The Senate second meeting for the semester which held an Friday 14th of August started at 3:07pm with the General Secretary reading his budget. He asked for 280,000 naira to buy a printer for the Secretariat at the faculty. The senators asked him about his plans for the Secretariat. He said he also wanted a laptop, but there was not enough money for both, so they agreed to buy just the printer for now and think about the laptop later. Senator Tolu and Senator Minini are going to be sponsoring the printer purchase. He also said he has plans to fix up the Secretariat, but this has been slow because of where it is located and the lack of internet there.
The Health Minister then came out with his budget. Senators complained about the number of soaps being bought and asked for cheaper mops. He also asked for buckets for the toilets. Senator Tade pointed out that the toilet door handles are broken, and she said there are plans to fix this and the broken pumping machine too.
Next, the Vice President came in with her budget for the cooking competition. Senator Sekinat, Senator Tade, Senator Tolu, and Senator Ajibade all made comments on it, and in the end, 199,250 naira was approved for the cooking competition.
A motion was then moved to agenda item 6.6, the investigation of the Financial Secretary. This came after a deficit of 94,500 naira was found. The Audit Committee began looking into it on 2nd August, and both the President and the Financial Secretary were called in to answer questions. The Financial Secretary explained where 1,103,800 naira and the 94,500 naira went, but some things did not add up. A smaller deficit of 5,000 naira was found, caused by lack of receipt in the lab coats and boiler suits costs. The committee said this happened because receipts were not recorded properly, and they suggested the association start using an online banking app to avoid this in future.
Senator Tade said the President did not speak up while the Financial Secretary was being questioned, and suggested using a checkbook like past leaders did. He also said Veterinary News Organization were not present at the meeting but went ahead to publish the news. He also said that the charges against the Financial Secretary should be dropped. Senator Yinka said she was not guilty at the time she was suspended, so should not have gotten community service. He also said that the Senate had sent an appeal to the press bodies, asking them to hold back from publishing anything concerning the matter. However, he expressed disappointment when the news was published. He further claimed that the Veterinary News Organization (VNO) sent a response stating that the Senate was impeding on its powers. This, however, is not true, as no such statement was contained in the letter sent by VNO.
Senator Bolaji said both the President and the Senate made mistakes in how the case was handled. He said the president should have said something after all it would be Faruk led administration. He said he had nothing against the VNO article, only that VNO was not present. He also said some wanted her to refund the 94,500 naira, but he was against this since she was not found guilty, her community service was only because she said she would write a letter and then didn't, not because of misappropriation of funds. He added that the Senate made a big mistake by not questioning the President too, and said no one meant harm.
Senator Minini said the punishment was meant to help her feel the weight of the suspension, and noted the President knew about the money going into her account. She also apologized to the financial secretary for the hasty decision of the senate. Senator Uthman said she had enough time to bring her receipts, and her suspension was necessary to for investigation of the case according to the constitution. He said the community service was because she said she couldn't leave the comfort of her home to withdraw money from the bank and pay the individual vendors separately. The financial secretary however opposed this and said she had told the Senate that she couldn't do the transactions from the comfort of her home not she couldn't leave the comfort of her home. Senator Uthman asked everyone to keep a good relationship, referring to the VNO published news.
The Senate President, Senator Basit, said the Senate did not make a mistake, he asked for a countermotion and a second vote, where the "ayes" clearly won, this voice vote was to avoid emotions.
The President was then asked why he didn't speak up during questioning. He said there is a lot of history between him and the Financial Secretary. He said he told her to pay the vendors in full, but she refused, saying there was only one vendor and paying everything upfront to new vendors was too risky, since it would fall on her if things went wrong.
After this, the Financial Secretary was reinstated, with Senator Uthman and Senator Tolu seconding the motion.
Senator Toyibat said she noticed the President can be "bossy" with his executives. Senator Tolu replied that emotions should be kept out of it and that word shouldn't have been used. The Senate President added the President was simply acting as president, though agreed leaders shouldn't always act that way since everyone is a student in the association.
The Financial Secretary then spoke, apologising for going over time. She said the audit did not properly check her receipts, which is why she submitted late. She said she even gave a picture of her handwritten records, but was told it didn't count as a proper document. Senator Tade interrupted to say her time was up; she said she had already asked for extra time and was given two more minutes, but kept trying to explain. Senator Uthman then said time was moving and they needed to continue with the agenda, adding that the matter was already settled and shouldn't be reopened.
The Senate then moved to the next item, the inauguration of the IVMSEC committee where it was questioned if Senate would have a separate time to question the contestants because the students of the association don't know the questions to ask because they have little idea of the constitution. A report was given on the public lecture, noting more was spent than received, and the senator in charge was urged to reach out to Doctor Bala for more funding.
Senator Bolaji proposed a bill to set clear rules for calling Senate meetings, so students can call a congress meeting if they feel the executive or senators aren't doing right by them. Senator Aluta also brought forward a new bill, which will be reviewed further at the next Senate meeting.
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