Praise Olorunfemi 

In the 4th Plenary Session of the Faculty Legislative Council of the Association of Faculty of Arts Student, which held on Friday 23, 2024, 3 bills sponsored by Hon. Olufemi of Department of Linguistics Constituency, Hon. Peculiar, and Hon. Lawal of Department of English Constituency, who brought 3 bills each, to the floor of House, which all was passed to the next stage. 

The Hon. Olufemi sponsored bill was first brought to the floor of the house for second hearing, as it has passed the it first hearing in the last sitting. The bill which centred on amending the membership of the FLC, argued that the membership of the House should not be restricted to 200, 300, and 400 level constituencies of each department, but should also include the 100-level constituencies of each department. “There is a 200-level constituency, there is a 300-level constituency, there is a 400-level constituency, why shouldn’t there be a 100-level constituency?” Hon. Olufemi Stated. Hon. Olufemi also pointed to the fact that “the 100-level are the ones who pays the most dues”, hence he finds it “…absurd” that they should have no representative in the House. 

Although, Hon. Theophilus from the Department of Music constituency implored the House not to used the fact that the 100-level student pay more dues, “don’t let us use it as a leverage” he stated. Agreeing with Hon. Theophilus was Hon. Peter who believes that these students do not have a CGPA yet, “there names are still written in pencil” he stated. Other Hon. members of the house argued that they are still new to the system, and have a their academic works to grapple with, hence, attending the FLC sittings, which are usually long, will be very challenging for them. Hon. Azeeza also believes that because they are new, “they might not be able to contribute critically to the critical discussions of he house”, she stated.

To refute this counter motions in the House, Hon. Olufemi believes the 100-level students are being undermined, he believes the 100-level students are capable of contributing critically to critical discussions in the House, “Honourable members of the House, do not take these 100-level students as morons, they passed JAMB and Post UTME exams”, he stated.

Pointing to the fact that the 100-level students need to be more acquainted with the inner workings of the house, as they would be added to the various functioning committees in the House, would produce a more experienced Hon. when they get to 200-level, however, they will not occupy any positions either as a principal officer, or in committees they would belong to. 

Further into the bill, was the prayer to scrap off article 18, v. of the AFAS Constitution, which states that two co-opted members from the Executive Council shall members of the House. As Hon. Olufemi believes that the Executive Council cannot have it own constituency in the house.

Having agreed with prayers in the sponsored bill of Hon. Olufemi, Article 23. ii, of the AFAS Constitution will also be scrapped. With a vote of 12 to 4 Honourable members of the house supporting the motion of Hon. Olufemi’s sponsored bill, the bill of amendments successfully passed it second hearing stage to the 3rd hearing. 

Now becoming a proper bill of the House, a 6-man committee was set up immediately to take care of the bill, with the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Anyah Precious Isioma, being the head of the committee, Hon. Thomas, Hon. Pauline, Hon. Samuel, the Chairperson for the petition committee, and Hon. Azeeza as members of the committee.

Following this, was the sponsored bill brought forward to the floor of the House by Hon. Peculiar of the Department of Religion Constituency. Titled, Establishment of officers of the executive council amendment bill.

Having argued back and forth on incident that led to the sponsorship of the bill, which is the non-recognition of the elected Director of Welfare, it was established that there have been issues surrounding the office of the current Director of Socials. The house was informed that the current Director of Social, Praise Awosemo, insists on operating as Director of Socials which he contested for. 

However, Hon. Azeeza, believes that, according to the AFAS Constitution, the office of the Director of Social is not recognised, it is the office of the Director of Social and Welfare Services. “If we have the Director of Social, it is not recognised by the current constitution”, she stated. 

Other arguments by Honourable members of the House were why the Office of the Welfare not inaugurated instead, why can’t the Director of Social carry out the responsibility of welfarism as they go hand-to-hand, amongst various other arguments. 

The Speaker of House, Rtd Hon. Miqdad, gave his resolution, “the Director of Social must operate in the capacity of both Social and Welfare Director until the bill be resolved” he stated.

It is on this note that the bill sponsored by Hon. Peculiar of the Department of Religious Studies , “Establishment of officers of the executive council amendment bill”, was passed, and moved to the next stage for second reading.

Lastly, was the bill sponsored by Hon. Lawal of Department of English, with the short title, Amendment of Article 13. 

The Hon. Lawal Sponsored bill, officially accentuated the expunging of the Council of Presidents and Secretaries, CPS, as an organ in the faculty, further, “to expel Article 13: Council of Presidents and Secretaries to rename Article 13”.

The bill also, proposed a setup of an Electoral College for bye-elections in AFAS in its prayers and clauses. Having established the fact that the bill aimed at transferring one of the functions of the expunge CPS, the bill was successfully passed to the next stage, which is the second hearing. 

The sitting which opened with a reading of minutes from the previous sitting at 3:45pm was adjourned at exactly 7:46pm.