“I’ve never served somewhere where any of my plans are not accomplished”-Moshood Salam, Aspirant for Office of Hall Chairperson

As part of efforts to provide credible reports and reviews on the candidates and the electoral process of the ABH elections, ABH Press reached out to the Hall Chair aspirant, Moshood Salam. In this exclusive chat with ABH Press correspondents, Moshood spoke about his candidacy and shared some of his plans.

ABH Press: Thank you very much. Alright, let’s move on. So my first question: Can we meet you? Could you please introduce yourself?

Salam Moshood: Okay. Good evening. I am Salam Moshood, a fourth-year physiotherapy student. I am the third born from a family of four. My hobbies are playing football, watching football, and teaching. I am skilled in painting, and I’m a business owner.

ABH Press: Alright, thank you very much. Can you tell us more about the current position you’re running for?

Salam Moshood: Okay. I am vying for the position of hall chairperson of Alexander Brown.

ABH Press: Okay, so why are you running?

Salam Moshood: Thank you very much for that question. From the walls of UI, I am a person who is passionate about leadership, good governance, and student welfarism. I have served in APS in the Senate House. I served as financial secretary. I’m serving as the NAPS president and heading the council of presidents within NAPS. In addition to gaining experience there, I served as an honorable member in the USA. I’ve served in UCH. I’m a member of the Hamstring
club, ROTARACTS club. I’ve served as the chairman of the mosque management committee. I’ve served in even before the university. I’m a co-founder of an AV1 organization with us. I
have served as AGS and also PRO2. The experiences I’ve gained have shaped and prepared me for this role. And then living in Alexander Brown for over two years now has made me feel the struggle of Brownites. I empathize with their struggle. I’ve also asked Brownites what they think is best, and I believe I can solve most issues. That’s why I’m vying for the position.

ABH Press: So I believe currently you must already have specific plans to make these changes or to address these problems you’ve spoken about. So what are your plans if you eventually get elected?

Salam Moshood: I have divided my plans into three parts. There is welfarism, there’s inclusivity, and there is security on the welfarism part. The first thing I will be doing is procuring a first aid box. We are aware that health emergencies often occur without prior notice, and at Alexander Brown Hall, we currently lack a fully equipped first aid box, despite being able to obtain some medications and supplies. As a result, the current box is not fully equipped. People often play sports, and I’ve seen many get injured and taken to A&E without receiving any prior medical attention. So procurement of these will help ABH, and the purchase can be funded by a subvention of the hall dues, which is dedicated to first aid medication. I have also reached out to a specific alumni, a former health minister at ABH, who has expressed interest in funding this purchase. 

 

Salam Moshood: Another issue is fixing the clotheslines. We know that in ABH the clothes lines are not enough for us Brownites, and I’ve also personally faced that. I’ve asked people; they said they sometimes have to wait a day to wash because of the lines. I’ve inspected the place, and some of the irons are still okay and can still be rerouted, and I’ve gone to make findings about the ropes, and it costs 30,000 naira for 100 yards. I have reached out to well-doing Brownites who are willing to fund that since it’s also beneficial to them. The third initiative involves installing a suggestion box. I’ve noticed that some Brownites are not that good with laying their complaints physically. They don’t want to be seen, or some are not that comfortable with lending their complaints physically to people, so they tend to keep them to themselves.

 

Salam Moshood: I’ve seen some of them, and I know there are more, so for those people, it is important for us to get feedback from them as well because the agenda, my sole goal, is for inclusivity of everybody, so the installation of a suggestion box and then an online version of it, which will be a Google form. We will receive responses from Brownites about their perceived problems, allowing us to address them more effectively. 

 

Salam Moshood: Another concern I have is the cleanliness of the tank washing process. Being part of the individuals who entered the tank to wash them in the last tank washing episode, I found out that tanks were so dirty. And I feel that we should give Brownites good water to drink because some people actually drink the water from the ABH tank, and I am one of them. We should increase the frequency of tank washing. And the suggestion I’m bringing on board is to wash the tanks twice a year. Twice a year, or once per semester. The other aspect is the provision of water. The water supply is available to all. Even though we know that we have rationed lights, there has been some issue with the water supply. 

 

Salam Moshood: Even when there is no electricity, there is an issue with the water supply. We spent almost $20,000 on pumping every day, and there was no light. We successfully acquired a solar pump and installed it in the area behind the D and E blocks. But due to flushing, it has been delayed. But we can still procure another solar pump, which can be placed in front of the generator room and can also pump water to the A-block tank. During power outages, these pumps will serve us. I’ve inquired about the cost, estimating it to be between 1 million and 1.2 million. And I’ve been able to reach out to ARD executives, who connected me with some of the past Hall chairpersons. I’ve pitched the plan to some of them, and they are quite okay with it.  

 

Salam Moshood: They will be looking forward to further engagement on that. Next, they will address the issue of power supply. Currently, ABH is experiencing light rationing. For now it’s presently 9 to 2 and then 8 to 11. And we know that when school resumes fully, this pattern of rationing will not work for Brownites because the majority of Brownites, the average Brownite, leaves the ward around, let’s say, 10 . And then people try to jack overnight. If the lights are turned off by 11 PM, it will negatively impact students. So this is a critical issue. So I plan on doing a town hall meeting where Brownites would suggest the time that they want. Maybe it’s shifting some of the time to the night. They will deliberate on their genuine desires, and subsequently engage in dialogue.

Salam Moshood: On the inclusivity part. There are new events organized by the current tenure, like the end-of-the-year movie night and the Valentine’s Day event. The Hall is currently hosting two new events. These events promote inclusivity. It’s an avenue for us to come together. I plan on doing that. Then, I will modify the inter-floor sporting activities. I noticed that presently what we do in ABH is we match the interfloor. We match two floors, and on every floor, at least we have an average of 22 men. 22 guys on every floor have at least 22 guys or 20 guys on every floor.

Salam Moshood: So if we are merging floors, that means we are using about 40-something players just to produce five players. That has made people just select the strong players and then neglect some. Some players, which I feel does not build inclusivity because I feel everybody should get to play and express themselves. It’s a thing of coming together and not a thing of being so that will help foster inclusivity. And then on security in ABH, there have been recent increases in theft and burglarizing of rooms. We can guarantee that activating the defense committee will be a straightforward process. I’ve done that, and it has made me able to ‘nab’ at least 3 thieves in ABH.

Salam Moshood: If we can activate the defense committee with members from each floor, we will have a security talk with Brownites. Whenever you see someone with a strange face on your floor, you can message a specific number or drop it in your group. That will actually help reduce the rate at which people enter each floor. Even though we cannot control the rate at which people enter Alexander Brown Hall, at least we can control the rate at which individuals enter each floor in Alexander Brown Hall, and then the other part of inclusivity is to promote participation of Brownites in some activities, which is a modification to the ABH female league. 

 

Salam Moshood: Currently the ABH female league is always played on just one day. After that, they only award medals for first and, I believe, second place. So if there can be modifications to that, it will increase participation and then make the league better. You know in sports that incentives facilitate participation. Most people know that they will get this, so we can too. I plan on introducing new awards like the best player, the best backman, and the best this thing, and then increasing the days at which they play the match to maybe three days or four days,, three to four matches. And doing that, I have reached out to one of the past female affairs ministers, and she is actually very much into it, buys into the idea, and she promised to also help pitch it to some of the past female affairs ministers.

Salam Moshood:  She also knows other female executives that have gone out in the hall that has generated from the hall because even the male league, the people who are individuals, are those that sponsor some of those awards. And then the other part of welfareism I have is exam support. There is a package in the due breakdown. And even though we know we might not be able to give exorbitant gifts, we might not be able to give high or expensive stuff, as the package money remitted to the money allotted to the package is not that much. At least we can give a pencil, a biro, and then an eraser to classes having exams that would make them know that, okay, ABH executive or Alexander Brown cares about them.

Salam Moshood: I’m in an organization that does that presently, which is hamstring, and whenever I want to write an exam, I mostly don’t buy some stuff. I’ll be like, Hamstring will bring it, and even though I presently even have some that they have given me in the past, it makes people connect motor with the all. 

 

Salam Moshood: So then comes the food and quality assurance. I have been a very active member in the price and quality control committee, and I and the SBM have worked tirelessly on that, and I feel if we can increase the number of times quality assurance is being checked, where they store their raw food, where they store the water they used in cooking, and all, we will be able to make the vendors sit tighter and give Brownites the best quality of food because we end up getting stories the tomato that was used is rotten or there are funny insects found in foods. Insects like house flies. The number of house flies can be significantly reduced if there are more frequent checkups on the vendors. 

 

Salam Moshood: Then the other part is price and quality control. Present quality control. I was active in price and quality control too because I was able to tackle some issues with the SBM on the price of things in the hall. How excessively some vendors tend to increase their prices. We’ve been able to sort many of them, but some of them are still not sorted fully yet as we requested a price list from some of the vendors. And they’ve not yet affected it, though they still work on going on it. I plan on initiating. I plan on making that a permanent thing where every vendor would publish their price list at least, maybe put it in the same way Al-Falal is doing presently. So if that’s done, that will reduce differential sales that people talk about.

ABH Press: Thank you very much. You need to be hands-on for the projects that require your involvement, and you need to find funding for them. Have you conducted a feasibility study? How feasible are the projects? Please tell us about that.

Salam Moshood: Okay. Thank you very much for that question. On the fundraising part, I have contacted some past finance ministers, and they’ve connected me to some past hall chairs who are well-doing and have actually messaged, and they’ve responded really well, though we have not presented proposals to them, but I’ve made them know the state of the hall, and they are open to collaborations with the hall to make life better for Brownites. And aside from that, I’ve also reached out to ARD executives for support, which they said they will surely be helping out with.

Salam Moshood: And they also helped get some, giving me some names of past chairpersons who are now in the diaspora who are also in positions to help, and I’ve gotten in contact with some of them, and I’ve been in contact with them, and also I’ve reached out to some who are still around in Ibadan also to hear about how they were able to respond during their time, those they feel can help Brownites presently, and the response has been good so far. And then the plans, those that need hands-on feasibility, okay, those aren’t hands-on.

 

Even the people that might not be willing to adhere to or that might not be in line with the calling of people when they are there, people when they see strange faces in the hall. So those people will end up even adjusting when they start seeing the good part of the project. And that’s all I have to say. I’ve explored the feasibility of most of the plans, and I’ve actually worked on them already. Not that I’m just writing them out. I’ve been working on them presently already, and the prognosis looks good.

ABH Press: All right, that’s good to hear. Thank you very much. Can you comment briefly about the ABH light situation and the infrastructural problems we currently have in ABH

Salam Moshood: Okay. ABH light situation presently to be comparative. I want to compare it to what we’ve actually been through. It’s better, but this is not the best we can get because it’s actually ridiculous when we just get light at night for just 8 to 11 when people will still plan on maybe reading overnight and doing some other stuff. The light presently is not enough, and infrastructure-wise, there is a bit of concern for me with urinals in the male part in E block. We have just, we have no urinals working.

Salam Moshood: The whole of E block has been condemned after the last accreditation process that was done, and I’ve actually reached out to some people too on that, but no response yet, and also I’ve been trying to cost how much it would take to fix some urinals because we’ve invited a plumber before, and he came to assess the place though he didn’t later give us the quotation. But I’m trying to facilitate getting the quotation and after getting the quotation we can now look at how we can get sponsors to fund them. But apparently the infrastructure problem in the infrastructure in ABH is not bad, but that’s not the best we can get.

ABH Press: On the infrastructural issues and the light issues that you’ve previously discussed in your answer what part do you think the executive council can play? If elected, what part can you play in elevating those issues or making life better for Brownites concerning those infrastructure and lightsituations.

Salam Moshood: Okay. The first thing I would see on the light issue, the ultimate thing that will happen is we’ll dialogue with the management on what we want, but for us to make that decision, we still have to have a town hall meeting with Brownites to find out what they want because we would actually, it’s best for us to make them decide what they want rather than us deciding for them. So, would there be a town hall meeting to decide what they want, and then we’ll reach out to the management, and then we find a common ground on that.

Salam Moshood: That’s the first. And then on the infrastructure part. We can write to the dean of students about the status of many things in the hall. We are writing to inform them and seek their help. We will also be writing proposals to people as I’ve been. I’ve been looking for past hall chairs, finance ministers, and successful executives, and I try to talk to them. Okay, do you have people that can help us with this and that in Alexander Brown Hall? I’ve spoken to some SRs, and they’ve given their view on specific issues.

Salam Moshood: We can write proposals and fundraise, but we must contact the management about the hall’s condition. If elected, I believe I will accomplish these two goals during my tenure.

ABH Press: All right, thank you very much. Okay, so my next question is now. So in this past year we have protested for several things. We protested for improved lighting and better welfare services. If you become hall chair, how will you address these issues? Are we going to have to resort to a protest every single time? Most concerning are examples such as the MDCAN strike that most MBBS and dental students are currently facing. If the light situation becomes too dear, we will have to protest. Are you saying we are going to protest to mitigate these issues, or do you have another plan? What are you going to do?

Salam Moshood: On the MDCAN issue that is faced by the medicine and dentistry students presently, I know the president of UIMSA, the president of Dentistry, the SU president, and some members of the stakeholders have been meeting with many stakeholders on that. It’s not looking that good, though. I’ve not spoken to some members of the some people that I’ve not spoken to some stakeholders that were part of the last meeting that was done. I didn’t know the distance but I feel it’s very ridiculous and heartbreaking when students have to stay out of school for three months plus without just because. Just because some people are. It’s just very ridiculous when people, students, are just out of school for three months without doing anything. 

Salam Moshood: That’s a waste of time on the students end, and the present executives and stakeholders have actually been doing their best on that, and the majority of this issue that we have presently still boils down to dialogue, and then if the need arises, they can be protests too. They can protest too. But the majority of this issue boils down to dialogue. However, the issue of electricity remains a pressing concern. I feel since we have faced this issue in this present tenure, if there is early dialogue on it and constant pressure from the executive council, this would yield a faster result than to protest. So that’s what I am thinking of because I think about the state of the hall. It’s not favorable to Brownites. So what is favorable to us, and what is best for us? Thank you.

ABH Press: Okay, thank you very much for that answer. We’re almost done. So in your opinion, in your honest opinion, do you think you make a good student leader?

Salam Moshood: Yes, I know I make a good student leader.

ABH Press: All right, thank you. Can you give a comment on the accomplishments or failures of this current administration?

Salam Moshood: Okay, thank you for that question. This present council has its unique events and unique occurrences, which makes it a bit different from other tenures. This makes it difficult to objectively assign, score, or assess their performance. However, everyone fulfilled their responsibilities in the executive council. Everybody did their best, and they did their work to the best of their ability. Especially during the light issue, and even beyond that, everybody—every member of the service council— did their job to the best of their ability. Thank you.

ABH Press: All right, thank you for that question. So lastly, you’re not the first student politician that will make promises, and definitely you won’t be the last. So this is my question. What makes you different? How do you know that you’re going to fulfill your promises toward the electorate?

Salam Moshood: Thank you very much for that question. It’s a thing of track record. I have served in many places. I’ve made many promises, and I can surely say that I’ve never served somewhere where any of my plans are not accomplished. I try and make. I have tried in the past and made 100% of my promises to student associations and students in general. So this wouldn’t be an anomaly. I’ll truly fulfill my words, as that has been me right from the start. I don’t believe in lying to students just to get elected.

ABH Press: All right, thank you so much. We hope that if you get into the office, you uphold everything you said. Thank you so much again for the interview.

Salam Moshood: Thank you so much.