25th April 2015 - Minutes
Summary of minutes Soyuznikis–UK General meeting of 25th April 2015
- Meeting commenced at 19.30 hrs (GMT) with the opening by the President – Mr. Ebenezer Hundeyin
- Agenda was presented to the house for adoption, this was done with some amendments
- Mr. Olu Alaka moved for its adoption was supported by Dr. Razak Oyebade
- Minutes of the March meeting was read to the group General Secretary Dr. Hogan Udo with no corrections needed
- Motion to adopt the Minutes was moved by Mr. Olu Alaka and was supported by Dr. Adeleke Oyenusi
SUMMARY OF THE DAYS DELIBERATIONS:
- Finance - The secretary reported that the amount in our kitty as at the day of the meeting and what was collected in dues at the March 2015 meeting.
- Outing - Mr. Alaka informed the house that he has located 4 venues that are suitable for the occasion. 2 were eliminated and the choice was between Lagos Island restaurant and PSV Lounge. Mr. Ebenezer Hundeyin and Mr. Alaka were to visit PSV and then make a decision on the venue and send out invites. Each guest was requested to come with minimum of £20.00. The meeting agreed that PSV will be the venue for the May outing which will be on May 23rd as agreed. Time will be announced later.
Website – Emmanuel (from torometechnology)presented to the group his vision of what he thought a website for an organisation like Soyuznikis-UK should be like and post meeting of Mr. Kenneth Ideh, Mr. Olu Alaka with Gabriel. A format of what he thought will be good for us was presented to the group by Mr. Olu Alaka. Deliberations were made and it was decided that Emmanuel will be commissioned to design our website. Dr. Razak Oyebade and Mr. Alaka will be working with him.
Election - This item on the agenda was postponed till next meeting due to time constrain.
Conclusion - Mr. President thanked everyone for actively participating in the day’s deliberation. He specially thanked Mr. Balogun for hosting us. He bid everyone a safe journey home. The meeting closed at 21.35 The house was treated to refreshment by the host Mr. Balogun
Learning Never Stops
If It Does, Life Would Be Worthless
Our Objective
- Support and encourage current members as and when the need arises fairly and honestly
- Grow our membership by reaching out through formal and informal social gatherings
- Extend charitable assistance to the needy and wanting
- Promote and maintain friendship, members and other colleagues who are non members of Soyuznikis-UK
- Promote the group locally and worldwide
Soyuznikis-UK is a union for Nigerians who have studied in the former Union of Soviets Socialist Republic (USSR). Soyuznikis comes from the Russian word ‘Soyuz’ meaning union. The association was founded in the summer of 2007 during the wedding ceremony of a colleague in London, the idea came about to form an umbrella organisation to bring together and embrace in friendship as it existed amongst us during our stay in the USSR was agreed.
Soyuznikis-UK is a secular and non political organisation. Membership to the group is not dependent on creed, origin, gender or sexuality. We endeavour to be a progressive organisation that will make meaningful contributions to the communities that gave us the opportunity to learn – USSR, the one that now host us - United Kingdom and most especially our nation – Nigeria. The deeds and acts of Soyuznikis-UK are guided by its constitution.
Our general meetings are held on the last Saturday of every month excluding December, when we normally hold our End of Year Party. Ideally, we as a group encourage our friends and familities to join us on our social events as a way of fostering our interpersonal relationships.
Unity Is Strength
Since inception, the association has been lead by the following persons as President. They have made efforts to foster growth and unity among members.
They are:- Mr. Paul Eboh 2007 to 2009
- Dr. Ralph Eke 2009 to 2011
- Pastor Chioma Ejiofor 2011 to 2012
- Mr. Ebenezer Hundeyin 2012 to 2019
- Mr. Olushina Alaka 2019 to date
Cancel Culture - Very Divisive
The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth. The danger of instant judgements and monolithic narratives are all too prevalent in these deliberations. Where you will find cold-blooded grasping; massive sense of entitlement; an inability to show gratitude; an unrealistic expectation of puritanism from others; and a passionate performance of virtue that is well executed in the public space ( social media) but not in the intimate space of co-habitation and friendship.
These are very trying times. Technology as recent as couple of years ago was supposed to bring us all closer - remember the global village?. The emergence of an old doctrine - critical race theory the epitome of this dramatic change in attitude towards anyone with a different point of view has put paid to that paradigm. These contrive and concerted attack on one race as being the source of the biblical original sin is trivial and false period.
We insulate ourselves in ideological bubbles of similar-thinking people and refuse to countenance or even engage with the truth. We now seems to be building echo chambers with titanium and carbon fibre cladding just to make sure we do not see or hear anything different. If these cancel culture mentality is being adopted to the pandemic, may be herd immunity would have been achieved by now. We have become communities in a dislocated social fabric that is fracturing at an astonishing rate. If we do not amend this fast, rapture seems to be the only ramification.