The FATSSSA Crispy Picnic: A Case of ‘What I Ordered Vs What I Got’:

 By Ibukunoluwa Keyamo and Glorious Olajire

Last Saturday night, 29^th April, 2023, Faculty of the Social Sciences WhatsApp group chats were abuzz with a lot of drama. The topic? The faculty picnic that held earlier the same night.

 

Wait, wait, let’s go back to the very beginning.....

What FATSSSAites Ordered

It was on the afternoon of March 23, 2023, during a sitting of the FATSSSA House of Representatives, that Mr. Oyewole, FATSSSA Social Director, presented his budget for the picnic.

 

Tagged “A Crispy Picnic”, he explained that the picnic would be a part of a series of social events lined up for FATSSSAites this semester.

 

This wasn’t unusual as picnics are often hosted by faculties, as well as departments, in the university. What raised eyebrows was the amount being presented for approval. Highlighted in bold at the end of the budget was N688,500.

 

One of the Honourable members of the House, Mr. Samuel of the Psychology constituency, asked how this would work because like Mr. Oyewole had already said, this would be just one of several social events. Traditionally, the faculty hosts a cultural night, as well as a dinner in the second semester.

Honourable Samuel asked how these other events would be funded if so much had already been taken from the Association’s purse to fund the picnic.

 Mr. Oyewole replied by assuring the House that he wasn’t planning to fund the picnic with money from the Association’s account but instead with money from ticket sales.

 The budget stated the number of expected people to be 500 FATSSSAites and 100 non-FATSSSAites. With tickets being sold at N1000 each, Mr. Oyewole expected to get about N600,000 from ticket sales alone, meaning the picnic would practically fund itself.

 When asked about the N88,500 deficit, he said he planned to seek sponsorship to cover it. He also said that vendor stands would be available for purchase to whoever was interested. 

 A Pressman, Miss Eniola, then raised the fact that the picnic FATSSSA hosted last session recorded a very low turnout and the gate fee was just N500. She asked why Mr. Oyewole was sure that people would turn up this session with a 100% increase in the gate fee.

 To which Mr. Oyewole replied: “My team and I will put all we can into making sure people turn up for this picnic.”

 A few things were adjusted and a total of N650,000 was approved for the picnic.

 Well, for the next few weeks, FATSSSA groups were full of promotional graphics with enticing tag-lines telling people to “get your ticket today!”

 One thing stuck out though, there was not a single logo representing a sponsor on any of the promotional graphics.

Then the countdown began (not without a lot of hype). 5...,4...,3....,2.....,1.... and then it was the D-day.

 Well...

                                                  What FATSSSAites Got

Poor organisation, bad weather, and a low turnout were what most FATSSSAites complained about following the picnic.

 In a poll conducted by FATSSSA Press on Sunday, 57.9% of respondents said they didn’t get anything to eat at the picnic, 63.2% said they didn’t get anything to drink and 57.9% of respondents said overall, the event did not meet their expectations.

 The event that was slated to begin at 3pm didn’t fully kick off until almost 6pm only to be, shortly thereafter, disrupted by rain.

 The rain really can’t take all the blame though. It only rained for a few minutes and not very heavily. Soon, people were back outside participating in the picnic.

 While some people came out for the picnic, the turnout was nowhere near the expected 600 and even with a reduced number of people, the service was still so poor.

 

“I was so disappointed that I couldn’t eat anything. I was even telling the person serving to give us puff puff and she said no— the same person that was giving the excos,” reported a FATSSSAite.

 

Another FATSSSAite said while it was a good opportunity to catch up with classmates and faculty members, there were some moments of the event that could have been handled better. They also mentioned that they were unhappy with “the words the lady in charge of small chops exchanged with me”.

 

Meanwhile, small chops had the highest amount of money allocated to it on the approved budget with a unit price of N480 totalling N288,000 for the expected 600 people.

 

Another problem people had was with the fact that the DJ’s generator kept going off, interrupting the music, eventually ending the party at 8pm when the generator did not come on anymore.

 

“How will a faculty—not even a department— host an event and be having generator issues? Then there were barely 200 people there...it was embarrassing,” wrote one FATSSSAite.

 

It’s important to mention here that N50,000 was allocated to the DJ on the budget. An amount that Mr. Oyewole assured the House would also cover a generator as well as fuel.

 

 

Fortunately, not all reports from the picnic were negative.

 

One FATSSSAite wrote: “I was happy with the event and I can categorically say that the administration has always been doing a great job”.

 

 

Hearing From The Social Director

 

FATSSSA Press reached out to Mr. Oyewole for comment. When asked if the event went according to his plans, he said: “As we all own that errors and challenges cannot be totally removed from any worthy ideal, reports have it that challenges were decently managed and errors were efficiently reduced.”

 

He said while some “majority” may have him and his team feel like they did not do well or meet certain expectations, he challenges them not to sit back and fold their hands when next they get an opportunity to make a difference.

 

“Generally, the event was a success. We gave FATSSSA our best, and God graced the effort,” he concluded.