FRANK: I am Senator Oluwadare Franklyn. A. I am the Association of Veterinary Medical Students, University of Ibadan (AVMS UI) Senate President, a senator representing the good people of DVMV constituency and the AVMS Senate president
VNO: It is a common suggestion within the faculty that the Senate approved the presidential budget (AVMS shirt particularly) without seeing it. Can you shed more light into this?
FRANK: The senate did not on any occasion or at any point approve the AVMS shirt. The Senate only ratified the AVMS financial report presented by the Financial Secretary on 15th November, 2019. During the course of examining the reports, the Senate found out a sum hundred and fifty thousand naira (₦150,000) was withdrawn by the office of the president on the 18th October, 2019 and findings made us understand that the money was for the AVMS shirts which have not been seen by the Senate till now.
VNO: According to the query your office sent to the President, you claimed a bill was sent to him, can we know about it?
FRANK: The letter of query sent to the President was sent by the Senate through her disciplinary committee and not directly from my office. Basically the content of the Bill was;
1. Contestants for office of the President, General Secretary and Financial Secretary must have valid means of identification. The purpose for this is to ensure smooth transition after every tenure. You should recall that at the beginning of this session, there was an issue with change of signatory that led to the Financial Secretary of the association keeping over half a million in her personal account, the aim of this bill is just to curb issues like this from happening again.
2. The second part of the bill was to make the Financial Secretary principal signatory of the association’s account. This is to ensure that the Financial Secretary is in control of the association’s account because if there is any issue with the account, the Financial Secretary is always the one responsible.
The president failed to respond to the bill which after 27 days of submission and this is contrary to Article II Section IV Subsection VIII (4, 5) of the association’s constitution. However, the Senate vetoed the bill on 26th November 2019 and only passed the first part of the bill (i.e. 1 above) and left the second part because the Senate found out that it may be contrary to the university regulation.
VNO: Dog Show budget approved by the Senate did not contain shirts, why did you query the president on procurement of shirts?
FRANK: On 15th November, 2019, Comrade Harmony O Lawal, Chairman of Dog Show committee, stated that the AVMS Dog Show shirt was procured by the President without approval by the Senate Council and this is contrary to Article IV, Section II, Subsection IV of the association’s constitution. The President procured the shirts claiming it was for publicity and people got it purely by order. However, the Senate cannot track how many shirts were made and how much they were made. Although, the association funds were allegedly not used for procuring the shirts, it is an important point of notice that the shirts were procured in the name of AVMS UI.
VNO: Is it constitutionally right for the executive president to go for NAVEMS convention without approval by senate?
FRANK: If any member of AVMS UI (including the President) will be going for a national convention then it is an association program and the Senate has to be carried along. In addition to the fact that it is the constitutional requirement (Article IX Section IIIb and Article IV, Section II, Subsection IV), the Senate has to be informed if any member of the Executive Council will be out of his/her office for a long period so that the Senate can temporarily transfer his/her duties to another executive member. This is just common sense; it is what is called continuity in government.
VNO: How does the Senate cope with the fact that senate subvention has not been given (over 5weeks to the end of the session) and they have been approving other official budgets?
FRANK: The senate has been thriving on personal funds from myself, other Principal Officers of the Senate and some Senate committee heads.
VNO: The Executive President claimed that you outrightly rejected #20,000 as subvention. Can you shed more light to this? Is it constitutionally right for you to bargain for the House if the president's approved subvention is too low?
FRANK: The Senate, just at the end of first semester, decided that we will only accept nothing less than 50% of our total budget which is twenty-five thousand naira only. During the first semester break, it came to my notice that the president was willing to pay twenty thousand naira and I told the clerk that we cannot accept that amount that time that they should hold on.
Just at the first week of second semester (29th of October), the Senate principal officers had a meeting and it was decided that the senate will collect the twenty thousand naira. I immediately directed Senator Oguntoye Adebonike, chairperson of the Senate Finance and Budgets committee, to receive the twenty thousand naira on behalf of the Senate and since then nothing has been paid despite various reminders.
Furthermore, in response to the query earlier sent to him, the President wrote on the senate subvention, an issue he was not previously queried on, and I leave the press to decipher the reason for that.
VNO: Everyone is clamoring that you're not in good personal relationship with the executive president, what do you say to this?
FRANK: The Executive body and the Senate are two separate official arms of government and I see no reason why the personal relationship between myself and the Executive President is subject to a debate. I obviously cannot be friends with everyone; however, the Executive President is my class mate.
VNO: What would you like to say to vet students concerning the forthcoming elections?
FRANK: I will advise association members to vote wisely without any sentiment or bias. God bless AVMS UI.
Thank You.
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