AFAS FLC In Retrospection: Tailoring The Issues

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Aduwo Ayodele

“Evaluate, because what gets measured, gets produced.”– James A. Belasco.

The Faculty Legislative Council (FLC) Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, in its sitting held on the 9th of February, 2024, gestured some actions worthy of prime evaluation. For one, the arm has always been consistent with being a branch with theatrics, as expected. All over the world, this exceptional reputation of the Legislative arm has characterised its appreciable difference.

This time around, the AFAS FLC busied herself with far-reaching concerns. From establishing the forfeiture of seats by impassive ‘honourable members’, to attending to the petition raised regarding the issuance of identity cards, to the lopsided or withholding of awards to female winners from the Department of European Studies. The other issues were the newly tasked committees, the funding crisis in the Association and a controversial suspension of an honourable member.

Forfeiture of Honorable Seats
With the 400-level representative from the History constituency, 400-level representative from the Philosophy constituency, and Hon. Adejoke Damilare of Anthropology constituency, all forfeiting their seats in the house, it is expected to have some questions for the individuals of these displaced persons, and the other question, for their constituencies.

While being an honourable member would mean that interested individuals have become passionately interested in service to their constituency and the greater good of the Association, the unapologetic absence of honourables at sittings has been the trend in the current Assembly of AFAS FLC. But this has been a timeless concern, there are, and have been individual members, who consecutively have not attended the sittings of the council, for the longest time being. These people are, of course, voluntary members who joined the legislative council without being invited by the parliament to do so and are obliged to serve in the FLC as an institution diligently.

Provided in the AFAS constitution that erring irregular members of the FLC be dealt with accordingly, the news of the expelled honourable members opens a further conversation on the level of alertness that constituencies should rather have about their representatives and the tacit responsibility of representation that has been vested on the commissioned representative. This awareness is necessary to bridge the gap between representation and accountability, which all serving honourable member of the FLC owe their constituencies.

Discipline as it is, is the soul of an army, which thus makes small numbers formidable. That the FLC has gone the constitutional way to dispense the provision of the AFAS law on the erring ‘honourable members’ stands commendable. For one, the FLC must perpetually be seen as a cardinal institution or organ of the Association. Its internal operations, broadly about representation, law-making and oversight function are three acute endeavours which should be of concern to every honourable. Their absence would mean the act of depriving their basic electoral unit of participatory representation.

Delay on the Issuance of ID cards
With a petition from Honourable Yeboa Daniel, from the Religious Studies constituency, questioning the delay in the production of ID cards which has lingered late into the closing second semester, a query into the objectives of Association ID cards was raised, where the University ID card has been or will be provided. In its final resolve, the House resolved that the Executive body should go on with the production of ID cards, but its information must bear the next session’s specific details.

It needs to be said that the reason for the delay in the production of ID cards may not be vindictive enough on the part of the AFAS Executive Council, but it does raise an underlying question about the eventual purpose of the ID card. While the card does serve students who have misplaced their University ID card, its other purposes may not be admirable. And even in a case of misplacement of the University’s ID card, a mode for getting a new one had always existed.

The other dust this should and has raised is to question the justification of annually produced ID cards for students, and not a single one that would serve a four-year purpose. But that has been impeded by the situational dynamism in membership that characterizes AFAS. In AFAS, for instance, the participation of 200-level and 300-level students in both financial and physical terms has not always been at its best, as it is possible to meet individuals from these levels who are quite apathetic about commitment and financial participation in the Association’s activities; this in turn, as the constitution considers it, denies them membership in the Association, which becomes the reason for the yearly production of the item.

Considering that the item is itself optional, the advice would be that the Association’s leadership should at all times prioritise the production of the cards, especially within a period of time that it would be useful. For now, like it has been resolved on the floor of the House, the production for this session should indeed begin, but its details should rather bear the next session’s pieces of information.

European Studies Female Team Prizes
Honourable Bukola from European Studies petitioned the House in regards to the last Dean’s Cup which failed to award medals, certificates and prize tags to the winners of the tournament’s female category, unlike the male winners who got theirs. While the House has promised to make rightful amend, this discourse is inherently connected to the paucity of funds which characterizes the Association. While this particular case appears imbalanced or insensitive to gender, its root cause cannot be delinked from the insufficiency attributed to the Association’s purse in seeing its events through. For the common good, a guided effort has to be put into motion to ensure that this does not become a pattern.

On the New FLC Committees for Summit and Publicity
The inauguration of two new committees– the Legislative Committee, which will take charge of the forthcoming AFAS Legislative Summit, and the Media and Publicity Committee, tasked with the responsibility to disseminate basic information from within the House, are welcomed ideas. The Summit usually is an avenue to showcase the compact and values of the House through the discussion of its core values and mission. The Legislative Summit provides an opportunity for AFASites to build relationships with their legislators, and legislators among themselves, in a bid to advance the AFAS legislative agenda. The Summit is also basically held to recognize the important role that parliaments play in good governance and development.

The need for a media and publicity committee for the House is a good initiative, but it came late. The committee is believed to be vested with the responsibility of promoting and projecting the FLC, through exploring avenues, channels and opportunities for the realization of this goal. The need for this routine role has been long-needed in the House, as it would serve to keep AFASites adequately informed of happenings and developments. The Summit, on the other hand, should be better than the previous year’s Summit, by encouraging more participation in the event, it should be equally open to the Executive body, to both aspiring student legislators and executives, as well as to AFASites.

On Investigative Committee Reports
The investigative committee report which was presented to the House suggested that there should be an evaluation report by each serving Executive officer. Another report recommended that the annual SUPER4 game should be scrapped, this recommendation stems from the unavailability of funds to adequately cater for the game. Also, the game is faulted on the basis that it is not an all-inclusive game, as participating departments are limited to four departments.

While the debate ensued, the regulation also revolved around the need to ensure that participating individuals in all games are, as constitutionally provided, financial members of the Association. While this continues to be a major discussion, the metric should be on the financial strength of the Association and its worthwhile impact on members.

AFAS Funding Crisis – the Debate on Basic Dues
There is no doubt that money is a wheel for every sound idea, even for the unsound ones. Money, whether in kind or cash, is an essential provision needed to materialize every idea.

For AFAS, while seeking sponsorship or receiving donations have been rescuing ways to deal with financial constraints, payment of basic due remains the most dependable. This means however is posed with challenges today, as the financial responsibility of AFASites keeps declining. This decline, without being taught to know, cannot be delinked from the miserable Nigerian economy, which has been wrecked more by the neo-liberal policies of the Government. Today, this is made evident in the fact that many students’ interest groups have been turned into charity-oriented organizations, raising school fees for students; the University of Ibadan Students’ Union and AFAS as two instances.

But the Association has to run its operations. To effect this, the FLC debates of February 9, 2024, come to the fore. The house was summarily divided between reaching out to the Sub-Dean of the Faculty to enforce payment of basic dues by making it compulsory for the signing of course forms, while other members of the parliament disagreed with the plan. While it occurred, the House, through its majority, resolved that the idea to consult the Sub-Dean be embarked upon. With the debate factionalizing the house into two sides of the same matter, what would be the way in or out?

In retrospection, it does not at any point appear appropriate to apply ‘the stick measure’ on students who rightfully can claim membership or disengage from the faculty students’ association (although they are not usually strong enough to claim such an uninvolving stance during their final year clearance). While the stick measure is what it is, it is notably undemocratic. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s constitution, every individual has the constitutional wherewithal to want to belong or disassociate from any group or association. With that well understood, the possible measure, as suggested in the House, is to reinforce the reorientation of undergraduate students in the faculty. This among many ways can be done through constituency engagement (a recommendation that was capitally thrown away in the course of the last sitting). Any honourable member who believes that their constituency members will not respect the idea of this dialogue may need to reevaluate his or her own class/constituency’s acceptance of him or her as a representative. This solution can only be approached steadily. The use of external force on prospective financial members of the Association will be undemocratic.

Honourable Olalusi Susan’s Suspension from the FLC
The uneventful twist of the last AFAS FLC sitting was the indefinite suspension placed on Honourable Olalusi Susan (Sparky) from the History constituency. She was, according to the FLC, suspended for her actions in violation of ‘Article 47; Section A(i-v) of the AFAS constitution, as amended’. For the record, the section of the constitution used to address the case was taken from the new constitution, which has not been approved for use by the legal unit of the University, resulting from the conflict which the old and new constituted stirred last session. The details of that provision, which the Honourable member breached according to the FLC are as follows; “(i) acting or conducting oneself in a manner likely to bring the name of the Association to ridicule, disrepute and contempt (ii) breach of any provision of the constitution of this Association (iii) carry out fraudulent or dishonest practices which are likely to embarrass or disgrace the Association (iv) disclosing official information of the Association without authority of the Association (v) disclosure of confidential or classified information”. The last FLC plenary sitting, chaired by Honourable Janet Meziem, suspended the said honourable for “besmirching” the name of the FLC and the Association in unprintable words on her Whatsapp status few moments after the honourable was said to have stormed out of the sitting.

First, it has become important that the Legal Unit of the University addresses the constitutional discrepancies in AFAS. Since the Legal Unit is vested with the duty to give legal advice or opinion in all aspects of law, among other duties, the need to hear its comments regarding the AFAS constitution is becoming overdue. Secondly, the unapproved regulations used against the Honourable member of the AFAS FLC who has since been suspended, appear in unhidden contrast to the fundamental right of expression attributed to every Nigerian. That the FLC for one has come up with this measure to caution lipless individuals who may be sorely interested in negative narratives should not in any way tamper with the fundamental right of expression.

While it is important that student leaders must be of good conduct at all times, and in the specific case of the last AFAS FLC plenary, should not storm out of the FLC because of the mode and end of a prayer or motion, there is no justification for picking on Honourable Olalusi Susan only for storming out. While the time book of the FLC will do the justice, a review should be done to the time Honourable Marcus of the Theatre Arts constituency left the sitting– as it was almost at the same time as Honourable Susan. The House’s unanimous agreement to stick to the third recommended sanction is a decision that raises eyebrows. Displacing the recommendation that she should be suspended only for a sitting, or for two weeks alongside community service of washing the female toilets, the third prayer to get rid of her from the current assembly became the most voted-for motion.

While efforts addressing the newsy development seem to be underway, precedence has been set by all the characters involved. And that, is enough words for the wise. 

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