President-Elect: Kolade Adegoke

How do you feel seeing you won?

At this time, I am deeply conscious of the privilege and honour of being trusted with the association’s affairs. It has been a remarkable and historic victory; we have just witnessed the highest election turnout in our association’s history. And I feel great and humbled by this sense of responsibility. But I am in no doubt at all as to what this means. It is a mandate for reform, an investment in the future of IFUMSAites and a clear instruction to deliver!

What do you have to say to IFUMSAites?

Dear IFUMSAites, thank you for believing in me and my ideas. I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide but to unify IFUMSAites, who doesn’t see IFUMSAites that supported me and those that didn’t, but an IFUMSA For ALL IFUMSAites. 

I pledge to work with all my heart to win the confidence of everyone because this is what our association is about: ALL IFUMSAites! And this is what my administration will be about.

I sought this office to take this association steps higher. To satisfy IFUMSAites’ interest and meet the needs of IFUMSAites. To make IFUMSA respected around the Region and in the Nation.

So, this is for you.

The vision remains the same: IFUMSA-Cracy! The mission is unchanged: carrying ALL IFUMSAites along and leaving no one behind. The IFUMSA-Cracy Blueprint is documented. The message is Crystal: IFUMSA for ALL IFUMSAites, IFUMSA by ALL IFUMSAites and IFUMSA with ALL IFUMSAites.

What’s your first point of duty? What will you focus on first, knowing now that you have won?

There are three pressing matters at hand.

The first is uniting everyone post-election. During the course of the campaign, people were polarized. Of course, this is democracy. But we must be conscious of not making the mistake some have made in the past. The seed of division can cripple our mandate. In this coming administration, ALL IFUMSAites shall be involved. IFUMSAites are at the centre stage. I’ve reached out to my opponents, and they are very committed to the future of this association.

The second is the ongoing ASUU Strike. I have addressed other incoming Executive Members, and this will be discussed in our first meeting before our inauguration. We will assess the impact of strike action on our administration while working assiduously on delivering our mandate irrespective of the time the strike is called off.

The last is a perennial problem I have observed in this association over the years. We don’t have a transition committee. This makes it hard for incoming Executives to get started immediately after inauguration. Some would have to wait weeks before being properly filled in. In fact, this is why a lot of projects and programs under different offices are not sustained subsequently over the years. There will be no room for this. To this end, together with the Incumbent President, we will create a transition Committee involving the incumbent and incoming General Secretaries.

Also, I have informed other executive members to reach out to people who have held their offices before to understand the challenges they were faced with, in addition to ensuring proper handing over and being filled in on the affairs of the office. The reason for this is simple: some of these challenges are perennial problems that have crippled those offices. And if we must do deliver, then we must do things differently. We must preempt these challenges and seek redresses for a seamless experience for ALL IFUMSAites.