Deliberations Over FLC Membership Bill, Hon. Raji Walks Out of Sitting, Electoral College to be Disbanded, and Other Highlights from the Sitting

Oluwatayo Ogundare 

The Association of Faculty of Arts Students (AFAS) Faculty Legislative Council (FLC) on 29th November, 2024 held its second plenary session to address issues in the faculty, ranging from deliberation over bills, presentation of statement of account, report from the electoral college pertaining to the by-election, and other pertinent matters. The sitting slated for 3:00 pm commenced about seventeen (17) minutes after with not more than 20 honourable members in attendance including the speaker, deputy speaker, and other principal members. The sitting which spanned across four hours, though riddled with lateness and disorderliness, had few major highlights that will be of advantageous for AFASites to be aware of.

Deliberation over Committed Report on AFAS FLC Membership Bill

The bill titled “AN ACT TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE FACULTY LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN THE ASSOCIATION OF FACULTY OF ARTS STUDENTS (AFAS)” was sponsored by Hon. Inioluwa (Pope) of the Linguistics and African Studies Constituency and presented by Hon. Ogunsemore Busayo Blessing from Anthropology and Archaeology constituency who doubles as the Chairperson of the committee and also the deputy speaker of the house. The bill upon approval is meant to enhance the structure and functioning of the Faculty Legislative Council (FLC) by addressing representation, inclusivity, and procedural clarity. 

Prayer One (1) of the bill proposed that the FLC be made up of four elected representatives from each department and that the four members representing each department be from different levels. This was the particular recommendation (prayer 1) that drew a lot of seasoned arguments that spanned across 60 minutes. Almost all the honourables present in the house were active in this area because each had one or two arguments to make. 

Arguments for include: maximum representation of AFASites, inclusivity across all levels, a solution to the issue of low attendance during sittings, among others. Hon. Inioluwa (Pope) was of the suggestion that the 100 students are the majority of students who pay dues therefore they are financial members of the faculty, and they must enjoy equal rights like the other levels.

Arguments against include: perpetual surge in the welfarism package for honourables, too many workloads on the 100-level representatives, full academic pursuits of most freshmen, struggling with adaptability into the new system, sustainability of the bill, non-feasibility of the bill to some departments like Theater Arts that engages fresh students in initiation ceremonies that span across weeks; European Studies department with only three sub department already having one representative from each department which in turn questions the origin of the emergence of the fourth representative. 

The speaker, in order to strike a balance, opined for a practical approach to test the feasibility and sustainability of the prayer one(1) of the bill. He suggested that 100-level students should be appointed to attend and observe sittings to evaluate their understanding and commitment. However, a motion was moved against adopting prayer (1) of the Membership Amendment Bill which was later approved. 8 honourable members voted against the adoption of the prayer (1) of the bill as against 6 honourable members who voted for. The motion moved against prayer (1) was in line with article 23, section (ii) of the AFAS constitution, which explains that “no member of the FLC shall be in 100 level while serving the house.”

 Hon. Raji Noah Walked Out of Sitting

Hon. Raji Noah of the Philosophy Constituency, who happens to be one of the committee members of the said bill, walked out of the sitting during an encounter with the speaker.

Hon. Raji, in a bid to defend the bill, kept interrupting the speaker which is an affront to Article 28, Section III of the constitution (as amended): “No honorable must speak except by the instance of the Speaker. All honorable wishing to speak, provided the subject matter of their standing do not distract from the stipulations of the standing order, must indicate this by a show of hand,” and Article 28, Section ix of the constitution (as amended): “ No representative may leave his seat without the express permission of the Speaker.”

Hon. Raji was called to order when presenting his argument both when standing and sitting but it seems this order didn’t go well with him.  This made him take his leave when the speaker was still addressing the house. Honourable members should do well to be honourable and always represent the faculty, both in and out in a good light. Flouting the dictates of the constitution from an individual who is supposed to be a guardian of the constitution is an indication of the crops of uninformed and unqualified representatives elected and appointed by students.

Electoral College to be Disbanded After Inauguration

During the financial report of the AFAS independent electoral college by the chairman, Oziegbe Kehinde, Hon. Inioluwa of the Linguistics Constituency made the suggestion that the electoral college should be disbanded after the inauguration and was approved. Oziegbe Kehinde made it known that he has confirmed from the sub dean that the inauguration of the newly elected AFAS executives would be done on Monday.