By: Ochi Maduabuchi

Some say leadership is everything. To have good leadership and sound leadership is important. Leadership roles, regardless of when and where, have formed a vital part of every human society. Under feudal governments, kingdoms floundered under bad ones. In business, a good manager can indeed lead the company to the heights of excellence, as a bad one could almost certainly lead it to bankruptcy.

In schools and on campuses, this reality is the same. Hence, the need to ensure that leaders on campus are fully aware of the weight of the position that they take on. Occupying a position of authority within the student community should not be done for the purpose of padding CV. It should also not be taken as an avenue to entertain followership, without addressing pressing issues that face the community as a whole. Student leaders should understand that the space of representation exist to address needs of students who have entrusted tacit representation to their care.

The University of Ibadan has undergone times which have demanded leadership. In 1957, students cried out against bans on the use of electrical appliances in rooms without the approval of the warden. In 1971, students poured out into the campus streets against the Cafeteria mismanagement of Zik Hall, asking that the Manager be removed. In 1992, students again came out to protest against the increase in cab and bus fares.

The issues that caused these historic struggles still largely remain today. In a 2013 paper, F. I. Etadon outlined them: “campus accommodation, water and electricity issues, intra-campus transport system and academic curriculum issues,” among other issues. These issues persist.

Students experience regular light withdrawals which in turn lead to a lack of water across several hostels on the campus. Complaints about not just departmental classes, but also GES courses still abound, heightened now by the shortened academic calendar. The recent Students Union release makes real again the issue of transportation within the campus environment as fares rise and commuters have been law to themselves.

Yet despite this, we see little being done to address these issues. Current student politicians as they call themselves do not take active steps to organise students to get these issues resolved. They pay lip service to the main issues at hand, but seem more concerned with organising parties and events. It has been seen clearly at the highest levels of the Students’ Union, who did not deem it fit to mobilise students to stand together against the increase in fees, and who are more interested in getting over 10 million to organise what is little more than a week-long party while students go on bearing the brunt of the dysfunctional state of the University.

This is also reflected in those who are hoping to take over. From the previous year’s election, no candidate ever spoke about the issues facing students. Elections were turned from a process to evaluate who has the most practical solution to the issues facing students into a popularity contest. Candidates projected all the positions they have held under tags that do not give an idea of the plans that they have, while little is said concerning actual issues concerning students. Even in this session, rife with its issues as it was, no one who had defaced the student environment with posters of times of a particular nature, or agendas characterised by physical phenomena, came out to say anything on the issues. This reveals the intentions of these politicians. It is one that is clearly not concerned with the welfare of students. Rather it seems more like a way to pad resumés.

Some of them may claim that they are indeed hoping to enter into the position to help their fellow students, that it is “out of a need to serve the student community”, but that service must be preceded by antecedence. There are several issues plaguing students on campus. Good, thoughtful and actionable leadership would leave a larger impact on the student community.

Issue-based approach to politics would leave a greater mark on the community, rather than the personality-centred approach currently being employed. As the student community is tied to the wider society and cannot be untangled from it, they could serve as a striking example of what leadership should look like. Students as the change agents of society ought to learn from the mistakes of those who came before them and produce a model that corrects the mistakes, and not to copy hook-line-and-sinker the mistakes of their predecessors.

Leadership is important to the success of any society, and being within the university environment doesn’t make it any less true. In the past, student leaders have stood together to encourage students’ action against certain issues, issues which we still largely face today. Yet, despite the prevalence of these issues, we do not see student leaders who are emerging to tackle these issues, even though they still run for positions. This should not be the case. Student leaders ought to serve as an example to the larger society and structure their campaigns (and tenures) around solving the pressing issues on campus. This way, we can steadily create a society that is reflective of desired changes.