Dear NASELSites, 

Although not very pronounced, subtly there seems to be a necessary strife between the NASELS Press and “some people”. On a further stretch, the necessity of the upholding of this strife between the NASELS Press and students politicians/leaders in the department, seem like something that must be adhered to. And over time, over the years, this tradition of the Press against the Executive Council seems to be established. However the case might have been in the past, one of the things that make humans, as they are is how intelligent they have responded to changes. Every living organism must and always respond to changes at different times, levels, and circumstances. Fortunately for humans, we have been able to respond to these evolutions deliberately and intelligently. Hence, the fact that this purported reality has been left unattended to in the past, does not mandate that what should not be, should continue to endure, the onus now rests on those present, to see to the corrections of these things as much as it can be corrected.

Myles Munroe, a renowned teacher of leadership skills, asserts in one of his books that, “When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable”. Anyone in a right state of mind will agree with this assertion to a great extent. When the purpose of a thing is not known, such a thing is open to being mis-used, under-used, overused and other kinds of abnormal or sub-normal uses. But the moment the purpose of a thing is clearly stated and understood, what follows almost automatically is a maximal utilisation of that thing. For example, a pencil is normally a tool for writing, for scribbling down great ideas, it can be used to sketch blueprints of ground-breaking inventions and so on, however, it can also be used as a drumstick, to make fire, or some other things that would appear as “useful” or “worthwhile”. Even as the pencil being applied wrongfully seems to have fulfilled it purpose, that is definitely not what it was meant to fulfill. One could go on and on, giving examples of abusive usages of things as a result of using them for the wrong purpose, or viewing them in wrong perspectives.

Now, it is important to reiterate and stress, if need be, what a Press organisation is, what it means, and what it stands for. The idea of the Press is also referred to as journalism, so in this context press and journalism can be used interchangeably. So, approaching the discourse from, what journalism is, there are quite a number of definitions out there that define what journalism is, however, two of them will be considered here, before looking at how it applies to NASELS, and the whole university community. TodayDigital, describes journalism as “…the art and science of gathering, compiling, and presenting news via various forms of mass media. Essentially, it’s a form of sharing information and facts, often from an objective perspective, with a commitment to accuracy and education.”. Coveringmigration.com, also describe journalism as “a process of collecting, analysing and disseminating information in the public interest. This means it is a profession with a strong element of social responsibility. That is why journalists are required to follow the highest ethical standards – accuracy, balance, impartiality and truthfulness, independent of any commercial or political interests.”. Also, Aidan White, Director of the ethical Journalism Network, further describes journalism as ”the gathering, reporting, the dissemination of news and information in the public interest”. Looking at these definitions, one would notice it basically is about getting, analysing and disseminating information, in the public interest, emphasis on the public interest. 

Furthermore, the Press, in any community, serves as a mirroring tool as it holds public officers in power accountable. That is to say, the Press and the community should be the last pair to be at loggerheads in any sane community. It becomes an anomaly when the people/community/public whom the Press is supposed to be a representative of, becomes malleable tools in the hands of politicians to spite the Press. Given the mere fact of human nature, that a person will naturally prefer that his/her activities remain clandestine just to avoid being accountable, it is a no brainer, that politicians also would crave this unwholesome indulgence. As much as humans revel in wielding power, one difficult task before people, in place of power, remains to give an account of how they have used the powers that have been given to them. It now becomes more imperative, that as long as an individual occupies a public office, it is mandatory that such must give an account of how she or he has used or mis-used the power that has been given. At that point when an individual happens to occupy a public office, such must and should be aware that, to some large extent, vying for these positions literally means not all her or his activities, actions and decisions remain exclusive. That is, their actions and conduct to large extents cannot be private any longer, especially in a democratic setting, just as is being practised here in Nigeria, and by extension the University of Ibadan, the Faculty of Arts and the Department of English. Now, the Press is not out to bring any individual down, but instead, reveal the public implication of occupying a public office. The Press do not have any business with anyone’s personal life until it becomes some sort of concern, for humanity sake or for public sake, however, when an individual decides she or he is fit to occupy a public office, every single action of such person, has direct and indirect impact on the public, hence, it becomes the primary business of the Press. 

Having said that, the next thing the public should look out for, is, in what direction is the Press body directing their attention? To what particular issues and problems, is the press body trying to bring the attention of the public to? On spotting these issues, it is expected that the community respond and react to these problems, and not to the fact that the Press had to write. A problem has been brought, be it among the Executive  Council or environmental issues, or issues bordering on facilities and basic amenities, these problems should be looked into directly by the community, and not making the press go through backlashes, as these backlashes will not deter the next article/story. Especially in situations when articles are released bordering on matters of facilities and basic amenities, stories like this are usually not published in a hurry, as a lot of consultation by the Press is usually done, by implication, these public officers are usually being hinted that a story is about to released concerning such issues days and sometimes weeks before the story is eventually released. And this is because, they are always summoned for specific story interviews, in some cases the time interval between when the Press correspondence reaches out to the public officer and the time of the eventual publish of the story, is sometimes long enough for some of these public officers to remedy the situation, or at least commence a remedy process. But they wait, do nothing, and start fighting back when the story is released, telling as many lies that can be told, either subtly or otherwise. It is a pity some electorate gets fooled with the antics of some of these student-politicians, pitifully and naively at their own expense. One major purpose of public officers in students association is to improve educational experience, and by extension teach the students to be a better citizen. It is called a University for a reason, academics is just about 50% of what the university contributes to a student’s life to become what she or he is meant to be.

Finally my brethren, on Press Nights and Manifesto nights, these are sensitive times for you as electorates to determine what you would go through for a whooping whole session. This is a chance for you to literally scrutinise who will be coming into power. Do they have respect and regards for the rule of law? Do they regard the constitution? Do they understand what it means to be a public officer? Are they people of whom when questions are asked they say a lot of things without answering the questions? Are they people who begin to give excuses of how busy they are when they neglect their constitutional duties? Is this person coming in, a team worker who can work with the other executive members? Do they understand what the law really says? What initiatives do they have to improve your learning  experience as students in the department? Is it all just parties and not-so productive events that burn off funds? Literally these two events are when you really determine what learning experience you will be subjected to for the session. Also, dear aspirants, the Press is not your enemy, nor your sworn rival, and has nothing against you, it is our joy instead, that you are coming out for these posts, and it is a lot, and we appreciate you for that. Nevertheless, we cannot overlook the significance of these offices to which you are contesting for, hence, you will be selling yourself out to the public, pitching your idea(s) brilliantly, and convincing the public why you are the best candidate. Your manifesto is your business plan, it should not be shabby, it should not be full of assumptions and lies, your research must have been done properly and well, it should not be a tool of decoy and deceit. Your manifesto should not carry your constitutional duties as your visions, or plans, they are your duties, and every NASELSite knows that well, what we want to hear from you on the day of the Press and Manifesto Nights, are your novel ideas and feasible plans on how you will translate these ideas into pragmatic actions, and standing legacies, what you would be known and remembered for. It is not in the best interest of you, as an aspirant when you come to the Press Night, “Ready for those Press people” you have only successfully defeated yourself. Come, like you are coming to meet investors, with the mind of convincing these investors to part with their hard earned money, and invest in your business ideas. When you do this, the department will experience reasonable growth, and the live of students will improve, as clearly, academics does improve the live of students in the real world, it just a tool, you are to provide a platform or prepare students, how best to make use of this tool.

And that is it dear NASELSites, may the best man win the race…