UADS DECIDES 2023: PRESS NIGHT
The Press Night started at 6pm with six out of nine aspirants seated. The aspirants generally had good composure, good knowledge of their offices and were appropriately dressed. However, aspirants for the positions of President and Vice President showed up significantly late, well past 8pm. Though, they showed good knowledge of the offices they were running for and had relatively feasible plans, there is no gainsaying that their tardiness reflects quite poorly on them.
Mr Salimon Abdulrazaq, aspirant for position of Treasurer who came in a few minutes after the Press Night had started opened the floor. Questions were raised on how he intends to improve member payment of dues for which his answers were not very satisfactory as they were things already done in the past and he also addressed the issue of not having served in a leadership position prior to running for office. For the aspirant of the position of Assistant General Secretary, Mr Adelola Abel, his ushering agency plan was not very clear initially and questions were raised as regarding its feasibility.
Mr Mofinyinfoluwa Atinmo, aspirant for office of the President revealed his plan to train preclinical students in the art of debating and there were concerns as to the fear of neglecting clinical students in the process which he addressed. Also, concerning his book launch plan to guide dental students in certain courses, there was another concern about plagiarism which we hope is strictly adhered to, so as to avoid potential friction with lecturers and other parties involved.
Mr Okelue Patrick, aspirant for position of Public Relations Officer was interrogated about the revival of the Dental Digest seeing as it has been many years since its last publication. He also addressed his plan to provide stickers for members of the association as a means of generating funds as it was also not quite clear.
The aspirant for position of Vice President, Mr Arokoyo Kehinde explained how his plan of establishing a Research and Innovation Committee was different from what Dentsicope already offers. He also gave details of his plans for fund raising, if elected and fund generation majorly via the CODEH committee as a more sustainable plan.
Miss Zaynab Alarape, aspirant for CODEH chairperson stated that though she did not attend any CODEH outreach in the outgoing tenure, she was an active member of CODEH committees in the past tenures in response to a concern on how active she has been in the CODEH committee. The hope is that her experience in those tenures suffices, and we do not lose the momentum already built by the incumbent CODEH chairperson if she is elected.
In conclusion, I cannot fail to mention that the Press Night was poorly attended by members of the association. In a bid to rationalise this, one might argue that the 2k23 class were preparing for a series of tests the following day; that the 2K21 class have their part 3 exam in a little over a week; and the 2K25 class are presently undergoing their 2nd semester examination, therefore the members of those classes could not have been able to attend. However, those are three out of six classes and we must also consider that the poor attendance may very well be a tell tale sign of a general apathy towards political events in the association given the fact that all the aspirants are in fact, running unopposed. It spurs the very worrisome question of dental students not being interested in taking up leadership positions in the association.
Regardless, may the best persons win in the coming election.
Temiloluwa Adeniyi-Aogo
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