By: Ochi Maduabuchi

The foundational symbol of any political campaign ought to be the manifesto. The material is a written statement bringing to limelight the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. It is what a politician wishes to do, put in a manner that can be easily shared with others. It is a typical document that any person can pick up to draw an understanding of what somebody has in mind for the people. It contains not just the few activities intended but also the framework with which challenges can be confronted .

Common in politics, a manifesto, posed as a brochure, is built on a diameter known as slogans. Slogans are appellations or taglines which summarizes intent and purpose. They convey values and evoke a core message. They exist to capture the ideas of politicians, immortalised in a manifesto. They are a major characteristics of every political season. They can be of varying kinds, used by aspiring students to portray their catchy identity. Words like “proficiency, rejuvenation, amelioration, resurgence, simplicity, you and I, pragmatism,” are few of these uncanny lexicons.

The use of slogans is borderless and timeless. Globally, its effect grows from the view of a movement that speaks it and the action plans that better describe it. “Black Lives Matter” was a politically charged slogan that captured an anti-racist stance. The slogan aimed not only to garner public attention to the widespread of inequality faced by African-Americans in the U.S, but more desirable, to change it. There was Nigeria’s EndSARS protest. EndSARS captured not only the dissatisfaction of an average Nigerian youth towards the reality of police brutality. It showed the will and action to change the narrative. Slogans should never be mere taglines.

But good as slogans can be, they also may be used as tools for political manipulation. Across Nigeria’s recent political history, we see politicians that emerged with catchy slogans but on no clearcut basis. In the case of former President Mohammed Buhari, his call for “change” was upon realization, a compound style of the country’s typical social-political woes. An average Nigerian was worth more yoke than was burdened by the trust in the erstwhile president slogan. The current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s catchy slogan, “Renewed Hope” has been another daylight contradiction. These have been slogans divorced from the basis of goodwill promised.

We see the same reality reflect at the University of Ibadan. During the 2024 struggle against fee hike, the cries of “Fees Must Fall” could be heard on the lips of protesting students. The slogan summarised and passed even to an average passer-by the needs and the grievances of students. Anyone willing to listen would effortlessly understand, without much strive, the deeper details of students’ summed experiences. Students equally wore some unforgettable actions on its #FEEMUSTFALL slogan. Slogans without genuine equating efforts are deceptive and nothing less.

The current “Team Amelioration“, led by Aweda Bolaji, as of the time of writing, lived up to its snappy slogan. The word ‘amelioration’ means ‘to make something better’. While it is the umbrella name of the 2023/2024 Students’ Union administration, it is common knowledge that the team and its amelioration taglines have at loggerheads. There has been an unprecedented worsening of the quality of student life under the Aweda Bolaji-led administration. When compared with where the Union should be in respect to the Union’s past and present. The incumbent leadership’s slogan has not in any significant way reflect the assurance promised in the manifesto. At each time presented the opportunity to ameliorate, the team has shied away. From the increase in fees to issues concerning electricity and transport fares, in respect to the fair shape that they should be.

The current ambitious wave of student leaders, who paste their taglines in disregarding manner, on the University walls and in other unreasonable places, also have a speck of lessons to learn. Slogans are like owed debts to the student community. They should not be simply catchy words or phrases to reap the student community with no idea of the practical steps to solve real-time issues affecting the student community. Slogans should not just go ahead of manifesto. It is really risky to have sugary phrases without agreeable and convincing ways of addressing unsettling concerns.

Since all student associations, clubs and the Union at large exist with precepts and objectives, slogans and manifestos must exist within such frames. Issues are everywhere. But consultation can be done to figure out ways to handle these issues. Individuals contesting must be self-sound, not self-absorbed. It is really important that students bear this in mind too, and not be sheepishly led astray with nice-sounding slogans. It is imperative that all students act beyond the funfair of the seasonal politics. No one should treat leadership within the student community below the thoroughness it deserves. Thorough evaluation of antecedence, ideas and solution-driven plans.