Time of reflection, absenteeism and time wasting: Weighing our student leaders

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When the news of the end of the ASUU strike broke, whether received with joy or with sawdust of sadness and scorn, it would be an undeniable fact that everyone, at a point, on their lips, had a smile. When having a quiet time of reflexivity, we all pouted our lips and thanked our stars for finally being able to get back to school. If it is anything, the finalists would understand this. Not to make anyone think this piece seeks to address our happiness on resumption, as another strike constantly looms in the air, let us hold the bull by its massive horn, lest we waltz astray. This piece seeks to attempt to let AFASites understand some issues and throw the weight of their elected and appointed student leaders at them.

AFAS FLC and tardiness: Brothers in progress

It would seem like an old tale repeatedly told by very bitter old women, but we won’t stop talking about it as long as it recurs. One constant phenomenon about the hallowed chamber of the Faculty of Arts is the lateness to starting her sittings. It seems that no matter how many times the session changes the numbers that appear before it, plenary sessions will continue to be held later than scheduled. The house would defend its tardiness with the provision of the constitution for the need to fill the quorum of the meeting before the plenary can start, but that simply tells more of the honourables in the honourable house. Honourables simply can’t keep to time. This is one aspect the house needs to look into. Ensure that their honourables come on time for sittings and their 5pm is 5pm, not 5:30pm.

However, let us already leave it that honourables no longer grasp the essence of their status as honourables and of the importance of the sittings, should the executive council also join in? The excos kept loitering around when they were fully aware of the sitting, to the point that the Chief Whip kept leaving his post to call them. Do our student leaders in any way understand their duties? As has been aforementioned, this piece leaves the judgement into the hands of AFASites.

A time for absenteeism

It is greatly baffling that in a plenary session that has budget approval in its agenda and the need to revisit last session’s association funds as a result of the budget to refund students that paid for excursion last year, honourables with important portfolio like the Audit committee chairman, Vice chairman, Investigative committee chairman, and Vice chairman all chose that sitting to be absent. In fact, just one member of both the audit and investigative committee was present in the sitting. At least, if they were busy to the point of unavoidable absence, they could have informed one of the principal officers or their honourable colleagues of their absence, but nothing of the sort was communicated. It begs the question of the importance of plenary sessions for AFAS honourables. This further played out in the fact that the attendance rate in the last sitting was discouraging. It poses two important questions: are sittings important for honourables? Does the house make honourables see the importance of sitting? It is also a trend that some honourables from some constituency barely show up for sittings throughout the session. One then wonders what the point of their status is. Why not just reject the appointment when their constituency deemed them fit to be honourables, if they know they cannot have time for such ‘noble cause’.

A time of reflection and time wasting

A dog that barks need not be asked to keep quiet, for it knows what it has seen. What the eyes of an elder has seen that dampens his eyes, only he can tell. The press would not write pieces that seek to correct, if there is nothing to correct. What played out in the last plenary session calls for reflection back to the time of the electioneering process and makes us wonder just if we had chosen well, or we could just continue to recite the national anthem and hope that God ‘guides our leaders right’. 

First, was the appearance of the Sports director, Comrade Alawiye Israel, who decided, after a thorough consultation with his mind, body, spirit and soul, to appear before the house with a budget that would better pass for an assignment in the statistics department? The budget was not in the letterhead of the association; it did not have the signature of the President in it, nor was it addressed to the house. Just two tables with Super 4 budget heading on one and inter level competition budget heading on the other. This is not even the matter of being ‘properly’ addressed to the house. He just decided that there was no point for address for a budget of #154,100. Hon. Lawal calls it a budget addressed to the Super 4 budget. But that wasn’t even the shocker. Hon. Elijah of Religious Studies constituency suggested that the house should move on with the budget. But that also wasn’t close to being the height of the shocker. A motion was moved to the effect that the house scrutinize the budget and ridiculously, the majority voted in favour of the budget being looked at. At this point, it is time to question the rationale of our dearest honourables and their penchant for being able to settle for the very least from the executive council. If the house that should serve as a check to the executive council looks away over both minor and major issues, then are we sure such a house is capable of fulfilling its roles? Madam Deputy Speaker, who acted in the role of the speaker in his absence, expressed her disappointment in the 6 honourables that voted for and consequently overruled the result. In fact, the whole 3-hour period in the sitting could be better spent gazing at the dysfunctional SUB pool as nothing amounted from being in the sitting. At the end of the day, none of the three budgets that were brought to the house was even considered, let alone approved.

A period of ineptitude

It will forever be disturbing to know that we have to continuously doubt the overall competence of our executive council in the premier faculty that prides itself in training students who are critical thinkers and have improved intelligence over their peers. Whether this is applicable in the case of our student leaders remains something we must carefully look out for. First was the fact that addressing budgets to the house seems an uphill task. This was a trend in the last parliamentary, but since the Vice President was an honourable just this last session, she would have really great tips to give to both our General Secretary and his assistant. But she seemed not to have taken any lessons from her time in the house. Then there still hangs a question mark around some of our student leaders, especially those who were given a second chance after they were disqualified by the electoral committee following their first screening result. For example, the Treasurer could not even give a rough estimate of the amount he met in the association’s purse upon his assumption into office. Something the President had no problems doing, even though he was never in charge of AFAS funds neither in this session nor the last. In fact, he could give a rough estimate of this year’s funds. He seems to be more aware of the association’s purse than the Treasurer whose sole responsibility is to be aware of this treasure. Furthermore, the apparent ineptitude of the General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary was brought to light after the President expressed his frustration at them for waiting for him from his class before they could update the list of people who had paid for the ID card. At this point, one needs to wonder if the president is working in the capacity of every portfolio available in the AFAS executive council. Then there was the case of the Sports’ director, who seems clueless on the art of budget writing, as we can only assume he wrote it and not the General Secretary, since it did not appear on the association’s letterhead nor was the President’s signature appended. Also, there seems to be a deeper issue on this than what meets the eyes. Perhaps it is time for us to confront the lying sleeping dog and wake it from its slumber and remind our dearest excos of the rancor that ensued from a disunited council as was the case in last session’s administration.

Should we begin to judge?

To many, it might appear too early to pass judgment, as the session is still long and there are many things to do. But it is safe for us to keep notice of these things that seem little, so that we might be able to avoid the big ones. This would also call the attention of our student leaders to matters that are important and their attitude towards these issues need changing. Whether or not they would heed, that is left in their hands, but it is safe for us to reckon, lest we appear bitter when we recite these issues should they become big.

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