Umoren Esse Oscar’s Manifesto: Promises, Progress and Gaps

 

By Abdulraheem Aminat Opeyemi 

Umoren Esse Oscar, the Public Relations Officer of the Agronomy Club, University of Ibadan, proposed a range of initiatives in her manifesto aimed at improving publicity, strengthening communication between the executive council and students, and increasing student engagement across the department.

Her manifesto included plans to reorganise the publicity team, introduce weekly Agronomy Spotlights, provide regular news updates and activity recaps, improve information dissemination, strengthen social media engagement, establish a student feedback system, and continue birthday and special celebration shout-outs.

On her role as a communication link between the executive council and students, Oscar said she ensured that information meant for members of the department was passed across.

“I would say I've done fairly well,” she said. “I made sure that every information that was supposed to get to members of the department from the executive Council was duly passed across.”

She also said approved information concerning departmental activities and wider University of Ibadan updates was shared through the club's official platforms after being confirmed.

Her proposal to reorganise the publicity team, however, faced participation challenges. According to Oscar, only about seven to eight people joined the publicity committee when she called for members in the first semester. She later created a media and content creation team, but said only a few people joined and most had little or no experience.

“Most of them had little or no experience and thought the team was mainly for learning. This affected how much we could achieve as a team,” she said.

Despite the limited number of members, Oscar said the team continued to handle publicity and create content when needed.

“Despite the limited number of people, we were still able to handle publicity and create content for the department when needed. I also ensured communication didn't stop because of the team size,” she added.

On her proposal to improve the quality and consistency of publicity materials, Oscar said, “Since I resumed office, I've been more consistent with our publicity and more intentional about the quality of our graphics and posts.”

The Agronomy Spotlight, another commitment in her manifesto, was introduced as a weekly feature intended to recognise students and executives beyond academic achievements. While the feature appeared during the tenure, it was not published every week as proposed, with some gaps in its run. Oscar said it gave students “an opportunity to be recognised beyond academics” and encouraged others to participate because they knew they could also be featured.

Regular news updates and activity recaps were another area where the implementation did not fully match the manifesto. Oscar acknowledged that she had not maintained the level of consistency she initially planned.

“This is one area where I would say I fell short,” she said. “I wasn't as consistent with news updates and activity recaps as I had planned to be and I acknowledge that I could have done better in this area.”

The inconsistency was not limited to news updates and activity recaps, as there was also a period during the tenure when her presence in the role was less noticeable before becoming more visible again.

On social media, Oscar said the club's platforms had been kept active through regular updates, trends and the Agronomy Spotlight, although student response remained a challenge.

“I've kept our platforms active through regular updates, trends and the Agronomy Spotlight,” she said. “However, AGY students don't always respond to our posts despite these efforts, so engagement is still a challenge.”

Her manifesto also proposed the continuation of birthday, new month and special celebration shout-outs. Oscar said these had been maintained during her tenure, although there were also some gaps in the consistency of the posts.

The proposed suggestion box and student feedback system under Oscar's portfolio remain outstanding. While a feedback form was circulated to students in relation to the picnic, it was not introduced by Oscar as the feedback channel proposed in her manifesto.

At the time of the interview, Oscar said, “It hasn't been implemented yet,” explaining that she had initially planned to establish it in both semesters but was unable to do so in the first.

She now plans to introduce a Google Form before the end of her tenure, through which students can submit their opinions, suggestions, concerns and feedback. She said the responses would be reviewed alongside other executives after the submission deadline.

With the tenure approaching its end, Oscar's manifesto has seen progress across areas such as information dissemination, publicity, the Agronomy Spotlight and special celebration shout-outs, while gaps remain in the consistency of news updates, some planned weekly features, and the establishment of the proposed suggestion box and feedback system.