By POSSPRESS
Many of us have heard it many times that cleanliness is next to holiness. It sounds like an old saying, the kind that gets repeated so often it becomes a cliché. But this phrase should never be treated as a cliché. It should have a deep meaning to us. Cleanliness is not only about piety. It is a sign of wholeness. A clean environment reflects full well-being, physical, mental, and spiritual. When our faculty is clean, it tells the rest of the university that the minds working within these walls are sound and orderly.
Look closely at our faculty corridors, our lecture halls and our walkways. Do they reflect that wholeness? Too often, we see pure water sachets, biscuit wrappers, and abandoned lecture notes. We are trained as social scientists to diagnose and fix problems in society. So how do we ignore the problem right at our feet?
We are not just students. We are FATSSAITES, the social engineers of tomorrow. We study Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, and Geography. We already know the theory. Skinner and Watson showed us that environment shapes behaviour. Wilson and Kelling’s Broken Windows Theory tells us that disorder outside breeds disorder inside. And Mancur Olson reminds us that collective problems need collective action.
Now we must practice what we preach. Keeping the faculty clean is not only the job of the cleaners. It is our job too. This faculty is our academic home for four years. We don’t just pass through it. We live in it. If we cannot keep our own space in order, how can we credibly demand clean governance or social order from Nigeria at large?
Dear FATSSAITES, it is time to stop being passive users of this space and start being active custodians of it.
Own your waste! Don’t drop that sachet on the floor just because you’re in a hurry. Hold it until you find a bin.
Adopt a spot. As an association, let’s organise a weekly 15-minute “Faculty Freshen-Up” before lectures begin. Small, regular effort adds up.
Be your brother’s keeper. Correct a fellow student, politely but firmly, when you see them littering. Let peer pressure work for cleanliness, not against it.
Let us redefine what FATSSA stands for. Beyond the Faculty of Social Sciences, let it also mean a Family that Attests to Sanity and Aesthetics. A clean faculty is a healthy faculty. A healthy faculty produces whole minds. And whole minds are exactly what Nigeria needs to move forward.
