2018 marks the fourth year the first set of Biomedical Laboratory Science Students officially crossed over to the University College Hospital for the clinical phase of their training. The departmental association (Nigerian Medical Laboratory Science Students’ Association), NIMELSSA UI chapter has since had three set of executive council members and has worked with four (student) administrations of Alexander Brown Hall. However, the association has since remained without a secretariat to keep valuables or even hold meetings.
Speaking with its current President, Mr. Ahmed Ogunlade, he lamented that all his predecessors have gotten and he is also getting from the Hall Warden is the instruction to go and look for a non existent vacant space and come for approval.
He said “The hall warden and the last hall chairman both said I should get a vacant box room. Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF) uses two as stores and when I spoke to the former speaker of ABH assembly (Christianah Adeloye) about it, she said I should approach them and we should try and settle it informally so that it does not look religious. I approached them and they said they are keeping valuable things in them and so they can’t release any. I raised the issue of UIMSA having one and DOKITA also having one, the former chairman told me they are two separate entities and that DOKITA is in the hands of their alumni. I also raised that of UADS and the Dentiscope secretariats, he said the same thing about them. The hall warden, Dr. Bello also said there is nothing much she could do since her predecessors had given them. She said if it were her, she would not have given two box rooms to a department. She said she can not afford to give out bigger box rooms since they will obviously be too big for a secretariat and that she can not give a BQ (Boys’ Quarters) since we will have to pay and it would be unfair as others do not pay“.
When the current chairman of the hall was asked, he said “The president should have worked towards the time of room allocation. The security men got their own secretariat after BMLS came. I will try and talk to him so we will see what we can do. It is not fair that even societies have secretariat and a whole department does not”.
