Esther Mark
It sure feels good to be called the president, vice president, or treasurer of any association but it feels quiet better to be termed “presido” of the Students Union Government (SUG) of any higher institution. But attaining this height or any other related to the executive committee of the SUG is a herculean task in which careful strategizing and proper planning are the watch words. It is to this effect that students of the University of Jos wishing to contest any position in the SUG employ various strategies to make their dreams a reality.
With the SUG elections slated for this week at the University of Jos, the political atmosphere is already heating up. This is because aside the frenzy associates with campaigns of this nature, it is also time for students to assess the previous administrations and make efforts to vote in a more student-oriented leadership. For others, it is a time to collect more freebies, popularly called ‘awuf’ in local parlance.
While the criteria for eligibility vary from one institution to the other, academic excellence remains a constant parameter to qualify. Though the CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) varies for each post, one notable thing is that aspirants must not have any carryover in their registered courses. Having scaled that hurdle, the aspirants then set out fully to sell their candidature to the electorate, in this case, students.
First, they take pictures in striking positions depicting the post been sought. For President or Vice President aspirants, the pictures are usually serious minded, with little smile, depicting the sensitivity of the posts. For Secretary General, Treasurer and Financial Secretary aspirants, a striking pose with a pen or any writing material does the trick. Director of Socials (DOS) and Director of Sports (DOS) aspirants lso bring some swag to their pose as they demonstrate different styles to cap up their dreams. Thus, the posters are ready with the touch of a slogan which acts as selling points for them. Treasurers and other financial post seekers usually adopt slogans like, “I give you my word; you cash it in the bank”.
Having secured the posters, they are placed at strategic positions to catch the attention of passersby, not minding the defacement to the aesthetic beauty of the environment. Depending on the number of contestants for a particular post, some make mini banners which are placed conspicuously at gates and other catchy positions. Next, they also print stickers which are placed on books and other surfaces to reinforce retention of the candidatures. It is a common thing to find classrooms, podiums, trees, and others embedded with posters and stickers of different sizes and magnitudes.
Furthermore, the aspirants employ a handful of people to act as praise singers while they hire cars and musical bands who blow the trumpet and “raise the roof high” for them. They sing, dance and walk from one campus to the other and from one hostel to the other, amidst fanfare. This, on its own, costs real money as they are meant to pay for the car, fuel, lunch for the praise singers and also some form of “thank you to them”.
Also, picture stickers are given out in which the same pictures used for the posters are used and placed on books and phones, acting as decors for the phones. Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Hi FI, nimbuzz, 2go and others all become avenues for campaigns as chat rooms and walls are constantly updated with pleas for the choice of candidacy.
The aspirants further dish out lots of freebies such as customized pens, T-shirts, books, table water, eatables like meat pies, noodles, and lots more. These are usually given out during the final campaign. From one hostel to the other, beautiful stories abound of parties organized by aspirants and other customized freebies doled out depending on the financial capability of the aspirant. Some actually put the academic consideration in view as they make photocopies of past examination questions, especially the GST courses and distribute to new students to gain their votes. Others organize extramural classes for students on various courses where they do not fail to remind the students the reasons behind the kind gestures.
However, many students have been asking if this heavy spending for campaigns has any link with complaints of non performance by most of those elected into the SUG. Some of the aspirants bared their minds on why they commit so much resources into the campaign to Unijos Echoonline but on condition of anonymity. One of them said “in as much as we have the passion to serve and better the lots of fellow students, we just cannot shy away from the fact that we need real money to run a successful campaign. We even borrow money from friends and family to achieve our dreams and if you are not ready to play along, you would just be left out”.
For another, “I was fortunate to get friends who supported me by contributing in one way or the other to sponsor my campaign. If not for their help, it would have been difficult.” Those who resorted to borrowing could not say how they intend to pay back. As one of them retorted, “we must survive and don’t ask me how we do that; we must just find a way to get along and offset the bills”.
However, some students expressed reservations about the heavy spending for campaigns similar to what politicians do, describing it as unnecessary. Rosita Okolie, a 400l student of Sociology said “in as much as the positions must be filled by students, its only proper we do the right way and cut off unnecessary expenses during campaigns. If we must campaign, it should be low keyed so as not to imitate our politicians who use all they have for campaigns and rely on the masses money called national cake to reimburse their pockets. At the end of the day, they have nothing to account for. We must show examples as Nigeria’s future leaders”.
Some other students stressed the need for those elected to deliver. Mercy Amadi, 400 level Nursing Science student opines that “while it is commendable that students should have a voice on campus through representatives, it is important these representatives really speak for them. Such representatives, like the immediate past SUG Nantok Dashuwar led administration is what unionism is all about. When the interests of the students are seen as priority, then students’ unionism could be said to be functional. I only hope the incoming administration would continue from where Nantok stopped.”
For Mary Amos, 400 level Management Science, there is nothing wrong with people striving to lead others. In her words, “It is a good breeding ground for future politicians. The success or otherwise failure of their administration on campus would help later in life. When they succeed here, they would look out for ways to continue in such stride later in life. If they fail, it would serve as a lesson to them and they would not want to continue in such stride”.
As the campaigns rounds off and elections are held this week, many students expressed hope that the best candidates would emerge victorious.
