A warm welcome to y’all. We’re live on Danny world. Today on the show, we’re having a very important personality. He is a man full of vigour and indeed committed to the course. A man who has so far kept to his word on every occasion. He has fully represented the interest of the students of the great university of Benin to the best of his ability. He is the incumbent DEAN OF STUDENTS university of Benin. He is Prof. Francis E.U Osagiede. Read the full interview here.
Danny: You’re welcome to Danny world sir.
Prof Osagiede: Thank you very much.
Danny: A quick introduction please sir.
Prof Osagiede: I am Prof Francis E.U Osagiede. A professor from the department of Mathematics. I am the current dean of students university of Benin.
Danny: Challenges so far with the job?
Mr Osagiede: I really don’t see them as challenges. Challenges must come to man and his office. It comes with the job. The only issue we seem to be battling with now is the problem of inadequate bed spaces. For the female hostels, we have about 3200 bed spaces. For hall five, we have about 3300 bed spaces. While for the male, we have about 4100 bed spaces. The problem is that we have over 30,000 students applying for hostels and students complain they were not given spaces. We can only plead to some notable individuals, firms and the management to build us more hostels.
Danny: Alright then. Some students have complained about the online application for hotels not being effective as a lot students were not allocated spaces this session. Do you think we should go back to the physical application?
Prof Osagiede: Erm-mm…When I was not the dean of students, you would always find a crowd of students at the student affairs day and night forfeiting their classes just to apply for hostel spaces. When I came in, I made sure that was the first thing I corrected. So I had to make hostel application online which is very much stress free. It’s pretty easy.
First, you pay school fees and then you apply for hostel space, book accommodation and then the bed space is allocated to you and then you pay for the maintenance fee. I believe the online system has saved us a lot of trouble. A good number of students say it’s good and some are saying it’s bad. I think it’s better. You can be in your class and just go online with your mobile phone and use your ATM card to pay. It’s accommodation made easy. So the manual system will not work.
Danny: Hmm-mm ok then. Now it’s been about 3 months since the hostel renovations kicked off. But today, some parts of the hostel hasn’t been completed. Why is that sir?
Prof Osagiede: …You see in October, the Vice Chancellor gave a marching order to the director of works to commence renovations in the halls of residence. The problem is actually with the contractors. Once a project is not executed, the university can’t pay the contractors in time. The contractors sometimes claim they don’t receive money from the bank and they find themselves not doing the work at the end of the day. Right now, we’re revoking some contracts. But I assure you that by his grace, 80% of the job is done and latest first week of February the work will be completed. Although, it depends on the force from the director of works not necessarily the dean of students.
Danny: Alright then. First week of February the dean has said. Would you say you’ve effectively represented the interest of the students?
Mr Osagiede: Yes very effective even in terms of welfare. For a long time now, the hostels has not been renovated and so I told the management. Let’s take a look at where our students stay and sleep and they followed me and today the hostels are being renovated. The hostels have taken a new shape. Water flows all over, grasses are cleared, dirts and even where the girls used for shot-put are all cleaned up. The common room is so nice you could even eat there.
Danny: Hahaha…
Prof Osagiede: Hahaha yes… Also, the NDDC hostel was opened in my time. I personally took some boys there and cleared the grasses and made sure the hostel was opened this session. Today, students have been allocated spaces and they are relaxed. The medicine students are happy, the pharmacy students are happy and other students entitled to NDDC hostel are happy. In my time, we’ve also had foreign students for the post-graduate programme. Students from Gambia, Ghana and so on and their welfare is well addressed. Sometimes students come here complain they don’t have money to do some certain things and I assist in my own little way. I feel we’ve haven’t done enough yet but it’s a step in the right direction.
Danny: Alright then. Recently, there has been fluctuations in the price of sachet water in the school. Now as we all know, the price of fuel has fallen back to N86 per litre. Why is there still scarcity in supply as they sellers claim?
Prof Osagiede: Majority of the filling stations still sell at N120 – N150 per litre. I have not seen a filling station that sells at N86. The rationale behind the increase we don’t know. But when I heard about this sachet water and bread price increase, I swung into action and immediately the original price was restored. Today, they sell at the normal price.
Danny: Lastly, concerning the S.U.G elections, we do know that it will be coming up sometime in February. What are the measures being put in place to make sure we have a free, fair and successful election?
Mr Osagiede: Hmm-mm…The last election was a success and even the results were collated and announced at about 8pm. This time we’re fully prepared. All facilities are in place. The ballot boxes, ballot papers and every other thing needed for the election are in place. The vice chancellor has also approved.
Danny: How about the clearance?
Prof Osagiede: Erm-mm… The clearance will be very simple this time. Last time out, the candidates didn’t know I was checking up their actual G.P.A online. Imagine a student who had a G.P.A of 0.67 telling us he had a G.P.A of 3.70. That’s a falsified result. Someone like that can never be a leader. So I can assure you that this S.U.G elections will be a success. All measures are in place. We’re ready.
Danny: Alright then. You heard that from the dean himself. We’re holding him to his word. One last word to the new matriculants who got inducted into the system some days back. Your advice to them as a father.
Prof Osagiede: Face your studies and graduate well. We’ve been able to educate them to forget irrelevant activities now and read to pass well. You have any problem with a course, you approach your lecturer so he clarifies. That’s how it works.
Danny: So there you go. Take your studies seriously he says. Thank you so much sir. Thank you for coming on Danny world.
Prof Osagiede: Pleasure Danny.
So that was the dean of students university of Benin. I believe by now some of your questions as a student of the university must have been answered by now. A very hardworking and accommodating man I must confess. So if you want to be on Danny world just like the dean, it’s pretty simple. Simply dial 07087561848 or chat up on BBM 2B2886A2 and you could just be on the show. This is Danny world.
Your thoughts on the interview. Did the dean answer your questions? Let’s hear your thoughts right here on Danny world.
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