Awoko Emmanuel

In an environment where love, growth, and development are needed, a particular system of government must be put in place and such is democracy. It will, however, be a boring narrative to define democracy having known that the majority of the students of the University are familiar with it. Thus, going back in time, secondary school days exposed us to a subject called Civic-Education, and for those in humanities, and social sciences, we had a core subject called Government, as both two subjects had stood as a bedrock for the main purpose of this exposition.

Follow me; both subjects exposed us to the concepts of political participation, political apathy, and democracy. To play safe in touching these concepts, we will need to ask ourselves whether all these are playing out in our society. Obviously no! The typical mainstream political arena is also affected by the negligence of people towards political activities in terms of voting, and contesting. For example, the majority of those who canvassed for different political candidates in the last Nigeria general election seem to be without a voter’s card, yet, their choice keeps ringing and wailing even though they had no plan to vote. This has also become pertinent among a majority of students on campus.

The questionable rate of political apathy is increasing speedily, and likewise, the decreasing rate of political participation is also nothing to write home about. For instance, agreed that in cases of established protocols that can limit students from contesting or voting, such as; a debt of basic dues, a soiled reputation, level limitation, and questionable Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) that is below requirement. All these are the only known hindrances, yet, many times, some people are intentionally doing the apathy.

From the lens of democracy, it is a concept of representation that involves empowering people to play power on behalf of the people, not specifically the masses. Moreover, a major requirement on the part of democracy is freedom, combined with fairness. Some further instances can display the emphasis on competence as a pillar to hold on to.

Relating to the association of the National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS), University of Ibadan, the three concepts mentioned on participation, apathy, and true democracy need to be checked if truly they are played right, or not. It must, however, be established to the hearing of everyone that democracy is not a beautifully structured manifesto, a colourful graphics design, or neither the jamboree of people canvassing for their candidate when truly it is visible that the supposed candidate is incompetent. True democracy has been hijacked in mainstream politics. It is also becoming obvious in every podium that gives room for governance and politics such as we have on-campus environment.

Furthermore, checking through the pages of the last conducted election in the department, the challenges of political apathy, and low political participation were greatly played into view. At some point, the electoral committee of then had no choice but to postpone the closing date of the form because of the apathetic side that was turned to their repeated announcement on the family page. In the sequence of the narrative as well, few candidates turned in, even though the majority of them contested unopposed. It is such a bitter story to narrate because further complement who came in to rule over the department had no visible agenda in a plan, let alone a traceable manifesto that can be used to track their effectiveness. Not only that, the question of what their constitutional duties are should also be played to the gallery to see if they can answer the basic questions of why they are holding certain posts.

Moreover, history has gone, but the present is here. Political apathy is already starting to play out on the surface of the department, yet many eyes are clouded with merriment and biases, which is inappropriate in a truly politically aware and democratic environment.

It may be unannounced, but it is visible that only a few candidates have obtained the electoral form that is being sold. Therefore, the numbers can be counted, and the majority are contesting unopposed, yet some other positions will again be left alone. Sadly, the reason behind the current silence of many is unknown, but could be predicted as fear of preparing a manifesto, fear for questioning during press night, or an agenda to maneuver way, and bypass all the formal procedures to come into power through a bye-election, of which the deciding power has always been vested in the presidency when the call for congress is being raised.

Having established the precedent state of apathy from the immediate past election, and viewing the similitude of it in the current ongoing electoral activity, the need for participation is highly needed from different levels in the department, and majorly beyond the general outlook of politics. On this, many more candidates need to come out, and many more should be ready to vote because until then franchise will not have been practiced.

In conclusion, the need to hold a position in the association must also be strictly checked. The considerations of many students nowadays are only to build their curriculum vitae, get fame, embezzle money, and many more. However, leadership is beyond all that. Further, it must be clearly defined as a call to serve, to be disciplined, reputable, responsible, accountable, fair, and observant of the needs of members of the association to foster the targeted love, the expected growth, and unity.