A REVIEW OF THE GESTALT AGENDA: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NAPS PRESIDENT

By AKANDE AANUOLUWAPO

Pressman: I'm Aanuoluwapo from PsychLens press. Can you please introduce yourself.

President: Good afternoon, My name is Nnadozie Chukwuebuka Precious

Pressman: So, you have been the president of the department of psychology for one semester now. How has it been for you?

Mr. President: My experience so far has been that of a wholesome one. It's fulfilling, though draining, but in all we thank God

Pressman: What challenges have you faced in fulfilling the responsibilities that come with your position and have you been able to overcome them?

Mr. President: Well I will say the biggest challenge I have faced so far will be PEOPLE MANAGEMENT, even though expected. The issue isn't yet overcome but we come to a place of interpersonal understanding.

Pressman: So to the next question, while you were being interviewed as an aspirant for this position, you said you hold unto philosophy which says "To be great, you must be willing to serve". Now, to what extent do you think you have served NAPSites as the president of the department?

Mr President: To the best of my knowledge, I am doing my best to which the people of NAPS can attest to. I believe they are in the best position to appraise me.

Pressman: Alright. In your manifesto, you said you were going to initiate the Total student initiative. How is that coming along?

Mr President: Thank you. It's true this was mentioned in our manifesto and it's not been able to come to fruition. We acknowledge the challenges we faced or still facing.The process became even more complex. Understanding that we will be needing Finalists to serve as coaches for the various groups, this also affected the initiative.

Also, we can use just first semester results to judge who came out the best. But, I am still promising that the prize will be presented to the best student after 100l.Other factors include the irregularities with the session,breaks and all:

Pressman: Okay. Are you saying the groups have been created already? And that finalists were not willing to coach the students?

Mr President:The groups were not created, because we decided to seek the availability of the finalists first, and everyone talked about final year as a busy year, so that affected, moving forward. We didn't want anything that we'd start and not finish. It's also important, that I am not the only one with a manifesto, so there's something called merging of manifestos.

And considering the time available in the session asides school work...this would incur more stress on the 100l students because when grouped,must be willing to undertake tasks.

Pressman: Alright. Moving on, this means that as a result of the challenges encountered, this initiative wouldn't be carried out? Only the 100 level student with the best results will be rewarded?

Mr. President: For clarity purpose,The total student initiative is targeted at just the 100l students. It will undergo the judging by criteria...which is the students all round involvement in all that concerns NAPS. Just differences in the procedure but prize remains same.

Pressman: Alright. Moving on to the empowerment initiative you also talked about in your manifesto, how are plans on the way to make that happen?

Mr President: Oh yes. That's still in planning. One was proposed to happen in the first semester but we encountered some challenges with the management, nevertheless it will still happen.we are working to see that happen.

Pressman: Okay. You also mentioned that a town hall meeting where Napsites will talk about their concerns will be organized in both first and second semester. Will that still take place?

Mr President: Thank you. You are not wrong. This was aimed at getting everyone on the same page. Given that the last semester had so many other things we was fighting for, school fees reduction and what not..It's fair to say, we had aggregate views on that.

Of course calling for a meeting like this will be ideal, but given that we were getting concerns from the Course reps actively, this felt like same purpose different routes..So that also was left out. This included in-class discussions brought to the executive council and taken up to management. So I can say,the purpose for the town hall meeting was achieved through this.

Pressman: Alright. I'm a Queenite and I have not experienced  the” home away from home” initiative in my hostel. Should Napsites still be expecting this initiative to be implemented in their hostels?

Mr. President: Well, identifying how this is likely to break naps more than unite it. Of course, that's one thing affinity does. After deliberations with some stakeholders, we saw a need to discontinue with that. It has more disadvantages than the supposed advantage.

And also, on the part that of No finalist at least I can speak for my class, no one stays on campus, and even if there's anyone, is it evenly distributed, I mean across the various halls? These are some of the issues. Of course, a brilliant initiative, but it's quite unfortunate this won't be happening.

Pressman: Alright. Lastly, what new thing about leadership did you learn whilst occupying this position?

Mr President: Well, if I must say, I do not stand in the place of the all-knowing, but apparently I have expected the challenges that came with holding the position. One thing that registered again is that you must be willing to undertake the responsibilities of others if need be, to make sure a gap isn't sensed. What's important is to have things properly done.

Pressman: Alright.

Thank you for having this interview with me. And enjoy the rest of your day.

Mr. President: Thank you.