked for the balance, I was wowed. Not that it’s plenty of money, though, we are encouraging more AFASites to pay their dues.

I mandated my fellow executives to pay, to serve as an example. That way, nobody can say or believe that we are compelling them to pay, because we the executives also pay. Also, at the House, we follow the rules which prevents anyone who hasn’t paid their dues from speaking as from the second or third sitting, I think; so, not paying your dues makes you lose your speaking rights in the House.

AFAS Press: How will you describe students’ involvement, thus far, in the Association’s activities?

Olaniyi: So far, students’ involvement has been low, but I feel they actually want to get more involved. I think that people got laid back a bit because the publicity was low. You know, people like to be carried along from the beginning, they don’t like it when you have already planned everything and then you just inform them along the line and expect them to move along with you, they will feel left out. So I feel that was what affected us in the first semester. We are looking forward to making things better this new semester.

Another point is that I need us to understand that the Faculty of Arts is us, we are AFAS, and AFAS is us. So as much as the executives are standing as the administrators, the faculty belongs to us, to everyone of us, so I’m urging everyone to play an active role. Be an active participant in the Association, you are an AFASite because you are part of the association. This is a call to every AFASite to play an active role. You can reach out to any executive to know if there’s any activity or role you can take, or how you can be of help in any way.

AFAS Press: How would you describe the relationship between your administration and the individual Students’ Association within AFAS?

Olaniyi: Looking at the synergy between AFAS and the Departmental Associations, I would say it is low, because the synergy is actually more with the departmental Presidents than with the associations themselves. I communicate with the Presidents and stay updated with their activities and our partnerships in general, but when it comes to the Association, it’s not really much collaboration, but I try as much as possible to be a part.

I remember this issue with the department of Theater Arts where their H.O.D wanted them to pay the departments’ basic dues to the Department’s account. The General Secretary of the department, I and other executives went to the H.O.D and pleaded that they let the dues be paid into the Association account, as usual. His reason was that having the funds in the department would help in preventing mismanagement by the Students’ Association, but we pleaded and maintained that it is an Association, they should be allowed the independence; then in case of mismanagement, the department can now come in and put structure into it.

I really learnt a lot from the first semester alone, and I hope to work on those things and do better in the second semester.

I want to emphasize on the need for departmental Presidents and Associations to work more with the faculty Association, the rapport helps us have a better understanding of things in their department and how we can help in different areas.

AFAS Press: Unlike the previous administration, there hasn’t been a rift between the AFAS Executive Council and the Legislative Council. What is the secret? How would you describe the ongoing relationship between AFAS CEC and the FLC?

Olaniyi: So far, our relationship with the FLC has been cordial. Yes, there are checks and balances, but there is no atmosphere of ‘I possess more power than you’. We all are aware of our powers and in the same vein, our limitations. So I think that is what has been keeping everybody in place, that is why there has been no power tussle between the Executives and the Legislature.

AFAS Press: In the previous semester, there were cases of departments holding weekend tutorials under the trees, in front of KDL, which is quite not conducive. How would you rate the Association’s attempt at organising tutorials for students in the faculty?

Olaniyi: If I were to rate the faculty tutorials in the first semester on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 5, an average, because there are still a lot of things to put in place. One of which is publicity. Most of the 100 level students claimed they were not aware of tutorials in the faculty. Also, the faculty academic committee made sure that there were no clashes with departmental tutorials. The Academic Committee is made up of individuals from each department. The tutorials included 14 departmental courses (7 departments, with 2 courses from each department), and 5 GES tutorials, totalling 19 courses that tutorials were held on. The other 5 departments had tutorials already, there was no need to include them again, they only needed us to direct all the people taking the courses to them anytime they had their tutorials.

Concerning the issue of departments having tutorials in unfavorable locations, I think they probably didn’t write letters to the faculty management. Even as a faculty Association, our General Secretary has to write letters to the Sub-Dean before we can make use of the rooms in the faculty. The Sub-Dean permits us and then instructs the portals to make the rooms available for us and give us the keys. So, without addressing a letter to the Sub-Dean, the departmental Associations cannot use the rooms, because you cannot just ask the portals to make rooms available for you without authority from the faculty heads.


AFAS Press: What is the state of AFAS Constitution? Are we using the old or new constitution?

Olaniyi: You know there was this tussle we had last semester that made the legal unit even get involved in the matters of the constitution. So, based on that, my current administration was elected with the old constitution, but the House is operating with the new constitution, because based on what they said, they have accepted the new constitution and it is already in use. Because we the executives are elected with the old one, most of our duties are aligned with it. So, to redress this issue, both the House and the executives were supposed to meet with the staff adviser, but because of exams and all, we were unable to meet. But, hopefully, within the first five weeks of the second semester, we would get it all resolved.

AFAS Press: In contrast to the Association’s constitution, there hasn’t been publication of the Association’s financial statement. What is the plan?

Olaniyi: For the sake of accountability, according to the constitution, the Association is meant to publish the financial statement, but we could not do it at the beginning of the semester because of some slight issues we had during the handover of the account. However, we will look into publishing the statement of the account according to the constitution this semester.

AFAS Press: There was a ‘congress’ last semester. Looking back, how would you describe its shortcomings and successes?

Olaniyi: For the congress, there was a hitch at the beginning of the congress where we had the Dean and the Sub-Dean coming in to address the students. I don’t think that was supposed to be, though. It’s a congress for the students, not a town hall meeting. I think that was one of the issues, because it reduced the number of participants. Though after they left we were able to talk on a mutual level with students, people were able to put in their own thoughts on the issues we raised such as the issues about the cleanliness and maintenance of new faculty building, the state of the toilets, recent mode of dressing amongst the faculty students, the studio fees, etc.

So, from my perspective, the Congress was not really going as it should have, at the beginning, but along the line, it got better.

We also discussed resolutions to the issues. I can remember that we asked the students to wait as regards the payment of the studio and lab fees until the faculty gave us clear details and directions. Also for the Annex building, we facilitated the cleaning and maintenance ourselves. Wilhelm and his team took turns cleaning the classrooms and every part of the building; we also worked on looking for waste baskets for the building, pending the time the faculty allocates cleaners. Recently, cleaners have been allocated.

AFAS Press: Lecturers in the Faculty of Arts are not popular with using teaching aids. With microphones, projectors as teaching aids unused in the faculty, what role will your leadership play to revive the use of these aids?

Olaniyi: For the teaching aids in the faculty which mostly include projectors, microphones in the new faculty building, and the likes, I know we have not been making use of them, especially the ones that we have in the new building. There are power outages most of the time, so the equipment cannot be used. It also seems some lecturers don’t see the need to use it, they are probably not used to it. However, the Association can bring it to the notice of the management, so they can make the lecturers use the equipment, they are there to be used, they are not for mere decoration of the classes. Also, maybe a workshop can be organized to train students on how to make use of these learning aids as well.

AFAS Press: With the second semester here, what should AFASites look out for?

Olaniyi: Second semester will actually be eventful and memorable. First semester came as it did because we wanted people to build their CGPA, especially the 100 level students. We didn’t fix a lot of events to avoid distractions from academics.

This semester, there’s going to be a mix of a lot of nice things. For finalists, we will have training on how to write the final year project. We have also partnered with a company that will play the role of real estate mentorship for students. So the semester is basically going to be of inclusion of skill acquisition, helping finalists in their projects and how they can navigate life outside school, academics will also be part.

Social events are not excluded. The semester is going to be eventful and memorable in that aspect.

We implore AFASites to give room for AFAS events at this moment. Engage in the events, be a part of the event because the event is not just for us, it is not just for the executives, it is for everyone of us as AFASites.