UNICAL student union president and her 50 aides

THE first female president of the Student Union, (SU), University of Calabar, Blessing Alims, recently drew flak from many a Nigerian when the news broke that she had appointed 50 individuals for advisory roles in her administration.  And like her role models outside the campus, who are in the shameless and inefficient business of creating unwieldy bureaucracy and enthroning profligacy in government, she has come up with the usual platitude verging on inclusion, representation and collaboration to justify the institution of her patently outlandish and bloated governance structure. In the words of Madueke Chinenye, the Press Secretary, who spoke at Alims’ behest, “Just as a single tree does not make a forest, effective governance for a student body of over 42,000 requires a collaborative effort. It is essential to have a strong and diverse team to implement our initiatives successfully. With over 20 faculties and over 110 departments, the University of Calabar is a complex institution. Appointing aides ensures representation from each faculty and department, which is crucial for effective student mobilisation and governance.”

The president’s argument in her attempt at explaining away her outrageous action that culminated in the appointment of 50 aides does not hold water. For starters, the idea that a tree does not make a forest is non sequitur in this context because there are other officials elected along with her, holding such other portfolios as Secretary, Directors of Finance, Information, Sports, Socials and so on. Besides, the union has a legislative arm whose members are elected from hall of residences and such other constituencies to reflect the diversity and different segments of the student population within the university community. Indeed, under whatever guise, it is laughable for a student union president to have a cabinet of 50. Is she borrowing a leaf from Nigerian politicians who are wont to have a retinue of aides tagged Personal Advisers and Special Advisers, many of  them with vague and/or overlapping functions? Sadly, Alims has a template from the political class and that is ominous as it gives an indication of what she and her ilk will do if and when they have the opportunity to serve on bigger platforms.

It is unfortunate for Nigeria that the youth are copying hideous examples from the establishment, the same practices that have held Nigeria down for years. Could it be that the SU president is unaware of the strident clamour for a lean government in the country, or she couldn’t just care a hoot?  Meanwhile, Alims’ claim that her aides were volunteers who were carefully screened and appointed on merit and that, to that extent, they would not constitute a burden on the SU’s coffers is not entirely correct. The reality is that officials of the SU may not draw huge salaries, but they enjoy certain privileges that are funded by the commonwealth of the students’ body. And in any case, whether or not the aides are going to be paid is not even the veritable issue; the issue is that the appointments are preposterous and unwarranted, but the president does not seem to grasp the utter absurdity of her action. For instance, what exactly does she need aides for? Are there not other elected officials who are supposed to work together with her? Is the SU no longer the overall organisation for students over and above their departmental and faculty associations and sundry other clubs and associations? In reality, the Student Union is the coordinating body for all students’ activities and associations and clubs, with all of them providing impetus for its work. In the circumstances, where is the need for aides to help the president perform her duties effectively?

It is really saddening that the proverbial leaders of tomorrow, at the slightest access to power at lower levels like the SU, are already abusing such powers by delving into needless and avoidable extravagance. Ordinarily, prudent management of resources and swift decision-making objectives recommend a compact cabinet at any level of governance, unless the leaders do not know their onions. That the students are already copying and justifying the obnoxious propensity of politicians for grandiosity speaks to the level of debasement that public life has suffered at the hands of the insensitive and inept politicians. And sadly, this sordid state of affairs may persist unless an attitudinal alteration that sways leaders in the direction of disciplined, careful and sensible management of public resources happens.

We strongly urge Alims to reconsider and prune her grandiose and bloated cabinet to a reasonable size. One, the SU’s resources that are built up mainly from the contributions of individual students are not limitless. Therefore, having many officials to feast on the usually lean purse, as it were, may create avoidable problems. Two, her retinue of aides with different functions may likely bring her at loggerheads with other elected officials who may see her as usurping their functions by subterfuge. And the resistance to such seeming interference may be overwhelming for a fledging leader yet to be adept at deploying political solutions to resolve leadership challenges. Three, student union governance is a part-time job, and coordinating and monitoring  the activities of 50 aides in addition to those of other clubs, Faculty/Departments associations and so on may take a toll on her time and impair the main goal of her being in the university in the first place. Four, the effectiveness and performance of a government is seldom measured by the hugeness of its cabinet but the extent to which it impacts the lives of the community it serves.

It has been proven over time that a compact and smart cabinet tends to achieve better results than a huge, unwieldy and difficult-to-coordinate one that serves only as a drain on the common resources. However,  in the likely event that the SU president insists on retaining her bloated cabinet, and refuses to back down of her own volition, the legislative arm of the union should wade in and let her realise the sub-optimality of her decision. To be sure, Alims may have the best of intentions but it is clear that her commitment to performing her duties does not have anything to do with the appointment of multiples of aides. Her quest for extravagance only portrays her as a reflection of the misgovernance that has been the lot of Nigerians courtesy of insensitive and avaricious politicians. For many years, the cost of governance has continued to burgeon and the recurrent expenditures have continually outstripped capital expenditures in a frightening dimension, and that has been down mainly to the penchant for creating huge bureaucracy at all levels of government. Thus, the idea of upcoming/future leaders treading this dangerous path is ominous and disturbing and must be reined in.

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