On the 27th of April, 2024, a new set of executives were sworn in to oversee the activities of the University of Ibadan Medical Students Association (UIMSA) for the next ten months. The tenure is almost at its halfway point, and as such it is pertinent to review the activities of UIMSA’s leaders to see how far they have gone in fulfilling their campaign promises and how well they have performed their constitutional duties. This article will be focused on the office of the Sports secretary occupied by Miss Onyuike Chidinma.
Miss Chidinma was elected into office after running unopposed in the last election; much unlike her predecessor, Mr Akinnusoye David who was co-opted after the elections for that tenure. In her manifesto, she stated that in addition to her constitutional duties in Article IX of the UIMSA constitution, she intends to carry out the RICO agenda; R- Representation in national games and Recruitment of more sports enthusiasts, I- Inclusivity for both genders, C- Community and Collaboration with the UI sports team, and O- Others; which include Ulympics (Ball games, track and field events), Sports Awards Night and memory sports, as well as monthly UIMSA Keep Fit.
Starting with the last item on the list, Miss Chidinma has been impressive as the monthly UIMSA Keep Fit has been held on the last Saturdays of every month since she came into office, excluding April. However, she stated that there’s been a low turnout of UIMSAites, especially in the Clinical arm. Knowing how a similar level of consistency was observed at the initial phase of the last tenure but died out, it remains to be seen that the Keep Fit program is consistent till the end of the tenure.
On the journey so far, there have been activities geared towards ‘R’, Representation in national games. These include the Pre-NiMSA Heats which featured track and field games as well as indoor games like Chess, Scrabble, and Table tennis amongst others. This was to select competent sportsmen/women to represent UIMSA at the NiMSA games which were recently postponed. For the most part, the Heats were successful, incorporating members of the 100 and 200-level class. However, the nature of certain events like the board games leaves a lot to be desired. There was also the lack of central co-ordination for participants before the postponement; a flaw that would hopefully be rectified as the Games come up later in the year. Concerning the promise of recruiting more sports enthusiasts, the Sports Committee was constituted as is constitutionally required. Beyond that, there hasn’t been any clear-cut plan for a larger recruitment of enthusiasts.
At the interdepartmental sports level, UIMSA put on a nice performance at the ongoing Seals Cup tournament as the UIMSA male football team qualified for the knockout stages after winning all their group stage matches. The journey has not been so rosy for the female team as they have managed to clinch two draws and a win in the group stage of the maiden female Seals Cup tournament with one more to go. It’s worthy of note that new football kits were purchased for the Male Team. With regard to ‘C’, Community, there was an inter-class – inter-MSA friendly between the 400 level class of the Ladoke Akintola University Medical Students’ Association (LAUMSA) and the 400 level class of UIMSA. The performance of these teams in other competitions – notably the Provost Cup – would be a test of the strength of recruitment and coaching, especially with the changes in personnel in the male football team.
In an interview with the press, Miss Chidinma stated that at the outset of her tenure, she wanted to continue in the steps of the immediate past sports secretary and improve on what her predecessor did. She also stated that a major challenge she has faced in the past few months is the apathy of most UIMSAites towards sports and the monthly keep fit. She acknowledged that one of the strengths of sports in UIMSA is the fact that the majority of UIMSAites stay in ABH where sports facilities like the table tennis court, volleyball and basketball courts are available for training and improving UIMSAites’ skills in these sports. However, a major weakness, according to Miss Chidinma, is ‘general apathy towards sports’. She stated that a measureput in place to address this is having every sports director on the sports committee disburse information to their class members, which has helped a little. Miss Chidinma added that she is also looking to add prize money to some of the events to improve participation.
Moving forward, we hope to see more inclusivity for both genders in sports especially during the Ulympics games coming up later in the year. The standards of last year’s Ulympics and Award Ceremony are expected to be met and if possible, surpassed. Finally, concerning ‘C’, Collaboration with UI Sports Teams, there should be consideration for some of the emerging sports in UI like Handball, Volleyball, and even athletics.
Ajiboro Oluwagbolade
