“My candidacy is independent of opposition”- Ofoma Izuchukwu, Aspirant for Office of Hall Chairperson

With the atmosphere in ABH looming with the campaign season-induced tension, it is important for brownites to hear directly from the aspirants and have some of their possible questions answered.

As it currently stands, there are three candidates vying for the prestigious post of the Hall Chairperson. The ABH Press interviewed one of the aspirants,  Mr. Ofoma Izuchukwu Charles who is also the current Nealth and Sanitation Minister (HSM). Here is how it went:

Can you kindly introduce yourself to Brownites?

I am Ofoma Izuchukwu Charles, a 500 Level Student, current Health and Sanitation Minister of ABH. I am a chess player, volleyball player, and occasional e-sport player. I am overall an active member of the ABH community at large and I am an aspirant for the position of Hall Chairperson of ABH in the forthcoming elections.

Is there any other thing you would like Brownites to know about you or any fun fact?

I’ve come here to this dreaded question. I have actually never watched the Titanic. I am also very terrible with social cues. I don’t know how to read social cues to save my life.

You are currently serving in this tenure as the Health and Sanitation Minister, so why did you choose to vie for the post of Hall Chairman particularly?

My strong passion for the hall, for Brownites and for their welfare. That’s my major motivation for running for this position. I have studied previous tenures, this current tenure and I believe I have acquired the required level of experience and wisdom from those that have come before me. Also from experienced student leaders and past hall chairmen, departmental presidents and what have you. I believe I have gotten the required experience and wisdom to be able to lead the hall into a better place if elected as Hall Chairman.

Thank you for that. So for how long have you had plans to become the Hall chairman?

Since shortly after I was inaugurated as health and Sanitation Minister.

Can you explain why so early?

From when I came into ABH, like I said at the interview last year, my mind has always been that I care about ABH, I want to see things improve and that’s why I ran for Health Minister and that same passion is what drove me when I got in that even as I’m performing my Health Minister duties, I’ll be able to perform at the highest level as the Hall Chairperson. That was in my mind. So even as I was performing my duties as Health and Sanitation Minister, I was also preparing myself to perform best at the highest level as the Hall Chairperson.

During this current tenure and serving as the Health and Sanitation Minister,  what changes and innovation have you instituted in your ministry?

Number one, the improvement in cafeteria reviews. It was something that I and the current Social and Buttery Minister worked on. We worked on improving the health regulations. Shortly after the Social and Buttery Minister got inaugurated, he created a new contract for the food vendors and I was involved in writing the health regulations of that contract to ensure that the food and how the food is prepared and served were the highest quality.

And we also improved the frequency of cafeteria reviews. This tenure we did about six. We used to do it once a month before but we now do it twice monthly but we were not able to do it in December, January and February because of the light situation. Then, in January and February, people were not in the hall, so we couldn’t do it. But we did it in March, July, August, September, October and early November.

One thing you’ll notice is that in Prestige you no longer see those rubber table covers. They used to use those ones that were very difficult to wash and the food keeps staining them and that was what led to a lot of flies in Prestige. We worked on that and got them to start using proper table cloths that could be easily washed. We also mandated them to have bi-monthly clean-up exercises. I and the Social and Buttery Minister oversee that.

Another thing is improving the waste management, one problem that came with the last tenure were people complaining, G Blockites especially, about the smoke from the incinerator affecting them. So we  worked with the waste management company to improve the scheduling of the burning, one. Two, we worked with them to also ensure that our waste is sorted properly at the incinerator before- our combustibles are separated from the recyclable ones. So the waste management company sorts out the recyclables, the biodegradables and the combustibles. So only the combustibles are burnt instead of everything being burnt together. That’s one of the improvements we brought into the office. If you notice G-blockites don’t complain and people even in the BQs as well, they don’t complain about the smoke from the incinerator affecting them.

I know that this tenure has been a particularly challenging one, but what can you say about your unfulfilled promises to Brownites in your manifesto for the office of Health and Sanitation Minister?

Regarding the clean-up drive, we were supposed to have two actually, at least two in the tenure but we were only able to do one. That was in September. Then for the tank washing we were supposed to have two but we were only able to have one. So I mentioned the clean-up drive and the tank washing, let me address those two. The major issue regarding those two was fundraising. Why I say fundraising is because the blackout really affected the fiancés of the hall. A lot of the hall’s funds went into money for securing solar source, getting petrol also to pump water and getting diesel. A lot of our fundraising went in that direction and so in the tenure it was only feasible to do one.

One thing we haven’t done is the first aid training as well. It is still in the pipeline. We had a meeting about it two weeks ago, we had already drafted a budget for it. Then fundraising has been one of the major issues but it will hold most likely after the elections, right before the hall week. That’s the tentative date we’re working with.

One other issue was regarding the TSHIP, the Tertiary Student Insurance Programme, transferring our health care from Jaja to Staff Clinic. So one of the challenges we faced was the fact that the money we pay to our HMO is very small. If you bring the break-down of our school fees, the money we pay for insurance for the whole session is just two thousand naira. So, staff clinic said they were not going to accept that amount and it was a deadlock between the University management and Staff Clinic. What we now started working towards was making the Jaja Annex functional. We spoke about it with the Provost and it was part of his S-7 Agenda. But part of what delayed talks on it is again the light issues and the strike. So most of our meetings with the management has been focused on that. Now that the light issue has been sorted and  hopefully the strike issue will be sorted this week, we can now resume talks on reviving the Jaja Annex with the Provost. Because it is something that I brought up and fellow executives brought up the first time we had a meeting with him. Because it is very important, if we revive the Jaja Annex, transferring details to Staff Clinic will no longer be a problem since Brownites can just get their health care from the Jaja Annex directly.

So do you think if you are able to resume talks after the strike is cancelled, it would be feasible before you leave office or would this be part of the things you would have incoming HSM take over from you?

Realistically, I’m not sure it will happen before I handover looking at the calendar of the tenure. But it is something I’m currently working on. If elected as hall Chair, it is part of my plans to continue those efforts by working with the elected Health and Sanitation Minister to continue efforts to reviving Jaja Annex. It is really important because, as Health and Sanitation Minister I have had to do a lot as regarding making sure that people get their health emergencies sorted out at the Staff Clinic. It will be much easier financially on Brownites if we are able to get insurance covered here at Jaja Annex. It is something that’s very dear to my heart and it is something I’m working on currently. But realistically, I’m not sure. The tenure will be ending very soon, I’m not sure it will be something that will be done during this tenure. But I will keep up on it and finish it if elected or not, it’s something I will make sure gets done.

So can you tell us what peculiar plans you have for Brownites running for Hall Chairman?

From my interaction with Brownites, I noticed some key problem areas. Number one, which seems to be the most pertinent are maintenance and infrastructural issues. I’m just listing the issues. Accommodation issues, water issues like problems with water supply, fundraising, and lack of hall identity. The social life and essentially the culture of ABH is being lost or eroded. So those are the overview of the problems. I won’t say they’re are all of them but from speaking to people, interacting with Brownites and then my experience as Health and Sanitation Minister.

My plans to address them. Let’s start with maintenance and infrastructure issues. One of my plans to address maintenance and infrastructure is to work on our relationship with the UI management. I am currently in talks with the newly elected UI SU president and House Secretary to that effect. To bridge the gap essentially, between ABH and UI maintenance to ensure that we get faster response time.

My next plan is to revive the ABH utility room, stocking it with necessary tools, materials that we would need. And this is one of the steps towards establishing a proactive maintenance culture in ABH. Because, one thing I noticed, a lot of times in ABH, things have to get really bad before they are addressed and most of these things that get really bad is a small problem that doesn’t get reported on time or a small problem that people think is not a big problem and then progresses till it becomes a major issue. So reviving the ABH utility room and stocking it with necessary materials like spare taps.

There are a couple of taps that are not functional, if there were spare taps in the utility room, the floor reps can just report to the porter and the porter will come and repair that tap. Let’s say a lock is bad, you could report to a porter or an authorized member of the hall maintenance committee and then they would repair it. The plan is just to establish a proactive maintenance culture in ABH and it will also foster a sense of responsibility for all properties among Brownites, especially those in the maintenance committee. If you know that you can just go and fix it, it will make people to be more conscious. If everybody is always fixing problems before they get spoilt, everyone will be conscious and they won’t let things get out of hand. In addition, improving ABH’s relationship with UCH maintenance as well. This will also reduce over reliance on UI maintenance.

Another plan towards the maintenance issue is establishing a maintenance complaint channel with floor reps and deputized floor members to ensure prompt reporting of maintenance issues that arise in the hall. Because one thing I noticed is that issues were not reported as promptly as they should. So this maintenance complaint channel would also be in conjunction with bi-weekly maintenance inspection with the maintenance committee. The plan is that they will go round checking for minor faults and it will be all reported on the complaint platform then these complaints will be compiled and then reported to the porters and Hall supervisor who would then report to UI maintence for the purpose of repair. That way issues can be reported promptly. One of the issues we are having with UI maintence is that, if we don’t report on time, there are other halls in UI too that also have issues similar to what we are facing. So, it’s based on who reports as early as possible. That’s why this maintenance channel must have periodic inspections.

Then, one of my other plans for fundraising to improve our fundraising efforts, is to establish a network of alumni and corporate sponsors. So how I plan to do this is to create a committee of alumni and sponsor relations. This plan is inspired by my work with the UIMSA Presidential Alumi relations committee. This can be replicated with ABH and this work towards improving our Alumni relations not just for fundraising alone but also to give Brownites the opportunity to interact with senior colleagues. Another plan towards fundraising would be to bring back the tradition of honouring select sponsors with recognitions such as “Honourary Brownite” or “Brownite of Honour”. I think in the past four or five years we haven’t honoured anyone with the honour of “Honorary Brownite” or “Brownite of Honour”. I believe that these recognitions will go a long way towards incentivizing our alumni and our sponsors towards giving more to the hall.

Then, for the issue of water supply, the current efforts working with the executive council, we’ve been able to secure one solar pump. So, I plan to continue these efforts to secure more and I’m currently in touch with potential sponsors to that effect. So this plan will help to ensure constant availability of water during periods of lack and would cut down the expenses on petrol to pump water with generator.

Accomodation, it’s no news that given the strike and everything, we’re in a very dicey situation as regards to accommodation this session. At the end of the day when it comes to accommodation the final decision lies with the hall management. But, during my tenure as the HSM, I have built a very good relationship with the hall management and my plan is to leverage on that to make sure that they are represented well and their interests are prioritized when it comes to the sorting of accommodation.

Since you must have worked closely with the current Hall Chairperson as the HSM, can you say one huge challenge he faced while carrying out his responsibilities and how you intend on overcoming such challenge?

One challenge he faced was not being able to do a lot of his plans and that would be due to the whole light and strike issues which he handled very well. I really commend him for his efforts and the efforts of the executive council by extension in handling the light issue. I truly believe if it wasn’t handled the way it was, we would still be facing the light issue as at now. I’m really grateful for his leadership in that regard. But, one thing I plan to do differently is to try as much as possible, early into the tenure to secure funding for majority of the plans that I have and also to encourage the other elected executives to do the same. Such that, should any issue should arise, it wouldn’t be that we’re now diverting all our fundraising efforts into that and everybody neglects their plans and their duties. That way if everybody has raised enough money for their events, even if our focus has shifted, everyone should have gotten some funds for their ministries down.

Thank you for that. What would you say were the ‘highs’ of this tenure?

Sorting out the light issue. Seeing light after one hundred and nine plus days, that was a very big high for the tenure. We thank god everything went the way it went.

What personal code of ethics do you live by that would shape your leadership style if you’re elected?

I believe that if you’re going to lead people, you have to be the hardest worker in the room. Because you have to lead by example, you can’t just delegate and delegate and delegate, eventually you look lazy. So when other executives people see the effort and dedication you put into whatever you’re doing, it will rub off on them.

If there’s a repeat of the blackout episodes we experienced almost entirely throughout 2024, how would you provide swift solution if you’re elected?

First of all, we pray that we never experience blackout ever again, but we’re in Nigeria and so anything can happen. Firstly, reaching out to the relevant stakeholders in the college and in the University as early as possible to deliberate on a way forward. Then communicating that with Brownites either via a memo, or a Townhall meeting . Then getting the feedback of Brownites and communicating that with the management and then getting temporary measures to ensure that Brownites don’t suffer if there’s a blackout. At least, we’ve gotten something, that is solar charging hub. For the brief time it was functional before the light was restored, it was really great. Efforts like that to alleviate the situation of Brownites pending the time a lasting solution is provided by the relevant stakeholders.

I’m aware that during the current tenure efforts were made to revive the ABH Ventures, how’s that going and do you have any plans to improve on what has been done so far?

The ABH Ventures has already been revived. It is currently being rented to Food Mart if I’m not mistaken. So, they’re the ones using it now and it’s benefiting the hall actually. We do have a role in overseeing it, but as it stands now, I think their contract is for this entire year. Unless they violate their contract, we cannot kick them out of ABH Ventures.

Okay. I hope every Brownite is aware that ABH Ventures is still alive but now in the hands of Food Mart, do you know if there’s much publicity about it?

I can’t say the publicity about it has been a lot. I think a number of people just know that Food Mart has changed location but a lot of people don’t know that where they’ve moved to is where ABH Ventures is. And I think that can be improved upon, I think it is something that should be pointed. Thank you for that.

No problem. When you were vying for HSM last year, you ran unopposed, but this year you have two fellow executive council members vying for the same office of Hall Chairperson. What would you say makes you stand out?

First, my candidacy is independent of opposition. I am running because I believe that I am the best candidate for the job and this is evidenced by my track record of service to the hall. From when I stepped foot into the hall, I’ve always been serving, as the health ministry, in the planning committee of the hall week for that year, as an executive and I’m currently in the hall week planning committee of this year plus all the improvement s I have brought to the office of the HSM. So, the track record speaks for itself and also evidenced by the plans I’ve mentioned so far. More of them will be revealed at the manifesto night. Like I said before, I believe I’m the best person for the job to best represent the interest of Brownites.

Thank you. If you happen to not be elected will you be comfortable conceding to any of the other aspirants and why so?

I believe the ABH election process is very transparent and very fair. So, if I lose the elections then it means that the majority of Brownites have made their decisions and I will go with that. At the end of the day, my interest is in the welfare of Brownites. I will concede and work with whomever is elected to ensure that Brownites needs are taken care and Brownites are well represented in whatever capacity they can.

We’re drawing close to the end of this interview. If I remember correctly, the past Chairman, Mr. Femi, served as the HSM during Salami’s tenure before becoming the Hall Chairman. Now, you’re the current HSM, do you think there might be a repeat and would you attribute it to luck or providence?

I wouldn’t attribute it to luck or providence. I would say that if I do end up winning, it is because Brownites have chosen the best candidate for the job. That’s just it. I don’t think it would be because of luck or providence like that. I would believe that Brownites have assessed the competencies of the three people running and made the choice for the best candidate.

What are final words for Brownites as we wrap up this interview?

I would say that Brownites should pay attention to all the aspirants speaking to you. Engage, ask for their plans. Vote based on track record and I am calling on all Brownites to count on Charles. #Count on Charles because Charles is the best candidate for the position of Hall Chair.

Thank you very much for having this interview