Report on the UNEC DECIDES 2014

3:00PM and the venue for the UNEC DECIDES debate, Moot Court Complex, UNEC was still empty. One could only hear droning from the mutterings of the sparse UNEC population present, among who were the two presidential aspirants, Ilogebe Chidi and Nwenyi Vitus, the Speaker of the SUG House, RT Hon Ambrose, the aspirants for the posts of Assistant Secretary-General, Financial Secretary and one of the SUG Information Officer aspirants. A security man at the door with a loud brash voice began shouting at one of the organizers of the event for their late comings, and on one or two occasions, two ‘technical-looking’ students carried into the hall, speakers and folds and folds of wire. One would watch with glee as the aspirants went keenly over their points for the debate. But there was nothing as interesting as watching two political rivals shake hands and sit together in the spirit of ‘politicalmanship’. Ilogebe Chidi smiles at Nwenyi Vitus. Nwenyi Vitus smiles back at Ilogebe Chidi. I laugh quietly in my mind. And at this point, I wish the two of them could win the post of SUG President. CHIDI and VITUS, two names of the same number, six. ILOGEBE and NWAENYI, two names of the same number, seven. Oh sorry, Nwaenyi is spelt without an “a”. My point is, the two candidates are similar in many ways, and who knows? They could have been good friends if not for politics. That evil genie called Politics. It’s all for the good of the union anyway. So, back to UNEC DECIDES, I’m still here by 3:15pm and the generator was just put on. The anchor, Stephanie Ihebinandu just walked in and the sound of her heels and the screeching of the speakers are all we can hear. Oh! I forgot the generator outside. More students are trickling in. Fine babes with smart clothes, and guys looking like Zenith bank staff with their suits and Ekene Finally ties.

After the program had begun and the Dean of Students’ Affairs had spoken, the contestants began the manifesto presentation.

FABIANO gave the audience some hearty rounds of laughter with his momentary pauses like “erm… ehen… what is it called again? …as in…okay yaaah” After the applause that followed his speech he received questions from the anchor and members of the audience. His responses to the questions were calm and more composed than his initial speech. One of the comments he made was that his committee would follow food vendors to their houses to see how they cook. He intends to give surprise visits to the food vendors. He had some bloopers during his responses. The legendary one was when he mistakenly said “my I” instead of “I”. When asked if the 6-man allocation of rooms is fair, he stated that it is not fair. For high prices of the lavatory, he stated that the problem of the lavatories is that they have no water in school. When asked for his solution to strike actions by the cleaners, he stated that he and students would arrange for Saturday sanitations. Generally, his performance was both hilarious, entertaining and informative.

VITUS spoke first, when the presidential aspirants were called up to speak. His beginning ginger was impressive. His five-point agenda are Water Scarcity, Security Lights, general Sanitation with Ibiam as an experimental ground, examination results. His first step to tackle water scarcity is to place it as a matter of urgency. He promised to supplement SUG tanks in the hostels with new tanks which would be filled up for easy access by students. When asked how to combat the stealing of security lights, Vitus cited security men to help.

CHIDI spoke second. He stated that he served under the last administration wherein he produced the first ever Campus Newspaper. He stated that he has drafted his plans in two phases: the short-term and long-term goals. He stated that his first concern is water. We need to develop Manuwa Bustop because it is not befitting for UNEC, We need to improve our reading conditions. We need to improve our social life. The Igbo translation of university is MAHADUM meaning “Know them all”. We need street lights. We need to reward excellence. We need to organize a Home-coming where we raise money for these projects.

In all, the two presidential aspirants were fairly equal in their presentations.