LASUSU: The Downfall Of The Almighty Badecious-Led Administration

By Damilare Adeleye
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There are both rejection and frustration in the eyes of many students as we await the tenure of Comrade Badmus Uthman (Badecious) - led administration of Lagos State University Students' Union to elapse. Certainly, many may have been wondering and quite curious to know the impact of the administration since its inception in power. Majorly, this will be the focus of this piece.

Formally, the tregectory of Badecious-led government began on 11st of August 2021 when he and his team were inaugurated alongside with members of Students Parliamentary Council under the new leadership of Rt. Honourable Adejuwon Mustapha. In his inaugural address, Comrade Badecious promised to reverse the hike in price of the Students' Union shuttle which was initially pegged at N30 but increased to N50 due to the surge of COVID-19 protocol. According to him, the return to the initial price was because the drivers now carry their complete passengers contrary to what was mandated during the pandemic. However, despite his resolutions on that promise and directives, and instructions to the drivers of the shuttle, many students still pay the hiked price on their trips within the university community. At the moment, Badecious and his team are yet to take any stringent or drastic measures against the disobeying drivers for reasons which are not known to the students' populace. Perhaps, this is an indication of ineffectiveness of the administration which is quite worrisome to many students.

Moving on, it is undeniable that students' unionism centres on students' Welfarism. However, the case has been the other way round as it seems the incumbent administration has forgoten their fundamental mandate which is to fight for the interest of all the students. This is because many students have related issues which the administration feign ignorance of. First is the issue of the STREAM TWO which activated students protest over their highly inflated tuition fee which is not affordable to many students. Despite the tudents' protest, the Badecious - led government did not react to the development neither did they show solidarity to the students. Sadly, many students in Stream Two were reported to have withdrawn from the university as a result of the high tuition fees. By implication, this has also made many students to describe the 31st LASUSU administration as rubber stamp and subordinates to the orders and directives of the school management. I could even remember when I met our powerful president over the rumoured electricity fee which would be paid by students from next academic session, his response was just; "Next session I won't be paying any fee. It's you that will be paying. If you want to confirm anything, go to the school management." Indeed, I felt so disappointed.

Moving on, while students languish in the poor state of many of our classrooms and lament over non-availability of constant electricity, the LASUSU 001 and his team have their own fantastic time in their official air-conditioned offices. They seem not to be aware of many things that the students are enduring. By my observation, the "001" now drives a luxurious Lexus car apart from the official car allocated to his office. Even though I can't verify if the car is his or someone else's. However, some students have many atimes reported that our workaholic president now goes to social events with bundles of new notes to spray and donate in parties. Definitely, I wouldn't want our President not enjoy free and extravagant life as individual, but the contention is to know if the show-off is not at the expense of the Students' Union coffers. In that regard, I challenge Comrade Badecious and his cohorts to come to the public and tell us the source of the sponsorship of their sudden luxurious lifestyles.

Moreover, Badecious administration has been mostly described as the most resourceful in terms of generating of revenues. One palpable example for this assumption is the opening of the Students' Union Arcade which itself has more or less now become a students' union leaders offices and relaxation spot for VIP students on campus. Through the arcade, it was alleged that the Students' body generate a lot of money through different games provided in the building. Unfortunately, the administration has been labelled as the most unaccountable union in the history of the institution students unionism. First, Badecious himself was accused of receiving some cash from the State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in view to mobilising students for state government scheduled Peace Walk, which was later, however, suspended due to public outrage. To pinpoint, how the 'assumed cash' was spent is unknown till this period. Besides, some of the shops in the students' arcade which have been obviously rented out, are presumed to have been paid for by the occupiers. However, the revenue from that it is yet to be accounted for at this moment. Anyway, that should not be my concern.

Meanwhile, it will be a bias if this piece does not acknowledge some of the physical accomplishments of this present administration. Perhaps, the opening of the students union arcade, I presume, is the bedrock of their success. What about their initiative to make Lagos Bus Rapid Transit buses available to both students and staff of the university. Certainly, I will not forget the construction of Stamford Bridge which was alleged to have been completed with over a million naira. What is more, the union has maintained a very mutual relationship with school authority. In addition, our academic activities have been, so far, undisrupted. Indeed, the journey has been smooth and safe.

To the above, I give a thumbs up to the whole team.

To round off, it is crucial to reiterate here that the aim of this treatise is not to defame, libel or stain the good reputation of our current executives led by Comrade Badecious. It is to put those those concerned in doing the right things on their toes in the overall interest of the students. Also, this is to serve as a note to all current LASUSU aspirants to observe and lay in their consciousness in view of the coming election.

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