Manifesto vs. Reality: An Assessment of Ande Victory Dooshima’s Manifesto

By; Oyewole Nimotalai Dolapo

In 2023, before being elected, Ande Victory Dooshima presented her manifesto, which contained her plans for Queenites in her capacity as the Hall Chairperson. Miss Ande’s manifesto contained seven objectives which will be carefully reviewed. Beginning with her first objective titled “Academics Development Scheme,” a plan to foster intellectualism through an inter-block essay competition, which was to be achieved in the first semester of the session. While indeed, a competition was organized and broadcasted on the hostel’s WhatsApp groups, a winner was announced in fulfillment of one of her promises. Still on the Academic Development Scheme, she promised to make available past questions from all faculties to departments. A close look at this reveals that while indeed, through the office of the Hall Secretary, a “Past Questions Bank,” the past questions in this bank do not cut across all departments and faculties as promised by Miss Ande. While some like the European Studies department are empty, others such as the Department of English provide for only 200-level students. Close sources reveal that the Past Questions Bank was solely executed by the Hall Secretary. However, in a chat with the Hall Chairperson, she confirmed that while the General Secretary did the bulk of the work, she followed up on the progress of the plan. As indicated in the manifesto, a career talk was organized in collaboration with the General Secretary in the first semester of the session.

Moving on to her second objective which is the social development scheme. One of the goals of the corporate social responsibility scheme was to engage in activities such as picking litter in the surroundings and creating an all-inclusive structure that ensures Queenites are present for Jaw War and other competitions held at the University of Ibadan. While the former never took place, Miss Ande indeed mobilized Queenites for Jaw War and social events in other halls such as Zik Hall. The other plans under this scheme include an identity consciousness scheme through a weekly publication named “Identity Talk” and an outreach scheme by executives which were simply nonexistent during her tenure.

The political participation scheme is the third objective included in Ande Victory Dooshima’s manifesto. True to her first plan under this scheme, Team Excellence called congress meetings; however, the leadership committee that was created did not organize “an in-house” event.

Next is the Welfare Scheme. Although a welfare team was created, there were no room-to-room rounds to educate students about mental health. When she was reached out to, Ande Victory explained that she didn’t go through with this plan because the Health Minister already had publications about mental health being put out at intervals. Despite being included as a plan for Queenites, there was no “in-house hangout” coordinated by floor representatives as promised in Miss Ande’s manifesto or an educational rally in both semesters of the session.

The fifth objective was the career development scheme. Indeed, there was a career summit in the first semester of the session tagged “The Mastery of Interview,” which covered etiquette, techniques of CV writing, application letter vs. cover letter, and communication skills.

Although the health of Queenites is primarily the duty of the Health Minister, the outgoing Hall Chairperson included a Health Care Scheme as her 6th objective for Queenites. Amongst these plans included the availability of basic healthcare amenities for students such as toiletries which were not provided. The plan to establish an active body of the health care committee was eventually done through the office of the Health Minister. Similarly, sports activities in the hall to promote great physical fitness were solely done through the Sports Minister. The reason given when she was reached out to concerning this was that she didn’t have to create another health team because the Health Minister’s committee was already doing a good job. She also added that true to her plan to ensure that toilets are well-coordinated with the help of floor representatives, she made sure that cleaners made use of the best cleaning products and escalated complaints on toilet issues to the appropriate authorities.

The seventh and last scheme that is included in Miss Ande Victory Dooshima's manifesto is the innovative information dissemination scheme where she indicated her plan to work hand in hand with the P.R.O and Hall Secretary to “ensure that several innovative structures are put in place…” This was supposed to be achieved through five proposed plans, one of which was to revive the public address system. According to the outgoing Hall Chairperson, all efforts made to actualize this proved abortive. On the other hand, floor representatives served as mouthpieces to residents, floor-to-floor and room-to-room mobilization was done during the Jaw War and the S.U elections.

Outside the documented manifesto of Ande Victory Dooshima, some of the achievements made through her office as Hall Chairperson include the creation of an alumni body that contains over 50 alumni and the creation of a group that comprises former Hall Chairpersons dating back to the 2000s. According to her, these have helped to mend relationships and build a connection with Queen Elizabeth II Hall’s alumni.

In conclusion, the assessment of Ande Victory Dooshima’s manifesto against the reality of her tenure as Hall Chairperson reveals a mixed record of accomplishments and unfulfilled promises. While she made strides in organizing events such as career summits and mobilizing Queenites for social activities, many of her outlined objectives were not fully realized. Issues ranging from incomplete implementation of academic initiatives to the absence of planned welfare programs underscore the challenges faced during her tenure. Despite this, her efforts in fostering alumni connections and building relationships within the hall community stand as notable achievements. Ultimately, the evaluation serves as a reminder of the complexities inherent in translating campaign promises into tangible results within a university setting.