Quadri Yahya
Barring any last minute change, thousands of students of University of Abuja are expected to exercise their fundamental rights by voting in the election to elect representatives to the Student Union Government on Monday.
Students can either vote via a dedicated application or visit designated polling booths.
On the app, aspirants' bio, campaign messages and offices aspired for are on display.
Guidelines to register and participate in the election process have already been released by the Electoral Committee.
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It is expected that the presidential office will be tightly contested as three students -one female - are vying for the top job, while two females are jostling for the office of the Vice-President.
Two aspirants are vying to serve as the Secretary General of the S.U.G., while two students are also aspirants for the Provost office.
It is also expected that the Director of Welfare post will be tightly contested as three aspirants are jostling for the position.
Also, two aspirants are contending for the Director of Transportation and Commerce position. This office is also expected to draw attention, as the grueling experience with shuttle abounds among students.
For the Director of Sports, an aspirant is bidding for reelection while another aims to unseat him.
There are also two aspirants for the Director of Social office. Essentially, this position will likely be clinched by a popular aspirant, as the office itself requires one.
A male and a female aspirants will lock-horn for the Director of Information position. This office forms the backbone of public, student-leader, student-management, and student-community relations in the university community and beyond. The elected official is also expected to work with media outlets on campus, a matter which forms the content of the manifesto of one of the aspirants.
According to the Campus Poll update, the Director of Health and Director of Finance election have one aspirant each. In other words, the offices are unopposed.
Director of Entrepreneurship also has three aspirants -two females, one male - contending for the office. The Director of Academics election also involves two aspirants.
ICYMI: How the S.U.G. manifesto, ‘debate’ went – in brief
For the Electoral Committee (ELCOM), its conducts during the electioneering period have attracted both criticism and commendation.
Notably, ELCOM's conduct of the manifesto presentation was marred by delay, which led to some students leaving the venue, Convocation ground. The event was set for 3 PM, but didn't start until after 5 PM.
The Committee apologised to the student populace, noting that overlap with the MTN three-day event at the same location caused the lateness.
ELCOM vow to ensure smooth process henceforth, which manifested during the S.U.G. ‘debate’, held at Management Science.
Despite ensuring early commencement and presence of media outlets to cover the event, ACW-UA Press reports that low-turnout and epileptic power supply marred the process. Also, the ‘debate’ was more like a manifesto presentation, adding that aside from the presidential aspirants and the VP candidate present who were allotted ample time to engage with the students, other aspirants were called on stage at the same time due to “lack of time”.
Though darkness has visibly fallen, some students complained for rushing later in the day, as it disallows them from asking aspirants 'crucial' questions.
ACW-UA had earlier reported that the event was graced by the Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer ACP Muyiwa Adejobi; the Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Patricia Manko Lar; Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Idoko Sunday Idoko, among other alumni and dignitaries.
Talking points
ACW-UA Press reports that the presidential candidates essentially discussed issues around entrepreneurship, security, and inclusion (Korede Royalty's focal talking points); skill acquisition, digital system, hostel conditions, and collaboration (White lion's); and ‘intellectual’ unionism, inclusivity and security (Jamo's).
However, note that there is overlap in focal talking points, and these highlighted points do not exhaustively define the agenda of each candidate. For a detailed manifesto, readers can reach out to each candidate.
Other issues addressed include; water resources in hostels, provisions of notice boards across departments (info office), price control (welfare office), inter-faculty and -varsity sport competition (director of sports), among others.
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