In this interview with Michael Orodare, Balo reveals his plans for the students of the Polytechnic and corrects some wrong perceptions about student unionism. Excerpts…
Which
one accomplishment are you most proud of while you were the SUG Social
Director?
As the SUG Social Director in 2008, I promoted talent hunts among the students of the polytechnic; I promoted students who were musicians, comedians, dancers etc. There is no doubt in the fact that the students of this institution have never had it so good in terms of social life like they had when I was the social director of the student union government in 2008.
From your observations of the Polytechnic student union, what changes do you think could be made to make it better and more effective?
There are so many changes to be made, but I will just highlight the most important. Before you can lead people, you need to change any wrong perception they might have about leadership. You need to orientate the students and let them have good and positive perception about student unionism. You also need to change the view of the general public about student unionism and make all stakeholders understand that the student union is about contributing positively to the lives of the students, the institution and your immediate community. We also need to discourage oppression and tackle jungle justice.
Most student union leaders believe in going on strike and protest (Aluta) as the best strategies to achieve their goals. What strategies do you have for maintaining a cordial relationship with the management for the benefits of the students you are representing?
Aluta and student unionism is not about violence. It’s about struggle for what is right through legitimate means that would not cause any harm to the school and the students.
Instead of Aluta with violence, my strategies will be what I call the 3Cs, Consultation, Consolidation before Confrontation. If we feel the management is making some policies that are not in the benefit of the students, we will consult stakeholders to know their views of these policies, then we will consolidate on these opinions and observations of the stakeholders before confronting the management through peaceful dialogue, peaceful protest and objective struggle for what is right. The management are also parents and we believe they know what is good for us. If we choose destruction first, we will still come back to round table, so why violence?
What are the top three things that you think are most important for you to achieve before leaving this office and how do you hope to achieve them?
There are so many things on my manifesto, but the top three things I consider as my priority are; scholarship for students, we have so many brilliant students who find it difficult to pay their school fees, we are going to identify those students and award them scholarship and we hope to achieve this through partnership and sponsorship from well meaning individuals in the society and business organisations. The second thing is entrepreneurship scheme and empowerment program; through this we hope to give entrepreneurial skills to students in order to make them self-dependent financially and my third priority is to host the first LASPOTECH Trade Fair, we hope to have so many entrepreneurs among the students after our entrepreneurship and empowerment programme, through the trade fair, the students will have the opportunity to showcase their products to the public and make good money from that, we also have so many talented artist in the creative arts department, I’ve seen some of their art works, and I also believe that through the trade fair, they will have the opportunity to showcase their works to the public, sell those good art works and make good money for themselves as students, apart from making money, lots of opportunities also abound for them after the trade fair.
I believe all these things are achievable and we are already working towards achieving them, we are not going to depend on the dues the students will pay, we are going to do these things in partnership with well to do individuals as well as private and public organisations.
What traits or characteristics does a person need to be successful in this position? Rate yourself on those traits.
To be a successful student union leader you need intelligence, humility, friendliness and above, all the fear of God to be a successful student union leader, and I make bold to say I posses all of these traits.
In organisation such as this, some executive members always complain of being neglected by the President, what are you plans to carry along and motivate all members of your executive council?
Like I said on the day of our inauguration, the mission of this union is to promote unity and solidarity with a healthy and dynamic atmosphere for conducive learning, if we must promote unity and solidarity in the polytechnic community, then it must start from us, as members of the executive council, we all believe in one voice and I can assure you that there will never be such complaint from any member of the executive council of this union.
What do you have to say about the speculation that the management is planning an increment in school fees?
The management is not planning any increment in school fees.
Every leader wants to be remembered after leaving office, what do you want to be remembered for when you leave this office?
I wish to be remembered for every good programme we are going to execute. I wish to be remembered for hosting the first LASPOTECH Trade fair; for laying the foundation for a successful award of scholarship to students, through my administration’s entrepreneurship and empowerment programme, I wish to be remembered for teaching the students how to fish rather than giving them a fish, I wish to be remembered for promoting peace and unity in the polytechnic and for promoting active sporting activities.
What additional information will you like to share?
I want to urge the students of this institution to believe in this 2012/2013 executive members of the Student Union Government, they should continue to pray for us because all the things we set out to achieve could only be achieved through the help of God.
As the SUG Social Director in 2008, I promoted talent hunts among the students of the polytechnic; I promoted students who were musicians, comedians, dancers etc. There is no doubt in the fact that the students of this institution have never had it so good in terms of social life like they had when I was the social director of the student union government in 2008.
From your observations of the Polytechnic student union, what changes do you think could be made to make it better and more effective?
There are so many changes to be made, but I will just highlight the most important. Before you can lead people, you need to change any wrong perception they might have about leadership. You need to orientate the students and let them have good and positive perception about student unionism. You also need to change the view of the general public about student unionism and make all stakeholders understand that the student union is about contributing positively to the lives of the students, the institution and your immediate community. We also need to discourage oppression and tackle jungle justice.
Most student union leaders believe in going on strike and protest (Aluta) as the best strategies to achieve their goals. What strategies do you have for maintaining a cordial relationship with the management for the benefits of the students you are representing?
Aluta and student unionism is not about violence. It’s about struggle for what is right through legitimate means that would not cause any harm to the school and the students.
Instead of Aluta with violence, my strategies will be what I call the 3Cs, Consultation, Consolidation before Confrontation. If we feel the management is making some policies that are not in the benefit of the students, we will consult stakeholders to know their views of these policies, then we will consolidate on these opinions and observations of the stakeholders before confronting the management through peaceful dialogue, peaceful protest and objective struggle for what is right. The management are also parents and we believe they know what is good for us. If we choose destruction first, we will still come back to round table, so why violence?
What are the top three things that you think are most important for you to achieve before leaving this office and how do you hope to achieve them?
There are so many things on my manifesto, but the top three things I consider as my priority are; scholarship for students, we have so many brilliant students who find it difficult to pay their school fees, we are going to identify those students and award them scholarship and we hope to achieve this through partnership and sponsorship from well meaning individuals in the society and business organisations. The second thing is entrepreneurship scheme and empowerment program; through this we hope to give entrepreneurial skills to students in order to make them self-dependent financially and my third priority is to host the first LASPOTECH Trade Fair, we hope to have so many entrepreneurs among the students after our entrepreneurship and empowerment programme, through the trade fair, the students will have the opportunity to showcase their products to the public and make good money from that, we also have so many talented artist in the creative arts department, I’ve seen some of their art works, and I also believe that through the trade fair, they will have the opportunity to showcase their works to the public, sell those good art works and make good money for themselves as students, apart from making money, lots of opportunities also abound for them after the trade fair.
I believe all these things are achievable and we are already working towards achieving them, we are not going to depend on the dues the students will pay, we are going to do these things in partnership with well to do individuals as well as private and public organisations.
What traits or characteristics does a person need to be successful in this position? Rate yourself on those traits.
To be a successful student union leader you need intelligence, humility, friendliness and above, all the fear of God to be a successful student union leader, and I make bold to say I posses all of these traits.
In organisation such as this, some executive members always complain of being neglected by the President, what are you plans to carry along and motivate all members of your executive council?
Like I said on the day of our inauguration, the mission of this union is to promote unity and solidarity with a healthy and dynamic atmosphere for conducive learning, if we must promote unity and solidarity in the polytechnic community, then it must start from us, as members of the executive council, we all believe in one voice and I can assure you that there will never be such complaint from any member of the executive council of this union.
What do you have to say about the speculation that the management is planning an increment in school fees?
The management is not planning any increment in school fees.
Every leader wants to be remembered after leaving office, what do you want to be remembered for when you leave this office?
I wish to be remembered for every good programme we are going to execute. I wish to be remembered for hosting the first LASPOTECH Trade fair; for laying the foundation for a successful award of scholarship to students, through my administration’s entrepreneurship and empowerment programme, I wish to be remembered for teaching the students how to fish rather than giving them a fish, I wish to be remembered for promoting peace and unity in the polytechnic and for promoting active sporting activities.
What additional information will you like to share?
I want to urge the students of this institution to believe in this 2012/2013 executive members of the Student Union Government, they should continue to pray for us because all the things we set out to achieve could only be achieved through the help of God.
***This interview was also published in Compass Newspaper (Wednesday November 14th, 2012; Pg.18) and Nigeria Tribune Newspaper (Thursday November 15th, 2012; Pg.26)
