With or Without the Students’ Union – What has really changed?

After many years of collective agitation from all directions, we finally got back the union we have longed for. We have got lofty hope that a sachet of water becoming #5 in our hostel butteries is at the fore of our thoughts.

One would imagine that the first administration after the proscription of the union would act like magic – others may call it a test run.Whichever way one chooses to call it, the administration is still an administration and students should be able to see a reformable change on campus.

Do we now have a stable and constant supply of water and electricity in our halls of residence? You know the answer. Why do we have to deal with these issues now and then? The union should be a home of salvation. Oh, I forgot, salvation only comes from the Lord!

Are the prices on the cost of transportation being moderated or do we only have them moderated on broadcasts? One week, One Thousand is gone, or let’s call it a ‘tao-sand’ naira per week.

Do people who go to the health centre for treatment still queue for long hours before they get to see the Doctor? Even those who went to mount Arafat would have returned, and their sons might have changed their names to Omo Alhaji.

I know we were all amazed at the glamorous renovation of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Building when we resumed. Is that worth enough of a legacy as far as Great Ife is concerned? We might need to ask the mastermind behind the whole administration.

Where is the Students Representative Council (SRC)? 

One would have thought that the student representative council would be the accountability board of the union but seems like the leadership of the Union only make decisions for the entirety of Great Ife student without proper consultations with the house.

Financial activities are being executed without a Budget and Finance Committee – one will wonder who approved the budgets.

Come to think of it, in this situation, what is the Students Representative Council doing? Perhaps, they are not acquainted with the Constitution.

Let’s just hope the Student Representative Council will rise to the task and stop hiding under the cloaks of training the members of the house supposedly.

Naturally, the generality of Great Ife students are intellectuals that will never vote for an imagery messiah as that may seem impossible. All they want is an administration that will represent them well amidst myriad challenges.

Well, maybe the only person that can intervene in our union is a Good Samaritan and probably not necessarily a Great Samaritan.

To the populace of students trying so hard amidst this helter-skelter whether academically, financially, emotionally even spiritually, the real Joy that we crave will come one day. We just need to remember as students on Great Ife soil, we’re all of the Lord – ‘Ti Olúwa N’óni Gbogbo Wa’