It is very easy to criticise student union officers. It is easy to call them out whenever their fellow students feel they are not living up to expectations, to baste them for not delivering on their promises, like when the past iterations of the UI’SU leadership failed to properly handle the school fees crisis, or when the leaders in various halls of residence and in the SRC have fail to properly advocate for improved living conditions and wellbeing of the students in various halls and faculties, or the other time when a former president of the UI’SU endorsed a candidate in the national elections on behalf on the students of the University of Ibadan without a congress or consultation of any kind. It is easy to point out the flaws in the reasoning process of these actions.
But then, it must be understood that the position of student leadership or any form of leadership for that matter comes with a lot of responsibility. The pedestal on which it places these individuals is one from which they could determine the lives and careers of thousands and even millions, either directly or indirectly. Simply put, neither the student leaders nor leaders in any context nor their followers can correctly estimate the level of impact of their actions. This is indeed why every action of our beloved student union must have at its core the absolute interest of the students. It is why every single step must be properly scrutinised and carefully reviewed. Whatever criticisms that come in must be expected, respected and even welcomed. But after several billion articles and editorials in this regard, it seems nothing is changing.
For every issue that is plaguing our union, the burden rests on more than just the student union executives. For sure, Team Auspicious needs to get their priorities right; they also need to do more than redesign letterheads, release statements and do publicity. They need to be more articulate in pressing for what the students need. But then, there are other players in this issue, a lot goes into play in a democracy after all. On Monday, 31st of March, 2025, various campus press organisations began to report on the proposal by the Council of Hall Chairpersons (COHC) to the University of Ibadan Students’ Representative Council for an upward review of the hall basic dues from N3,000 to N5,000. The Council of Faculty Presidents (COFP) followed suit with a similar request barely three days later.
While these councils presented legitimate reasons for their request, such as improvement in quality of some of the services that students get, it is rather sad to note that these increments are coming at a time where students are still reeling from the effects of the fee hike, an increment that has forced many to drop out, which has forced many to look for alternative sources of income, with some going as far as selling their body tissue, even with the student loans. It is even more interesting to see the student leaders make the same points the school authority presented when the school increased the fees: improved services.
So far, as a matter of what is acceptable, student associations should not be engaging in capital projects. Had we not lost the plot as a society, the function of repairing broken facilities and putting new ones in place would not be for the students, who themselves still have to rely on parents , guardians and benefactors to cover their living expenses. Rather, it is for our student leaders to advocate about what the student body needs to the appropriate authorities and to charitable donors, like proper citizens in a civilised society. But it is appalling to see that even after managing to get the approved dues increased to ₦4,000, some of these halls go ahead in adding extra and questionable charges to the bill. This comes as no surprise, given that a lot of student politicians promise heaven and earth prior to their election and even after promising to get funding from external sources would rather pile more onto the plates of their fellow students. And when all else fails, they take credit for projects commissioned by the school, hall or faculty management and then call it a partnership, collaboration or joint effort.
Even the SRC is culpable in this quagmire, its handling of the basic due review was wishy-washy at best. At some point, it seemed as if the speaker and the honourable members of the council were rather keen on getting the increment over the line before the session even began, pandering to the demands of the COHC and COFP. Despite reports of feedback polls being compromised and constituents in various halls being aggressively cajoled, the SRC still deemed the responses generated as effective data to proceed with. It is even more ridiculous that the SRC left the function of generating responses on the matter to the individuals that proposed the action in the first place.
The larger student body are not any better themselves. The apathy of a lot of students in the face of pressing issues is exactly how things get worse. Heavy and critical backlash to any of the incidents stated above would have caused the outcomes in every case to be very different. But it is very concerning that a lot of Uites choose to be unbothered. This point is further illustrated in the last SU elections and in almost every hall or faculty election last session where the majority of the candidates ran unopposed. Even in cases where the students were engaged, it was out of allegiance to either faculty or hall of residence, causing them to lose their critical and logical edge in the analysis of the candidates or their manifestos.
If the larger student body are unwilling to properly engage and contribute to the issues that concern them, they are giving carte blanche to their leaders to do as they wish. And in a case where the majority of the followers lack the basic understanding of what should or should not be, what is to say even the leaders do? After all, they were culled from the same herd. Therefore, in a context where most of the citizens are ignorant of their rights, even the leaders are very likely to be ignorant, and when the leaders are ignorant, terrible things happen. And even now, this can be observed on the national scale.
In conclusion, the student union of the premier university is one that holds more potential than it realises; records and past history have shown that. After all, we can't mention unionism and the national struggle in Nigeria without mentioning University of Ibadan. Even now, when critical issues are being handled with the maturity of suckling babes by everyone from the executives to the councilmen and even the average Uite, there is still a glimmer of hope. A wave of consciousness and conscientiousness needs to spread from the ground up, from ordinary Uite to the union executives; it also needs to flow from top to bottom, from the leaders to the followers. The students need to be more involved, and their leaders need to be more responsive. That is the only way positive change can come.
