By Ajadi Sodiq
All work and no play made Jack a dull boy is a quote that is taken to heart at the University of Ibadan. Organizing social events for students to unwind is a ritual that takes place majorly toward the end of the second semester to provide an avenue for socialization, merrymaking, and most importantly a break from class and its rigorous activities. The National Association of Political Science Students also follows this ritual and hosts a series of social events for NAPSSites, recently a cultural night was hosted in the association to celebrate and showcase the beauty of diversity in culture and to also foster a strong sense of solidarity and unity among various ethnic groups that exist in the association.
Although there is a controversy among Uites in the University as a lot of students see these events as an opportunity to relieve themselves from the workload of academics since the resumption of the semester while some of the students see it as a distraction that might affect their CGPA.
Despite controversies, faculty, hall, and departmental week is a tradition that has always been done over the years in the University, and this time the Department of political science isn’t an exception.
On Friday 26th of May, 2023, The National Association of Political Science Students, UI organizes its cultural at the Faculty Car Park.
In the course of the event, many students expressed their views and thoughts on the event, as some saw it as one of the best cultural nights they’d ever attended, some saw it as a mere party and not a cultural night. According to them, the event did not depict anything cultural. .
In this article, we will try to summarize the expressions of students.
There’s only a bit of cultural trace…
One of the students of the department who prefers to be anonymous expressed his view on the cultural party revealing how he/she enjoyed the dancing and some of the games played but felt it was more of a birthday party and not a cultural night party.
“I’ve attended some other departments’ cultural nights and our own just can’t stand it as there are only the native and traditional wears the people put on that showed the culture of it.”
“There’s no decoration, there’s no really a drama, a traditional atmosphere apart from the ethnic group dance, that’s not how it’s done in other departments,” he claimed.
Apart from his view other students reached out to POSSPress to express his view concerning the ought to be of the event which he thinks shouldn’t have been.
“Let me not lie to you, the food given at the event wass small, though I heard there are a lot of controversies from the legislature whom I heard cut off the funds, one fufu isn’t enough for a grown up and what I noticed is that at the end of the event there were still many food, but where they all ended is what I expect an answer for,” he claimed.
Adeoye, a 100 Level student of the department, explained to this correspondent what he penned down which is both the correct and incorrect of the event. As Adeoye explained different reasons why the organizers have done so well by what he seems is partial integration as some of the seniors – 200,300, and 400Levels formed a class at the event that made some students think they’ve done not really justice to that part, but despite he sited how he loved the gesture of the president, who also in the event danced with other levels and participated at the games.
“Class forming of the elders has reduced to a good extent. A few of them still formed class though, like the DJ”
“The fact that the president himself joined in the dancing made it interesting. And he danced for a long time, sometimes he would go and come back to the stage again. It boosted the energy of the stage. “if the president is not forming, why should I?” he claimed.
In speaking about the downs, Adeoye further expressed what he felt the organizers haven’t done well in the event.
“The organization wasn’t that dope. It looked too simple and not cultural. Not much stuff in the program except the food competition and the introduction in Hausa and Igbo.”
“The food was too small. Only people who ate multiple times conquered that. At the same time, the DJ was turned off.”
The complaints about the food have been a center of student’s dissatisfaction with the whole event, as many complain about the size of the ponmo, and some lamented about having just one fufu or eba. Disorganization of the event was also witnessed as some students complained about how some sociology students got food even ahead of them which some of them think posed the reason why the food might not have been enough.
We Have Done Our Best, And That’s The Best…
Speaking with Ikotun, President of the Departmental of Political Science who made his remark on the cultural night organized by his administration and Committee.
“The idea is that I organized the event, my executives and social committee organized it because there’s nothing to say other than the cultural night was superb and we did everything that we planned to do and everybody went home happy. For almost everybody’s point of view.”
“If there’s anything else you need, you can ask anybody that doesn’t have a stake in the event,” he stated.
