In this exclusive interview, Brother Qamarudeen Adeyemi, a graduating student from the University of Ibadan’s Department of Communication and Language Arts and a former Editor of Al-Faaedah Press Organization, walks us through how he managed to balance his academic workloads, extracurricular activities, and leadership responsibilities.

By: Al-Faaedah Press Correspondent – Munirudeen Maymunah

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share your course of study at the University of Ibadan?
I am an actual communications practitioner, with a practical stretch into academic research, writing, journalism, marketing, public relations, and public speaking. My name is Adeyemi Qamarudeen; I studied Communication and Language Arts in University of Ibadan.

What motivated you to choose your field of study?
In respect to my decision to study Communication and Language Arts, I was motivated by my innate realizations, public needs, and everyday demands—to communicate. The role-interchangeability effect and the reversible nature of communication make a society, whether good or otherwise.

Looking back, what were some of the most defining moments of your undergraduate years?
Although one is expected to measure one’s success or failure rates at a given time, my defining moments are moments I realised my potential strength to cope with post-graduation life—islamically, professionally, and personally. Ultimately, this is triggered by some leadership responsibilities, friends, and academic quality. Even before my finals, I already have an answer to the question, “What can you offer?”.

When and how did you first get involved with MSSN at the University of Ibadan?
I got involved with the community, as a Muslim student, as soon as I secured my admission; I practically got involved as an MSSNUI public speaking representative at NHICOMS 2021—securing the second position; in the following year, I became familiarized with the activities and volunteered to assist the Ramadan Planning Committee.

Can you highlight the specific roles or positions you held within MSSN and what responsibilities they entailed?
By Allah’s permission, I held two major positions: firstly as an Editor-in-Chief of Al-Faeedah Press, MSSN Akinyele Area Council; secondly as the General Secretary, MSSN Akinyele Area Council, and I am also serving the 17 Southern regions of the Republic as the Editor-in-Chief, MSSN B-ZONE.
These roles granted me the context of actualisation. As a committing self, one always thinks of an echelon; however, the steps to take to a fulfilling establishment might be vague, or perhaps indecisive. Hence, taking responsibilities and holding my self accountable to the community offered me the skills and experience I need to be self-becoming.

How would you describe the impact of your role on your personal and spiritual development?
My spiritual life, before being entrusted with the responsibilities, was firm; my personal life was fair and hidden—no pressure. The moment I was entrusted with responsibilities, I became a better version—more adept in administrative matters and realized an orientational push to Islamic scholarship.

How did you manage to combine academic demands with the responsibilities of holding a post in?
There are realizations to the need of something through a causative trigger. Some things can’t be taught but can be hinted by self-reality, depending on individualistic traits. Time management is one of them. The ‘how’ to my time management skill was determined by my ‘priorities’, for I don’t commit my time to what I don’t prioritize. There is a popular Islamic precept that states “Whoever loves something becomes plentiful on its remembrance”—so as our priorities.

Were there moments when leadership roles conflicted with academics, and how did you handle them?
Yes. My leadership roles overlapped with academics many a time, and this situation was handled by sharing responsibilities with my subordinates, focusing only on short-term plans, and halting non-essentials.

What strategies or habits helped you remain disciplined in both spheres?
Consistency is the key to any mastery, irrespective of the amount of commitment invested. Missing its chain of order may give success an uncompensable scathe. I mentioned earlier that one shouldn’t be far-reaching from the remembrance of what one loves. What you love is what you give prior importance. Given by my self-control over distractions and unnecessaries, I became disciplined.

What were some of the greatest challenges you faced while serving , and how did you overcome them?
Important it is for every leader to prepare for accountability, but no leader really wants to be called out for accountability. Collective responsibility, as a major feature of a parliamentary system, is my favourite responsibility thought. The results from my office is the reflection of how I handle my office, who I am, and who I work with—with no any iota of reference to excuses.
This thought challenged me to be fully responsible, even if it would be detrimental to my person. I may not totally rely on one subordinate; breaking a lone task into compartments and sharing the constituents among subordinates is more probable or nearly possible to execution. The fear of being accountable to undone or imperfectly-done tasks, at least at the par, was my greatest challenge.

In what ways did your experience prepare you for life after graduation?
Being a communications student, my experience as a leader prepared me for organizational communication, administrative skills and behaviours, technical writing skill, record keeping, attentive listening, critical thinking, public representation, formal and representative presentation, critiquing and art of politicking, conflict resolution, real-life human communication, adaptive reasoning to diverse human nonverbals, leadership and innovative traits, among others.

Were there instances where being a Muslim student leader presented unique challenges within the university environment?
No, there wasn’t any.

What advice would you give to current members who are still balancing academics and leadership and what practical tips would you give for time management, especially balancing leadership duties with academics?
How to balance your leadership and academic commitment depends on individualistic traits, as I previously mentioned. However, the following tips may also help:

1. Be open to intimate friends among other leaders during hard times. Your sanity is the organization’s priority. You are the reflection of  your office, and your office makes a part of the whole. If you are shy to share your problems, your office will not become shy to express its laxity.
2. It is well understood that majority of us “a o kii n fi iwe sere”; during examination periods, we should not totally neglect our responsibilities. Plan B is always a way for recovery.
3. As for managing your time, write out a feasible list of plans for each day and fulfill the most difficult ones in the morning, for blessing lies in whatever is done in the morning; and most importantly, your day becomes what your morning seems to be.
4. If a course seems hard to comprehend, perform istikhaarah and have the intention of teaching, atleast someone, in the future—for teaching what you know is a criteria for having good intention, and whatever is held with good intention is mostly granted with success by Allah. While being practical (i.e. teaching) is the beginning, and not the foundation, of learning.

If you had the opportunity to serve again, what would you do differently?
If I had the opportunity to serve again, I would:

1. Importantly invest more time in secondary schools’ coordination.
2. Resuscitate Al-Faaedah Press publication board.

What legacy would you like the new executives to build upon?
My advice to all Muslim students’ leaders, aside being highly responsible, are the following:
1. Deal with others with respect and have good relationship with other leaders, irrespective of the stratum.
2. Know that you are chosen to be a team of leaders, and you are chosen to stuck for life—not temporary.
3. All criticisms and disapprovals of actions are constitutes of your teamwork: you all want the best, so there lies conflict of thoughts.
4. Address all forms of negative and disappointing intuitions with others amicably—no mind war.
5. Be entitled more to your service than your position. Within few weeks after your office, you will be forgotten. However, the legacy you laid down will always leave an indelible mark.
6. As it is always remembered that “Here is the training ground,” be ready to admit mistakes and listen more than you express. These are organizational behaviours you need to adapt to ahead of your future goals.
7. Be especially intentional about studying human behaviours—what is good for them and against them.
8. Most importantly, you need to have good intentions with everything, and ask for Allah’s taofeeq.
9. Learn how to write and present in the most effective and formal way because you are a leader.
10. Make sure you take advantage of the leadership context to improve your islamic knowledge. “Kindly recite the Qur’an, give a short lecture, or pray for us” should not be the cause for your lateness to events or absence.
BaarokaLlohu feekum!