ABH DECIDES 2025: “ The major strategy we used to keep the cost affordable is by looking out for the retail price outside the hostel” – Mr Akinboyewa Israel

For the third consecutive time in recent years, the position of the Alexander Brown Hall Social and Buttery Minister has been unopposed in the ABH elections. The ABH Press had an interview with Mr. Akinboyewa Israel, an aspirant for the role of Social and Buttery Minister of the Hall, and below are the details of the interview.

Good Day. Can you kindly introduce yourself?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I am Akinboyewa Israel Damilare, a 400-level physiotherapy student and a Brownite. I am from Ondo state.

Can we know more about you? What are your hobbies or any interesting facts about you?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I like playing football, and I am a Barcelona fan. Interesting fact? I don’t like and eat fish.

Were there any particular moments or challenges in ABH that inspired you to run for this position?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I think when I just crossed over to ABH, I tried to buy toothpaste, and the price that it was sold for was a ridiculous one. Then I got to realize that there’s an office that controls the price of things in the hall, so that drove my interest. Also, other people should not fall victim, and such things shouldn’t happen again.

What personal values or experiences drive your passion for leadership, and how do they connect with the responsibilities of the Social and Buttery Minister?

Mr. Akinboyewa: Personal values? I would say team spirit. Serving as a committee member of the Social and Buttery Ministry, I know you have to work with other offices a lot. While carrying out cafeteria reviews, you would work with the Health and Sanitation Minister. During the Health Week, you would work with the Deputy Hall Chairman. I believe team spirit will help me.

Can you share your previous contributions or roles within Alexander Brown Hall? How have these experiences prepared you for this position?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I’ll say being a committee member because I started being a committee member in the last tenure. I was a TV room committee member, and in this tenure, I am part of the TV room committee and the Price and Quality Control Committee. So, the experience I’ve gathered from those committees will be able to help me. During the tenure, we were able to plan the Freshers’ Welcome, even the Valentine’s Night event that we did too. So, I was part of the event, and these experiences have prepared me for this position.

There are rumors that you may be running unopposed. If elected, what key initiatives or changes would you prioritize for ABH’s social life and buttery services?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I’ll just mention one or two things that I plan to do. I noticed that in the TV room, we have two TVs currently, and there are times when we have like three major matches that we need to watch. So, it causes a conflict of interest. So, I would like to repair the third television so that we have three televisions, and that would ease the burden. Regarding the cafeteria review, I’ll make sure it’s frequent and efficient so that the quality of food in ABH will be up to standard compared to other hostels. Then Hygiene, because there have been a lot of complaints, I will work with the Health and Sanitation Minister to make sure that the environment of the cafeteria is very hygienic for the safety of ABH students.

With rising costs being a concern, how do you intend to keep buttery services affordable while maintaining quality?

Mr. Akinboyewa: The major strategy we used to keep the cost affordable is by looking out for the retail price outside the hostel, then comparing it to the prices of things being sold in the hostel, or the food actually. So, comparing the two, we would be able to come to a common ground that will be affordable for the students and would not hurt vendors also.

ABH is a diverse community. In recent times, there has been an uproar about some social activities in the hall that run into the late hours of the night. How will you ensure that these social events appeal to students with different interests and backgrounds?

Mr. Akinboyewa: Very tricky! As you said, ABH has a diverse community, so there will always be different people with different interests. So, these social activities don’t occur every week or every day. To appeal to students, I’ll work with the Executive Council, so we have a meeting with the stakeholders of the associations, and there will be a formal notice to all Brownites about these events. Human beings are social beings, so we cannot put an end to social activities in the hall. We can give prior notice to students so they will know how to adjust. I think we just call on the meetings with the association stakeholders so we can come to a common ground.

Many students have raised concerns about the quality of food vendors in the cafeteria. What specific steps would you take to address these complaints?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I think I mentioned earlier that we have a cafeteria review with the Price and Quality Control Committee. So, after these reviews and through the result of these reviews, we have meetings with the vendors to talk to them about the quality of the food, because quality is very important to the people of ABH for our health. So, we talk to the vendors, and if there are no changes, then there will be penalties.

What penalties do you have outlined for these defaulting vendors?

Mr. Akinboyewa: I don’t think it will have to come to the stage of penalties. But then, if we talk to them several times and they fail to change, we may give them, let’s say, maybe a day or two days’ suspension for them to adjust. It is not solely my decision because there are people overseeing, like the Assistant Hall Warden in charge of the cafeteria, so I’ll have to have a meeting with him, so it is not a decision that I will take solely. I don’t think it will get to that, because they are not new to this hall, so we just have to meet with them and talk to them.

How would you evaluate the performance of the current Social and Buttery Minister? Are there areas you believe need improvement?

Mr. Akinboyewa: You know they say, “Good, better, best. I will never rest until my good is better and my better is best.” The current Social and Buttery Minister has done a fantastic job because I worked with him, but then we’ll never stop until we get the best. I noticed the TV room is no longer open as it used to be because we are trying to keep the things in the TV room safe, so the cleaners are unable to clean it. So, most of the time, Brownites enter the TV room, there will be litter on the floor, and Brownites fail to keep the place clean. So, I’ll try to work with the cleaners so that the place can be cleaned regularly. Then I talked about the extra view with the third television, so those are places where we can make improvements.

What approaches will you take to encourage more students to participate in hall activities?

Mr. Akinboyewa: To encourage more students, I’ll talk about awareness. That means I have to work with the Information Minister to publicize our event.

If you eventually get elected, you will be responsible for organizing social events in the hall. Can you describe a time you organized a successful event or project? What key takeaways did you gain from that experience?

Mr. Akinboyewa: When we’re discussing this interview, I told you earlier I was working on the project that I just concluded on Tuesday, the Medical Outreach. I think that’s a very good example of a project I organized. The takeaway is that to carry out a project successfully, you have to be flexible, and you have to be ready for anything, because you’re working with people, and people can disappoint you at any time.

What potential difficulties do you anticipate in this role, and how would you address them?

Mr. Akinboyewa: Oh, difficulties! One major difficulty that we face almost every month is DSTV subscription, and even currently, we are trying to raise funds to subscribe. How I plan to address them is to seek sponsors, and then to try to crowdfund for the DSTV subscription. Then another potential difficulty is these vendors. So, to address this, I think the current SBM has done that already, but we just have to sustain it. Because sustainability will make everything go well. There’s a printed rule now for vendors in the cafeteria. So, we have to sustain those rules for everything to be in order and for the quality of the cafeteria to remain intact.

Why should Brownites trust you with this role?

Mr. Akinboyewa: Brownites should trust me with this role because I’ve shown passion and dedication to serve because I’ve served in a number of committees in this hall. So, I’ve shown passion and dedication. Also, when the current SBM was writing his MB, I had to serve as the acting SBM in that period.

Thank you for your time, and have a great day.