The air of ABH is unmistakably electric by the election season. Aspirants are closer to the day of judgement, not relenting on their physical and virtual campaigns. The residents of the hall are expectantly receptive to every information to guide their decisions.
The position for the hall chairperson is competed for by three Brownites all claiming to be the best man for the job. The ABH Press presents an interview from one of the candidates Mr Olabisi Olaoluwa.
ABH PRESS: Good day. Can we meet you?
My name is Olabisi Olaluwa, popularly known as Hollandia. So, I’m a 500-level medical student. I’m a proud brownite. I’m the current Information Minister and an aspirant for the position of Hall Chairperson.
ABH PRESS: Can you tell us more about the position that you’re running for?
So, I’m running for the position of Hall Chairperson, and the Hall Chairperson is known to be the one in charge, or at the helm of the students’ affairs. He’s the one that controls all of the committees, that approves the decisions of all of all other committees. And he has the power to actually break ties in situations that concern the hall, he has the final say in situations that actually concern the executive council. He is the one in charge of the maintenance committee of the hall. And he has the power to actually delegate duties to different committee members.
ABH PRESS: You are presently the Information Minister, so what has inspired your plan to go further and run for the Hall Chairperson in ABH?
Okay. Firstly, I need people to know that, being a part of the current executive council has made me better informed about the issues that we actually face in the hall. It has actually been an experience of exponential growth in leadership. It has given me the privilege to have a better relationship with brownites, to not only lead them, but also have the opportunity to understand and feel with them what they’re currently facing in the hall.
With the knowledge of the current situations that we face in the hall, and my level of relationship with them, I see myself as someone that has the courage to actually challenge the status quo of things.
It’s one of the greatest motivations, that actually makes me deem myself fit to speak for the voices of the masses, that is the voices of Brownites.
ABH PRESS: Thank you. What does ABH gain from you becoming the hall chairman and what makes you qualified for the job?
Like I said the Information Minister is my first leadership role here in Alexander Brown Hall, and even politics in UI. So, I’ve been able to identify my strength, and I see myself as someone that has the balance of radicalism and also diplomacy.
ABH actually needs a leader that knows when to negotiate and knows when to take a firm stand, and knowing fully well that what drives him is the interest of brownites. One of the things that ABH stands to gain from me, firstly, is a leader that actually knows when to take a firm stand on things and when to negotiate.
ABH PRESS: What is your view on the handling of the protracted blackouts issue that ABH and UCH just faced?
I would say it was good because I’m part of the executive council, and it was the first of its kind, at least, one that lingered for that long. But like an adage says that if there’s an opportunity to be better, then good is not enough. So, I would say that, in as much as the current executive council tried their very best to actually make things work, there are still ways things can actually get better. So, I would say there are better ways that these things can actually be managed.
ABH PRESS: There was a particular case where disagreements arose during the blackout and that led to the removal of some people in the group, what are your thoughts?
That matter was a joint decision of the executive council. I would say that it was a good decision, but there could be alternatives. The issue that we actually faced as at that time was because there were surges of emotions, and it was the first of its kind. We know that ABH prides itself in pride and mutual respect for each other.
So, in the situation where one person felt disrespected and most especially at that timet. This led to a lot of back and forth and this issue led to the modification of the rules on the group. Currently, I feel better dialogue between both parties could have solved things, rather than removing someone from the group.
But like I said, it was a unanimous decision of the executive council, and we could have done better.
ABH PRESS: Okay. So, it was the decision of everybody on the executive council to get the person removed. Is that what you’re saying?
So, about those people that were removed, as at that time, the rules were not really clear on the group. So, you know, we are human beings, and at that time, we had a number of executives managing the group. So, there was a little bit of misinterpretation of the rules, by both the offender and the executives. When that situation actually happened, it was managed by the executive council, and the rules were modified. And I think every member that was actually removed were dialogued with and they were added back.
ABH PRESS: What do you have to say about the times during the blackout, when time-sensitive information didn’t reach the common residents at the best time, and you were the Information Minister?
Firstly, I need you to know that the fact that you’re actually an executive council member, doesn’t exempt you from being a student. It doesn’t actually make you less prone to the situation that we’re facing in the hall. Remember, there was a blackout. My phone was dead. We had battery and light issues and sometimes my phone was low, and I couldn’t get messages quickly. But, I tried possible ways to release information as fast as I could.
ABH PRESS: Okay. What do you now have to say or do you want to apologize?
I don’t know. To apologize will make it look like I had full control over the whole situation. I acknowledge the fact that I could have done better, but the situation was way beyond my control. But I tried my very possible best, to release information as fast as I could. I even went as far as actually getting an extra power bank, and an extra charger to make sure that I was almost always available.
ABH PRESS: Concerning the state of electricity in the hall, we can see that compared to before it is better. But considering that the timing isn’t so compatible with school time, do you have any plans to make it more conducive?
As the Information Minister I’m privy to some information. I can say for sure that some days ago, we actually released a circular that, UCH is trying to disconnect from UI. It’s common knowledge that there was a bit of traction between the UCH management and the UI management itself.
So, I would say that the main issues that are affecting Alexander Brown Hall (ABH) need prioritizatIon. However, we won’t neglect one because another is resurfacing. UCH has to disconnect from UI so that UI actually takes full charge of the electricity itself, and then we have better light than we’re having right now.
ABH PRESS: Thank you. About the Muslim festival celebration, there was an issue of you having already sent two campaign flyers for the celebration, and it wasn’t until when people brought it up that you sent in the one for ABH, can you please address that?
Okay. That situation was poorly interpreted by people, and I would like to say that, firstly, my campaign team is actually an independent body compared to the ABH graphics team. These people are my personal campaign team. I have a campaign manager, and I pay these people. In fact, it’s actually another body that takes charge of their activities.
So, most of the time, I’m not really in charge of how things` are done, but with the ABH graphics team, I’m the one that oversees everything that occurs. About two days before that day, I felt ill. I wasn’t feeling so good and it actually affected my performance to oversee things at the level of efficiency level I would have done. So I assigned a member of the executive council to help me oversee this process.
According to him, he said he faced some difficulties reaching the head graphics coordinator- the person is a graphics designer and is in charge of delegating and designing graphics for me. On the day of delivery, they tried to reach the person numerous time with no response. Then after church, she said she was in church and couldn’t receive calls. Then she said she didn’t understand the details that were relayed to her. There was a kind of miscommunication between her and the person I assigned. However, we still had to release something.
ABH PRESS: One might guess that if being unavailable for two days affected the running of the ministry, then it might be a sign that the mechanism of working of the ABH information ministry may not be effective?
Firstly, I would like to clarify that the Information Ministry works very effectively, and most of the time, the graphics are ready before the day. I’ve not defaulted in every graphics for induction, graphics for birthdays, graphics for new months. I’ve not defaulted up to that time.
But I need you to know that due to the financial constraints of the hall, we’ve been facing some motivational barriers, even to the graphic designers themselves. They’ve not been paid for a couple of months, and sometimes, I have to give these people stipends to actually work. And you know we actually faced a particular problem in the hall that actually took away our finances.
This took a toll on the motivation of the graphic designer to deliver quickly. But I can assure you that the Information Ministry itself works very effectively.
ABH PRESS: Thank you. You were the pioneer of the creation of the ABH marketplace group. So far, have you tried gauging the effectiveness of the group for both consumers and entrepreneurs, and what is the evidence?
I would say that I believe that it has been working. So far, I’ve been getting a number of reviews that sales are not coming as much as they used to come when they used to “spam” Brownites’ group. But, I told them that we’re still in our test-running phase, knowing fully well that we had other priorities like light and all. But I believe that it’s a project that has prospects because I am also a member of the FASA’s iMarketplace. I’ve also been a member of different iMarket groups and I know that things actually work.
So, I would say we’re still in our test-run phase, and my tenure it’s still on. I’m still actually working on plans to see how it can actually get better.
ABH PRESS: You mentioned in your manifesto that you will be engaging brownites through the public address system. Is there a working public address system?
Okay. Yes, we have a working public address system. It’s working. And I believe that I’ve been doing, using the public address system from block to block from the beginning of my tenure to address and send out information.
ABH PRESS: Oh, you meant using the speaker?
Yes.
ABH PRESS: So, we don’t have a centralized system?
That’s a megaphone system?
ABH PRESS: Yes, a megaphone.
There’s a situation actually surrounding the megaphone itself. If you remember it was part of my manifesto to actually revive the morning cry. From the early part of my tenure, before we had the light issue, in the morning, during that early part of my tenure, I was wishing Brown good nights using the megaphone. I got a lot of feedback that the A block speaker is too loud and it’s facing their room. However, I revived the morning cry.
For the megaphone, with time it’s dwindled in function. So, when I, I actually asked for the person actually fixing, they called him and I told him to come and check what is actually wrong with it. Then I found out that for the initial installation, weather changes were not actually considered.
The speakers have an engine behind and when rainwater and sun touches it, it reduces their function. Then I asked him what could be done to salvage the situation. And I found that repositioning of the speahers, purchase of new megaphones themselves, and also repair of the ones that are faulty were the solution. He gave me a quotation that was quite big. When I sent it to the executive council, at that time it was not a priority. So, that’s why the megaphone is not working.
ABH PRESS: You also mentioned also the installation of suggestion boxes and the use of the e-complaint system. How is that plan going?
Firstly, I would need to say that one of the great virtues of a great leader is knowing fully understanding when a solution is not feasible. So, at the start of my tenure, no one actually would have imagined that we would have light issues or be running around trying to pump water or fetch water.
Suggestion boxes were one of my key plans. My plan was to fix a suggestion box at least at the base of each block such that each block actually has a suggestion box, and then we get feedback from them However, on getting the quotation for fixing, it didn’t actually fit into our financial priority at that time.
So, that was why we actually had the e-complaints mail. It has been opened. If you check the base every block right now, they have a particular A4 that was pasted at the end of every block, containing the numbers of all of the executive council. It’s an A4 paper.
ABH PRESS: When was this done?
This was done at the early part of this year.
ABH PRESS: January?
The early part of this year.
ABH PRESS: Can you give some comments on the shortcomings of the current administration, and also your office and the things that can be improved on?
Shortcomings? Personally, I would say that I actually didn’t have issues actually working with every member of the executive council. So, I cannot specifically fault any shortcomings in all of the committees. But I would like to say that there’s always space to actually do better. They have done excellently well, but, there’s always an opportunity to actually improve on what your predecessor has done.
ABH PRESS: Can you give us some of those improvements?
I’ll use my, my tenure as an example. An example is the newsletter. The newsletter is one of the things I know that I’ve made a move about, but it can be better. I have actually improved the standard of communication and information dissemination in the hall.
And I created a community that makes information passing very easy. But one of the things that I know that could have been done better is the newsletter.
ABH PRESS: Okay, thank you. So you’ve mentioned a couple of times about financial constraints, understandably, because of the blackouts that happened. But asides from that, fundraising is one of the key aspects of the management and administration. So, do you have any creative ways, any way at all that you plan to raise funds if you become the elected chairperson?
Okay. I would like to say that fundraising is a very intricate part of leadership because it’s not enough to have an idea; you need finances to actually back up these ideas. And, um, firstly, I need you to know that there are a number of companies that you can actually write to. And if you have a direct use of the money or you have the form of partnership with them, most of the companies actually respond quickly or respond better. When you have a relationship, it it becomes easy to communicate with them.
ABH PRESS: Can you give us a peek or a glimpse of what we should be looking forward to if you are elected?
Okay. One of the things I would like to say is, I would like to build a better bond among brownites. I’m that kind of person that loves to bond with people. I love things that actually bring people together because you know that academics is actually stressful. So, one of the plans I have to do is to improve the bond we currently have. And we can do that through sports, that’s one of them. And maybe introducing a couple more sports like more board sports like Chess, Ludo, and Ayo Olopon.
So, um, another way I want to improve oneness among Brownites is, through skill acquisition programs and webinars considering that there’s been a surge in leadership among brownites like we see with the current SU President. skill acquisition programs and webinars. So, those are just a few of my plans.
And like I said before, I see myself as actually a strategist and an implementer, and and I believe that I’m that kind of person that has a balance between radicalism and diplomacy.
ABH PRESS: Okay. What about the living conditions of brownites, do you have plans to improve them?
In terms of priority, I know that one of the problems that we’re actually facing is accommodation. But we know that accommodation in itself is a situation that even the executive counci alonel can’t solve. It has to partner with all other authorities. It’s a known fact that there’s a new hostel being built behind the hall, and they’re trying to speed track things so that a block is actually ready before the end of this year, so that a couple of brownites can move in.
It’s a known fact that not all brownites can actually stay in the Alexander Brown Hall pending the time that we build this new building. But one thing that I can guarantee is that we’re going to maximize the spaces available to accommodate as many brownites as we can.
Moving on to the next issue that actually faces brownites: water. I cannot speak so much about this because the person in charge is the Hall and Sanitation Minister, who will be able to expand further on this. But, what I know as Information Minister is the fact that we have a number of pumping machines—maybe roughly three to five—in the hall. Sometimes there would be an overload—especially when there was light— on the working capacitor of the pumping machine and it will get faulty. And we don’t get water. It might not necessarily be the fault of the Health and Sanitation Minister.
One of the ways we’ve been able to mitigate the situation is that we’ve been able to secure two or three solar pumps, and now we’re looking to secure more. But the problem why we have not been able to fix them currently is, according to the hall warden, we need to flush the current ones. That’s a tough situation because when you want to flush it, that means brownites will not be able to get water.
Talking about the clogged drainage system, the unhygienic toilet conditions, and overflowing dustbins in the hall. One of my plans, like I’m planning to do, is to work with the H.S.M., who is in charge of the health and sanitation of the hall, such that we have a form of content team that constantly disseminates information. The truth is, it might actually be funny, but some people don’t actually know how to use the hostel infrastructures. Some don’t know how to use toilets. We’ll also fundraise for these cleaners, so they’re motivated to actually do their work properly and well. So, that’s what I’m going to say for now.
ABH PRESS: So, last question: What potential difficulties do you forsee to be the obstacles if you are elected chairperson, and how do you plan to get past them?
I’ve just listed the current situations that we’re facing in the hall, and I believe that in themselves, they are actually obstacles. They’re situations we’ve faced over the years, and each chairperson tries to make things better than they met them. So, I hope with the relationship I’ve built with Brownites, and with my good working ethics with people, I’ll be able to build a strong team that works for each other..
ABH PRESS: We’ve come to the end. Thank you for having this interview.
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