By Adebowale Akinjide
Dr. Okunlade Oluseyi of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, who is the new hall warden of Nnamdi Azikwe Hall, in this interview with the Nnamdi Azikwe Hall Press Organization editorial board, shared the hall management’s plans to improve the facilities of the hall, plans for Zik at 60, and other issues as it concerns the hall.
Good afternoon, sir. Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Dr. Okunlade Adelekan Oluseyi. I’m from the faculty department of microbiology, faculty of veterinary medicine, university of ibadan.
You are the new hall warden. How has it been since your emergence as the new warden of the hall; coping with challenges, or, has it been smooth?
Yes, I am the new Hall warden just immediately facing the challenges of the hall. As I resumed the duty, I assessed the situation of the hall, I saw that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the hall, renovation. Actually, I am not happy with the way I met the hall, I could see that a lot of louvres are nowhere to be found in rooms, some places, no net, the (bad) drainage system. I was told that some boreholes are not functional, and many other things like that. In fact, the road that from Zik Hall gate (leading) inside is not too good at all, so, those are the things that I met on ground. Apart from that, the pressure of accommodation is another challenge, requests here and there, students calling me, some ones calling me in the middle of the night, some staff members calling me in the middle of the night requesting for one thing or the other; so, i’ve been coping with all the challenges anyway, but then, it has not been easy.
You talked about the problems of facilities and everything, and we know that the school has increased the price of accommodation, however, what plans are there for improvement of the facilities; because some students are of the opinion that the fees cannot be increased while the facilities remain at the status quo. So, are there plans to improve the facilities?
Yes, there is plan to improve the infrastructure, the facilities in the hall. For example, just last week, there was an onsite inspection by the DVC Admin (deputy vice-chancellor, administration) and the Dean of students, of the situation of the hall. When they moved round, they saw the state of the hall, and fallout of that is that we have been made to request for materials needed to repair the hall. So, we have immediately submitted the list. Talk about the number of louvres, talk about bunk(s), submersible pump, electrical materials and other things.
So, we are eagerly awaiting the response of the management towards these. These are immediate needs that the university management have requested us to submit, and hopefully, we hope that there will be prompt response to that. So, we are waiting for the management.
Of course, there cannot be increment in fees of accommodation without response from the management. The students will not be happy if they are paying increased fee and there is no commensurate response. We hope that definitely there will be response from the management.
There were some issues that were constant for Zikites last session which the former warden wasn’t able to address before he left, like water and light issues. We have always experienced late or no supply of power when other halls have power, and it’s now becoming a way of life for zikites that we have to wait for others to get light before we get light, so, are there procedures to make sure that we can curb these issues?
Let me just say that fortunately, since the inception of my tenure here, there has been regular light, all of you can witness to that, and I hope and believe that that would continue. I suppose that that issue of light from the source (maintenance) has been rectified. We hope that there won’t be problem of light source for this session, and it’s going to be a very good session, itch-free session for all of us.
Apart from that, we have requested for some of the electrical materials for repair in some of the rooms. I’m aware that in some of the rooms there are no sockets and other things that has to do with electrical (electricity), so, we have requested for those items, and when they arrive, any complaint from anyone will be quickly addressed.
About zik hall at 60 that would be happening soon, what are the plans that Zikites, both present Zikites and alumni should be expecting?
We thank God for zik hall at 60, it is a landmark achievement. There are good plans ahead to mark the 60th year of Nnamdi Azikwe Hall. One of the plans is that we have reached out to the alumni in collaboration with the student union and the hall executives to have a renovation of the gate, that gate is not in a good condition. We plan to repair the gate. Again, the condition of the JCR (junior common room) is not good also. It’s also in plan to renovate the JCR. And again, the executives (they) also have it in plan to reach out to the alumni to organize a kind of bursary, like a student aid, giving out some amount to indigent students, to help them with their tuition and what have you. So, we hope that there would be good responses from the alumni. Those are are just few of the plans that we have for the 60th of Nnamdi Azikwe Hall. There are other plans ahead that may be football competition and other things. As the events unfold, we will be getting to know more about that.
Coming back to facilities, one of the issues that Zik Hall had last session was the issue of shortage of cleaners. We gathered that a lot of cleaners left their jobs around January, and from then, we have not noticed replacements. Now that freshers are coming in, the hall will be full again in a matter of weeks and there would be need for more hands on deck. Have you pinpointed any insight into why they left their jobs, and how would you address the situation of incorporating new cleaners. Also, how would you avoid the situation of cleaners dropping their jobs in the future for what could be a number of reasons?
Thank you so much. On the issue of cleaners, I am not aware whether some cleaners resigned or dropped their job(s) last session, like I told you that i am just new, I just resumed August this year. I was coming from somewhere where i was assistant Hall warden, but all the same, when I assessed the situation here, I also noted that the cleaners are not enough considering the load of work in the hall here, so with that, I’ve promptly requested for more cleaners from the management; letters have been written, in fact, as the DVC (deputy vice chancellor) and the VC (vice chancellor) also came, and those are part of our requests to them that personnels, we need more cleaners, there are six on ground here, we need more so that they can effectively do their work. […] you know (the) management sometimes, there can be bureaucracy, there can be protocol(s) to follow. We hope that the request is granted as soon as possible.
There is also the problem of the pumping machines, the one in front of C Block and the one at the back of A Block, both have stopped working. Are there plans to repair them?, because considering the number of students in Zik Hall, if two pumping machines are not working, it increases the workload on the others.
Also, the one in front of C Block has stopped working for two years, and when we spoke to the former hall warden, he said they were going to do something about it. So, are there plans to return these tanks back to working ways?
Yes, there are plans to return the tanks working. Like the one you are mentioning, we have (the) plan to connect pipes to the tank as soon as possible. We are waiting for some amount of money that will take care of that running of the pipe. I am aware that there is a borehole that is faulty down the back of the JCR, that’s our priority now. We have requested for submersible pump(s), and within this week, hopefully, the submersible pump will be supplied, and that borehole will be functional. That borehole will be serving those tanks that you are referring to. By the grace of God, in a short time, that borehole will be functioning. We are going to run pipes in them, and they will work, and I am aware that the issue of water is a very paramount thing in the hall, and we want to tackle that headlong in the hall.
There was a big subject that caused an uproar towards the ending of last session: the food poisoning problem, it was taken up by the executives. I don’t know if the management will be working with the cafeterias so that the standard of food will be at optimal level so that there will not be a return to the cases of food poisoning.
Thank you so much. Two weeks ago, when I came, we inspected the cafeteria, the kitchen, and we ensured that things must be put in proper shape, that the environment must be clean, the hygiene must be properly adhered to, to ensure that there’s no recurrence of food poisoning. I’m a microbiologist and I know the implication of this, so, I know where the source of food poisoning can be from, and we want to ensure that there’s no recurrence of that. We are going to ensure that the kitchens of the cafeterias and the environment are clean.
One more question related to that, sir. One of the things that we understand is that the health minister is the one in charge of inspecting the cafeteria, and one of the issues that occurred last session in regards to that is that the former health minister said most times he wants to go and inspect, he had to inform the hall warden, failure to follow to that protocol and he will not be allowed to inspect. However, we believe that one of the things that would improve the cleanliness of their facilities is spontaneous inspection, without having to go through that bureaucratic process. So, we want to know if this current health minister may have to inform you every time or he can just do the inspection by his sole discretion?
The issue of impromptu inspection can even be done with the Hall warden, rather than the health minister having to inform the hall warden, the two: myself and the health minister can just decide that we are doing the inspection today without informing the people at the cafeteria wherever. So, I want to work hand-in-hand with the health minister. There shouldn’t be any fore information to the people at the cafeteria before we go to inspect. So, I want to say that it is not the question of whether the people would be informed earlier or not. We are going to take it up ourselves, we would go there to inspect without any notice. I want to ensure that there is proper hygiene being followed.
In follow-up to that, we had some problems with the former hall warden regarding stories that could go out. In terms of issues affecting the hall or stories that can debase the hall, is there going to be any form of veto on what we can put out in terms of stories?
Okay, well, my response to that will be that whatever is happening in the hall, the hall management should be informed, the warden should be in the know, and whatever we want to to do, we will not get involved with the issue of tarnishing the image of the university. Any problem that occur, we want to tackle them headlong and we want to ensure that they are addressed promptly. For example, there was a case of bedbugs that we got recently: that student did a video. You know social media can send things viral. That video was sent to some quarters without informing the warden, without informing the supervisors. That would not be too good. There should be (an) appropriate way of reporting things so that we would be at the same page. I’m not saying that information should not go to the public, but then, we have to put our house in order even before any information goes out. For example, that case of bedbug, we would have done all the needful, that even when there would be inspection afterwards, you would see that prompt actions have been taken. That is what i am interested in. So, whatever happens, the management should be in the know, not that we want to censor what information goes out, but we are interested in the solution, promptness and action. That’s what I’m concerned about.
New students are coming in right now, what is your message to them?
I want to use this medium to welcome all freshers and the new students that are coming into the university, congratulating them for their admission into the University of Ibadan, the premier university, the first and the best. And also, for students that have been allocated to Nnamdi Azikwe Hall, this is the greatest of the halls in the University of Ibadan. It is always said that whenever Zik Hall sneezes, the whole university catches cold. I want to encourage the new students that the primary assignment that they have been assigned to do in the university is to read and to read and to read, but that doesn’t say they should not get themselves involved in extracurricular activities, but they should ensure that they attach so much importance to their primary assignment which is to study and aim high. You cannot be a Zikite if you have not been admitted into the university, so you must take it as a point of duty to attend to your studies, go to classes on time, read, do aro small and enjoy yourself. That’s my message to them.
