Interview with Social and buttery minister aspirant Olarenwaju Opeyemi – “I am passionate about the social development and betterment of the hall by bringing it together as one gregarious unit.”

Mr. Olarenwaju Opeyemi is currently on outside posting in the village of Igboora. ABH Press had a correspondent on the scene to dive into his thoughts.

I: Introduce yourself for those who don’t know you

OO: I am Olarenwaju Opeyemi Oluwaseun also known as Lemonade, a 600 level medical student

I: Straight to business, why are you running for the post of Social and Buttery Minister?

OO: In my past couple of years in ABH, I have been opportuned to meet people and be in situations which has led me to see the needs of the hall in a couple of places. I’ve also noticed through my relations with people that I have the ability to make changes in the hall. Seeing my efficiency and ability to impact I have decided to pick up this mantle to serve the hall in the capacity of social and buttery minister.

I: What edge do you think you have above your opponents?

OO: I see myself as a social person and in line with the motto of my campaign ‘gregarious and socially inclined’…

I: What does gregarious mean?

OO: Gregarious means someone who enjoys the company of others and someone who is ready to be in organisation with others in a friendly way and I see myself as a person who can bring people together and who can make changes by involving the people who I am making the changes for. The edge I have is I’m quite passionate about things and I tend to give my all to whatever I am passionate about. I am passionate about social well-being of places…right now I am passionate about the social development and betterment of the hall by bringing it together as one gregarious unit.

I: Can you list the capacities in which you’ve served the hall?

OO: Bonfire and variety night committee 2 years ago, TV- room committee, Disciplinary committee and information ministry.

I: where there any major challenges you faced in any of this committees?

OO: we tend to not relate with each other so decisions are made without the feelings of others put into thought. I’ve noticed we are not really social per say we just want to do things individually. So working in these committees I’ve seen leaders working individually and not carrying people along so I think the way forward would be working together with others.

I: What problems did you notice during the last tenure?

OO: my interest in the role of the social and buttery minister has led me to watch that ministry closely. A huge percentage of the role of the Social and Buttery minister is in the running of the TV room and the cafeteria. I felt like the rule of only brownites in the TV room wasn’t enforced enough and in the running of the cafeteria I felt a lot of our complaints during the last tenure were not worked on for example in the cafeteria 4 people might be serving but in actuality only one person is attending to brownites

I: What is your view on the male to female usage ratio of the TV room?

OO: it’s a huge discrepancy that I myself have noticed. In ABH, girls don’t like to come out of their rooms we are social animals hence I feel it shouldn’t be so we should relate with each other a lot more. Working with the female affairs ministry I believe we can come up with more situations that encourage the girls to come out of their rooms. The TV is not meant for only football and that is something I’d like for the females in ABH to understand. In recent times the only time the TV room saw an influx of girls was during the premier of the new GOT season. I want the females to understand that the TV room is not just a football viewing center it is also theirs to use.

I: If there was one thing you could change in the cafeteria, what would it be?

OO: Majorly hygiene but that would always be an issue. Attendance to brownites at night is always very poor and we’re always having huge queues in the cafeteria at night which shouldn’t be. So I think more people attending to brownites at every hour of the day would be the thing I’d change.

I: Lastly, and on a lighter note, where did the nickname Lemonade come from?

OO: It’s a funny story actually and dates back to secondary school. I brought 2 sachets of lemonades to school and was showing one off during short break cause no one had seen lemonade before and then long break came around and they had swiped the second sachet from my bag and it became a big fracas caused I reported to the principal but unfortunately my lemonade was never found. Since that day the name Lemonade just stuck.

I: Thank you for your time.

OO: The pleasure was all mine.