By: Olu ‘Remilekun (Contributor)
The conversations about cleanliness and sanitation have always been tied to moral values and has always ended with the health issues that come with it. There are to be noted more details to the issues of cleanliness. The culture of unhealthy environmental conditions and the ideological systems that societies subscribe to always determine how the problem of environmental sanitation is addressed. Do the solutions create slums where the poor are conditioned to live with waste? Are the methods holistic in the management of waste for communities, without preference for any group or class? The architecture of waste management and the contradiction that Agbowo represents opposite University of Ibadan are suitable contexts for this discourse.
When will students take responsibility for the sanitation of their corners, rooms, floors, blocks and halls? How will they keep the space clean and sacred for conducive academic engagement? When will student leadership strip themselves of big men gown and bow low to clean their environment? As a nation, our lives became more complex by the examples that leaders followed even when they claimed independence. We sustained the British administrative structure and complemented it with the American academic structure. The admixture of the two, obviously not the best in the world, applied with a materialistic and big man mentality has yielded in the decay of the colonial order that the university was designed to uphold.
Charity begins at home. Where and how are leaders, parents and students raised? Are they from homes where places are littered in waste? The situation of our toilets and bathrooms give the impression that students are either not familiar with Water Closet and modern pipe borne water systems or have simply chosen to live in the environment with no sense of responsibility.
Have you been to Awo Mount Zion to see the dumpsite that fellowships in the mount live with? How does it describe the Yoruba maxim of the hypocritical personality who observes cleanliness in public but sustains unclean private space or vice versa, “Afínjú ìta, òbùn yàrá”. Do we not all agree that cleanliness is next to godliness? Have you been plagued by the recurrent odour at Indy Hall back gate? Have you not experienced the horrible smell of the dumpsite beside Sultan Bello Hall? Do the dumpsites at the two ends of the Students’ Union Building not amaze you? Have you also witnessed the odour and horrible sight of the dumpsite behind Queens Hall, not far from Jaja Clinic? That site is not far from the odour emerging from the waste bin opposite the entrance of UI Catering Services Kitchen. Have you also seen the dumpsite behind Kenneth Mellanby Hall? Are you not amazed about how another dumpsite has been situated between Faculty of Education and Kenneth Dike Library? What about the dumpsite beside Faculty of Arts Annex Building which has become an open space for defecation and urine? What about the dumpsites on both sides of Faculty of Science Bus Stop?
Have you not wondered why no dumpsite was located around Tekena Tamuno Building or anywhere near the Senate Chamber? Answers will open your mind to what is obtainable and the architecture of waste management in the University of Ibadan. The system shows an attempt towards an efficient waste management structure but the university is littered with non-degradable materials, not only because students have not inculcated the culture of proper waste management adequately but also because the waste gathered are not promptly disposed. The wind does the disservice of broadcasting waste since they have stayed too long unmanaged.
We are not bankrupt of good examples. Public Primary and Secondary schools – and other low budget private schools – used to train pupils and students to clean the environment early before assembly and after closing hours. Prefects are assigned to monitor the duties of ensuring the cleanliness and sanitation of the school environment. While the system itself is fraught with inadequacies of big man syndrome and hierarchies sustained by bullying, it however created and nurtured responsible students who were able to pay attention to small things that make great impact on the psychology of persons and sanitation of schools. The advent of heavily funded and elitist private primary and secondary schools with European nomenclatures continued the tradition of training pupils and students who do not learn how to clean their environment because they have employed staff to do it all for them. The argument is not for the lack of needed personnel for sanitation but for the need to inculcate the culture of cleanliness in students while they closely engage character and learning.
We inherited and basked in the good old days when students were indoctrinated into systems where they were treated like masters with slaves to do their dishes and laundry, clean their rooms and manage their wastes. No wonder the system could not be sustained after independence. Such elitism is what Lee kwan Yew expressed in his autobiography “From Third World to First: The Story of Singapore”;
“Japanese executives and engineers start work on the factory floor. They had to understand the low level workers before they could rise from the ranks to lead them effectively. The British dockyard executive sat in his carpeted office and did not visit the workers on the shop floor or in the dockyards. That was bad for morale and productivity.”
Nigerians could not sustain the budding productivity for the development of our own economy. Rather than create our own system where there are no permanent class structures, we have adopted and created policies to impoverish the majority. Education has become an expensive commodity, no longer a social service. The children of the former cleaners have become cleaners. We have kept a society that entraps people in the different social classes. The new government policy of commercialising education is the final straw to ensuring that the middle class is finally eradicated. “As they grew stronger, they bowed less low”, Lee Kwan Yew affirmed about the Japanese. What is the disposition of our leadership to cleaning and those who do it? What is the working condition of those who clean our offices, classrooms, halls of residence and environment? The answers to these questions will educate you about our understanding of environment and how we treat those who manage it. As we seemingly become more educated and enlightened, do we learn character through humility and collective responsibility to ‘bow less low’?
Cleanliness and order are about responsibilities and the sensibility of leadership towards creating productive systems and a conducive environment for the production of knowledge and institutions that can lead the country out of poverty into prosperity. In psychology, perceptions and cognitive processes are deeply influenced by the environment of habitation. The emphasis is that organisation not only contribute to an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere but also supports the brain’s natural inclination to process information efficiently. Elleisha’s Property Services posits, “When our surroundings are tidy, it creates a good connection between our environment and how our brain’s work. This connection makes it easier to concentrate, be creative and feel good overall.”
We need to rethink and re-examine our institutions. It is not wrong to say that a dirty and untidy household is an extension of the father and mother’s states of mind. A dirty and unorganised country shows the personality of the leader of the country. Nigeria remains dirty because President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mindset and personality accommodates it. What does this say about the management of the University of Ibadan? What does the Vice Chancellor and members of the senate see when they move around the campus? Is there an illusion of order and cleanliness? What does it say about the Students’ Union leadership in the University? Are the stinking dumpsites around the Students’ Union Building and Halls of residence not an interpretation of the stinking and unorganised state of mind of the Hall Executives and leaderships across board? As a student, what do you see when you move or walk around the campus? Is this heaven on earth for you?
We need a critical and much more responsible waste management culture in the University. This is a task that the University management needs to lead with thoroughness. This does not mean the students are exempted from the responsibility. When we claim the university is ours and we are the future, this is one of the fundamental ways to prove and be responsible to it. Students’ leadership has to be more responsible to the continuous sustenance of a conducive learning environment, void of waste and odour. Orientation week(s) for new students need to include the lessons in waste management and cleanliness. Routine cleaning exercises have to be instituted and properly monitored by students in the different halls of residence. Rooms are to be inspected, by student task forces on routine basis. Without this intentionality and systemic repetitive emphasis, we will not be able to create and sustain a culture of order and cleanliness. We need creative and efficient systems! The true evidence of civilization or development is in the system and culture that manages not only what we eat or use but also how we manage our waste.
Gandhi cannot be more sincere,
“Physical clutter competes for your attention, decreases performance, reduce focus and increases stress. We seldom acknowledge the cause of our problems to be clutter and blame other factors to be obstacles in our life. Hence effective organisation helps us save time, space, money and bring in calm, composure and comfort in our lives.”
AUTHOR
Olu ‘Remilekun is a student of the University of Ibadan. He is social justice advocate and a stern believer that Nigeria can be fixed.
