On January 29th, 2024, the Visionary IFUMSA Executives administration announced a partnership between IFUMSA and UNICONNE to address the transportation concerns of the UNICUS class (current 400-level medical students). Michael and Dayo (names changed for anonymity’s sake), like many other members of the class, were enthusiastic, and embraced the initiative. To use the Uniconne shuttle, they had to first pay a ₦1000 fee for a digital activation card, and fund their wallet on a Uniconne mobile app on the Play Store. Just as soon as it began, however, the partnership ended, and the app stopped functioning, with all of the unused money on the app vanishing into thin air.
CLINICAL ONE STUDENTS AND THE TROUBLES THEY FACE
Clinical-One students are the freshmen of clinical class in the six-year medical school training. After spending three years on campus, medical students in their fourth year move from campus to start attending lectures at the Clinical Skills Lecture Theatre. Here, classes begin at 7:30 am, after which everyone disperses for their monthly postings at varying locations—either at the campus, at the hospital, or the Primary Health Care Centre, Eyeleye–by 10 am. By 3 pm, everyone is expected to converge for an afternoon class, and by 5 pm when the class ends, disperse to their various residences.
In context, the Clinical Skills Lecture theatre is situated adjacent to Gloryland Hostel, a place which can be described as an ‘island in the middle of nowhere’. Sited midway between Road 7 and Phase 2 gate, Gloryland has no bus stop. Getting public transport here means you either do a 30-minute trek to phase 2 to queue for the traditional OAUTHC shuttle, or flap pitiably in the hope that a Good Samaritan will stop. Similarly, the only way to get to the venue is either to enter through the phase 2 gate, and take a ₦100‘maruwa’ to the place, or pass through campus via the OAUTHC shuttle at a ₦200 cost. ACJOAU had in previous times reported the plight of commuters plying the shuttle system. Due to this constraint, many of the students end up not getting locked out of morning classes due to late arrivals, and even when they are early enough, they spend heavily on transportation, or become stuck at the place, spending hours before they get transport to go for posting, or go home after afternoon classes.
IFUMSA PARTNERS WITH UNICONNE
It was to this end that the Visionary IFUMSA Executive Council 2022/2023 led by Temitayo Matthew entered a partnership with Uniconne. In a formal announcement sent to the General Faculty WhatsApp Platform, as well as on the UNICUS class page, the partnership was initiated specifically to address the lingering transportation challenges between the campus and the Hospital by providing an affordable and effective shuttle system to convey students from the College of Health Sciences to Gloryland to the Hospital and vice versa.
An excerpt from the announcement reads as follows: ‘The partnership will provide an affordable shuttle for our Clinical One members via three routes: College – Hospital route at ₦150 per trip, College – Gloryland/Clinical Skills route at ₦100 per trip, and Gloryland/Clinical Skills – Hospital route at ₦50 per trip. Return trips will also be available via these routes at the same fees. In addition, the trips are scheduled as Early Morning Routine (6:30 am – 7:30 am), Late Morning Routine (9:30 am – 10:30 am), Afternoon Routine (2:00 pm – 3:00 pm), and Evening Routine (5:00 pm -6:00 pm) in line with the class timetable’.
Many students readily embraced the initiative, with about 39 people reacting to the announcement on the class page. One of the students even commented ‘Amazing like BRT’, to which the Vice-president of the Executive Council, Ezembu Victoria, replied ‘Yup. Plus it’s at cheaper rates than the hospital shuttle’.
ACJOAU, speaking with some members of the class, confirmed that the shuttle was truly cheaper. Michael (name withheld for anonymity), a member of the class explained that he embraced the initiative because it was going to help them save costs. ‘The reason why I bought the card was that it was going to reduce the cost. It was not expensive. From my house to the campus gate, I take a bike to campus at ₦200, or ₦150. Then from Campus gate to campus at ₦100, or ₦150, after which I take a shuttle to Gloryland’. Similarly, Dayo also narrated that he paid because ‘it was at a discounted price’ and it guaranteed easy access to transport, and that you can always get to class on time.
To use the bus, Michael explained that it was mandatory that you first pay a ₦1000 fee association annual dues. Like many others in his class, he had not paid but had to do so. Thereafter, he paid another ₦1000 for a one-time activation Uniconne Digital Card, after which he downloaded the 20MB ‘Uniconne’ mobile application on the Play Store. This ₦1000, he explained, was just the card activation fee and does not reflect on the Uniconne app. But every other subsequent payment to fund the app does reflect. He then created his profile and proceeded to fund his wallet. On the U-pay app screen, he clicked on ‘receive with bank’, and upon doing that, a U-pay Kuda MFB account number came up, to which he transferred.
Before the bus kicked off operations on the 19th of February, Micheal and Dayo, like other members of the class, had already funded the app with as much as 1000, 2000, and 3000 naira. When asked how much he spent to fund the app, Dayo said ‘Well, maybe a total, three to four thousand naira’. Unlike Dayo, Michael even transferred more, totalling about ₦5000. Describing it, he said, ‘In total, I have three thousand naira balance unused on the app, and I paid up to five thousand naira’. However, they were not the only ones. On a list of people who used the bus on the 20th and were supposed to collect change after, 12 students were listed suggesting that a larger number of people did fund the app.
UNICONNE AND THEIR PENCHANT FOR INCONSISTENCY
Before the partnership between IFUMSA and UNICONNE, ACJOAU had reported a previous partnership between UNICONNE and the Great Ife Students’ Union to ease transportation problems and prices on campus, which failed shortly after it began. The initiative began on the 6th of November, 2023, with the bus routing on the Road One axis between SUB and Campus Gate. In the report by ACJOAU, Samuel, a student on campus, who had enjoyed the initiative while it lasted explained that the bus was actually of great help, but suffered from inconsistency. Explaining, he said ‘It comes in handy when there is no bus but they are just not consistent which is not admirable, there was a time I was stranded at the bus stop and the bus came in that evening, it was like a blessing!’. However, the initiative faced stiff resistance from the traditional ‘town-boro’ drivers who stopped that bus from operating. Explaining the scenario, the CEO of Uniconne in the report explained that the shuttle was ‘crippled majorly due to the involvement of the conventional transport system’. He explained that with more students patronizing the Uniconne shuttle, it drew away patronage from the town buses thereby causing a rift that warranted it to stop its operations.
However, despite the failures of the Uniconne shuttle transport system, the IFUMSA Executive Council still went further in establishing the partnership. Speaking with some members of the class who did not pay on why they did not, some remarked that they knew from the onset that it was not sustainable. One of such students was Sinmi, Narrating her insight, she said ‘I did not pay for it because I didn’t see it being sustainable. I felt that they did not have a working system yet’. ‘They just wanted to try and see’, she said. However, Dayo and Michael were not reasoning like that. Unlike Sinmi who stayed in Gloryland, they both stayed in town, and the shuttle was going to be of massive help for them. Further narrating his plight, Dayo said ‘Before IFUMSA agreed with them, I believe they did a lot of consultations, so I was not expecting it to die off like that’.
THE DYING OFF AND THE VANISH OF THE MONEY
The initial take-off plan for the 12th of February was shifted to the 19th of February, with Uniconne citing cost-efficiency as the reason for the shift. Victoria Ezembu announced it via a WhatsApp message on the class platform: ‘The Uniconne team have asked that they start operations next week Monday, 19th February instead of this week.’ At that time, the class just resumed and had not begun morning lectures. ‘This is because the structure they have can only be cost-efficient for them when they transport us for all our movements, that is, our 7:30 am classes, 10 am postings, 3 pm afternoon classes, and 5 pm for those going back to campus gate’, she said.
Although the bus began functioning on the 19th of February, it did not take long for the initial signs of promise to start weaning again. Narrating the story, Victor said ‘It worked on the first day. I was in the Chemical Pathology posting, so I was moved from here (referring to Gloryland) to campus, and after our posting, we got here before 3 pm’. However, the initial signs of promise started weaning. ‘On the second day, instead of the normal long bus, they changed it to a smaller bus, and all of a sudden they were not consistent again in coming’. But all of a sudden, Victor was referring to February 21st, about two days later, when the appointed class coordinator for the shuttle’s operations, Divine, announced that the ‘bus would not be available this evening due to some issues encountered today.’ The next day again, a similar message read ‘The Uniconne bus will not be available to transport us today due to some issues’. However, this was met with sharp disappointment from members of the class. A class member reacted sharply by saying it’s ‘too early for issues o. They haven’t even worked for a week’. This was followed up with a reply that ‘the structure is faulty, abeg make dem fix things’.
On the 23rd again, with nothing changing positively yet, Dayo and MIcheal were becoming apprehensive. In the early hours of the morning of that same day, Divine sent a third message—one that would mark the beginning of the end of the partnership. Like on previous occasions, the traditional OATHC shuttle drivers were reacting strongly to the Uniconne shuttle plying their route, and carrying their supposed passengers. According to him, the drivers were insisting that the shuttle does not operate in OAUTHC environs, even though they obtained permission from the university. He further added that ‘the problem is being sorted but in the meantime, the bus won’t be operating. Kindly bear with us’.
The final nail in the coffin was when on the 29th of February the executive council sent a WhatsApp broadcast announcing the end of the partnership. In it, they cited constraints of ‘multiple cases of operational and bureaucratic bottlenecks which have led to an inefficient transport system’. However, as a means of placating the students who have barely enjoyed what they paid for, he categorically stated that ‘per our agreement with Uniconne Inc the ₦1015 card activation fee will be refunded to all users through the Uniconne App by Monday, 4th March 2024’.
The President on a personal visit to the class also reiterated the same thing in person. Michael, who was at the meeting that day, narrating what the President said, explained that ‘they promised we would get our money back, but after some time my money disappeared and up till now, I have not been able to withdraw it’. ‘Let’s say you have a particular amount in the app, then suddenly you realize that there was nothing left, it was now reading zero balance’, he clarified when asked to explain what he meant by ‘disappeared’.
Similarly, narrating his ordeal, Dayo explained that ‘after I paid, they just released the bad news that Uniconne is not functioning again. I was expecting a means whereby I can transfer my money from Uniconne back to my account, but unfortunately, I was not able to do it’. ‘The day I wanted to withdraw it, and it was unsuccessful, I now checked clearly and discovered the virtual Kuda account linked to the app was no longer on the app again’, he further added.
Dayo, and Michael, like many others in the class, were in a state of limbo; they had just lost their money, both the activation fee, and their unused balance on the app, and despite assurances that they were going to get it back, it was about two weeks now, and still they were yet to get it. On the 12th of March, however, Victoria sent a follow-up message to the class group. She claimed that as of March 4, the activation fee had been refunded back to each individual’s balance. However, due to ‘server’ issues, it can’t be retrievable yet. An excerpt of the message read thus: ‘About the Uniconne digital card refund, if you checked the app as of last Monday, you’ll have seen that the refund has been done but there’s been an issue with their server and the app is currently not allowing withdrawal neither is it showing the amount in your wallet. They are trying to resolve the issue and have asked for some time. I’ll inform you guys as soon as it is fixed’.
This reporter can confirm that some members of the class were able to withdraw their money, apparently just before the server shut down. However, for those who could not, till today, no information has been given to that effect, nor has the money been refunded. Current checks by ACJOAU on the ‘Uniconne’ app on Google Playstore revealed that while the app was still on the platform, it is still non-functional, with efforts to either fund the app or withdraw from it impossible. Yet, Dayo Michael, and other members of the class who were affected, are still asking IFUMSA and Uniconne ‘Where is our money?’