Oluwagbenga Kolawole
From UI gate to chapel, straight down to Abadina; from the faculty of arts to Zik and Indy; from Indy Hall to Awo Hall, one thing one can effectively surmise from walking along these axes is the excessiveness of campaign posters and fliers. Different individuals and organizations employ different tactics in advancing their identity and presence in the University of Ibadan community. Prominent among them, is the use of print media (posters, stickers, fliers and banners). In some cases, they do it to invite students to events, training and seminars. In other cases, they do it to advance their businesses.
Despite the fact that digital technology and new media has gained more prominence with the level of reach and effect it has, adverts in print still maintain their relevance in our world, especially in the University of Ibadan. Print media has proven resilient and proven in extending reach and furthering the campaign of advertisers.
The not-so-gray area between freedom and excessiveness
Ordinarily, it seems students, individuals and organizations in the school have a form of liberty in their promotion and awareness creation campaigns. In certain areas of what could be described as hotspots of the University(areas where people frequent the most), these posters abound. Hence, a pattern of these movements is observed in the way in which the banners and posters are displayed. Faculties and areas with low population (e.g Faculty of Veterinary medicine, and Agric) have fewer posters. In the areas described in the introduction, from walkways to dumpsters, to trees and faculty and hostel buildings, nothing is spared.
Also, as part of a disconcerted bid to create anticipation for any event or individual, advertisers cluster and clutter all social media pages, websites and channels, not just physical school spaces. These individuals engage in massive awareness creation without thought of what would become of the space they are pasting on or the people they are passing these messages to.
In real time, there is always no thought or effort whatsoever to restore the school spaces back to its original state on the part of the advertisers. And with time and successive advertising on that space, the space gets defaced to a point of no restoration. Although asking them not to paste posters might sound extreme, the lack of strict protocol to guide this
Zik Hall as a case study
The ' terror on the field', Baluba kingdom in itself is a very solid point of contact for analyzing the effects of the trend of defacement. All the doors in Zik are covered in stickers, it doesn't matter if it's room, restroom or JCR. The cafeteria itself is in a worse shape. Posters from yesteryears and posters from the future are displayed everywhere. As a whole, the features that could have accentuated the architectural beauty of the hall have been superseded by the unnecessary posters. Same can also be said of the Katanga Republic. Although different halls have varying levels of defacement which can be said to be directly proportional to the level of political activeness of said halls, however, no hall is totally spared. Zik's is just unhinged.
This election season in particular has seen multiple candidates rise up to contest for different posts within the hall and within the student union. The multiplication of posters have only helped to further mar the appearance of the hall (as Merriam Webster dictionary defines 'deface'). While the window of campaign for political positions has not been officially opened, electorates in the hall now know who is running for which position, through the "awareness creation" that the prospective candidates are allowed to engage in. There is obviously nothing left to hide when a prospective chairmanship aspirant releases a banner and stickers with his name and face on it and a slogan: "CHAIRing the Hall."
Although this cultural "norm" has been observed in other parts of the University, it is pertinent to restate that the subtlety required in passing across these messages in other faculties and halls is non-existent in Zik Hall. Candidates do not wait for the election campaign to be opened, the structure building has already begun. In an interview with a member of the Ethics and Litigation committee, Mosope Clinton, he stated that, "I do not in any form approve of posters pasted on Zik hall property. I have asked aspirants to take down paper posters from the walls. I have torn some myself." This goes to show that candidates who are pasting their posters on hall properties are breaking some sets of rules.
However, due to some technicalities in the interpretation of the constitution, candidates are allowed to spread their banners. In the interim AG's words, "...insofar as they are not defacing Zik hall property I (sic) cannot ask anybody to take their banners down." It is understandable that banners are temporary and easy to remove unlike stickers or posters, but then we would be forgetting that banners displayed everywhere (including residential blocks) do not contribute positively to the hall's aesthetics. It is surprising that this practice is permitted.
Apart from the shed beside JCR, which is already cluttered with various banners, right from the Zik bridge entrance, banners are hung on the railings and posters are pasted on the floor. Even school organizations like UI'SU, TLDS, and Tax Club, UI are guilty of this. Moving into the hall (still at the Zik bridge entrance) one can see the walls covered in stickers and banners of all kinds. This is a very solid section of the hall that is being defaced. Although the hall executives do charge some advertisers to hang their banners close to JCR (some other halls also charge for display of banners), some advertisers have very unwisely decided to hang it on Zik bridge instead, where they won't be getting charged. And they do not get sanctioned for this.
Other Parts of the University
The pattern of defacement, as stated earlier is not the same across all areas of the school. On the whole the outside walls of some faculties and halls of residence are free of things that might deface them. A stroll along the Idia–Tech road axis shows this.
However, while the walls are already defaced in Indy Cafeteria and Love garden, Tedder, it seems like only a matter of time before walls are defaced in these school areas that are currently spared.
UI'SU elections and The Electioneering Process in UI as a whole
On Sunday, 10th of March, 2024, the Student Union Electoral Commission announced that the window for campaign and election has been opened. Aspirants are now legally free to campaign. And so, the strongest wave of littering and cluttering with posters and banners begin.
In a WhatsApp chat with the director of Logistics concerning this issue, he said "...the lifting of ban on electioneering activities for the Student’s Union is important so as to give room for students interested in contesting for both executives and legislative positions in the coming election... It is not appropriate to deface any wall in the University buildings either in the hall of residence or faculty with posters...we call on every aspirant to try as much as possible to campaign without defacing anywhere and conduct themselves in a good manner to avoid issues with any hall or faculty management."
While his words align with the statement released by the SU'EC when the ban on electoral activities was lifted, it seems the electoral committee only has power to admonish. Although it is customary to tell candidates not to litter and that their posters must be taken down 24 hrs before election, this is not really potent enough. It gets rid of the banners and not all of the posters. In some cases, some candidates do not even know how far their posters have gone.
A need for adjustment
The very first recommendation this reporter would make is a call for the readjustment of campus advertising regulations. Students and organizations should have to follow a process and face heavy sanctions if they let their advertisement deface school property.
Furthermore, it has become important for electoral laws for all student bodies in UI to be reviewed. Although students are not presently denied franchise, their actions in pasting posters and bothering to remove them is now a case of concern. As this is the case, it would be appropriate if student politicians are totally banned from creating any form of awareness physically. All the clustering can be done online.
Hopefully, with these ideas and a few more innovative rules, the University of Ibadan campus environment will have cleanliness and decorum befitting of the premier university.
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