CONTINUATION: Analysis of the AFAS Constitution Review Committee’s Propositions.

By Olanshile Ogunrinu
In continuation of the efforts by the Constitution Review Committee of the Faculty of Arts to review or add new modalities to the current constitution guiding the activities of the Association of Faculty of Arts Students, since the first meeting of the committee, a lot of progress has been recorded. New clauses have been proposed, and other parts have been reviewed to reflect current realities, all with the intent to improve the welfare and conduct of the association.
With a lot of work done already, these are some of the areas that need to be highlighted;
MEMBER’S ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
The membership of the constitution review committee encompasses representatives of different arms and departments of the faculty. Taking into cognizance the work of the committee which has been robust and progressive, the efforts of regular and active members of the committee must be lauded. Rt. Hon Olasoji Akindejoye, the Chairman of the committee representing Linguistics, Oke Abayomi representing Philosophy, Bolaji Suliat from Arabic and Islamic studies, and Adeoye Oluwatosin representing AFAS Press are some of the members of the committee whose engagements and attendance in the meeting has been note-worthy. The onus is on the other members of the committee to know that what is worth doing is worth doing well. This is an important task to spur changes in the direction of the affairs of AFAS and is obviously not a task to be fulfilled with levity.
Article 31: Fund & Disbursement/Signatories to Account
In item (I) of the article, The CRC proposed that the signature of one of the staff advisers should be required in addition to that of the President and Treasurer of AFAS to authorize the disbursement of funds.
Also, in item (iii) of the article, the committee proposed that the Treasurer shall be empowered to keep an imprest of not more than Thirty thousand naira only (30,000) to accommodate the current economic reality.
Article 34: Time of Election
The committee proposed that elections shall be held no later than 4 weeks before the commencement of the general examination in the second semester of every session.
Article 35: Election Guidelines
Contrary to the 4 days specification in item (iv) current constitution, the CRC proposed that the electoral commission shall display the name of all qualified candidates and the respective offices they are vying for on notice boards at least a week before the election.
Also, to increase public engagement by candidates, the committee proposed a new item (vi) in the article that “Every qualified candidate shall be mandated to present their manifesto in a Press Night organized by AFAS Press”.
In order to remove ambiguity too, the committee reviewed item (vii) of the article and proposed that the item which is now (viii) should read that “Elections shall be by secret ballot and the electoral commission shall decide whether the mode is physical or virtual.
The committee also added an item (xi) that “In the case of unopposed candidates, the winning shall be decided by an absolute majority”.
Article 36
To promote accountability, transparency, and responsibility, the committee added a new item (iii) that only 200-level students can contest for the positions of; Vice President (Administration), Treasurer, and Social Director.