There have been questions as to the reasons the Student Union Constitution is not accessible to the Students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. Questions kept coming as to why the constitution has become a secret affair being kept away from the students.
Just like how the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is accessible to all and sundry, the Student Union Constitution should also be made available to the students. But it’s unfortunate how it is being deliberately kept away from the students.
Not making it available and accessible to the students has raised suspicion as to what could have been the reasons for that and if there are discrepancies in the Constitution that have made the custodian guide it jealously as if their lives depend on it.
These questions have been on the minds of students, and are yet to be answered.
It’s no gain saying that the Student Union constitution is a document meant to guide and regulate the activities of Student unionism on campus and serve as a means of enlightening and educating the students and as such, should be accessible and available to them.
The constitution is not an item meant for decoration since it was drafted for the accessibility of the students hence, the document should be treated as such and not become an item being hoarded away from the students.
The essence of the constitution is to serve as a manual providing information about how the activities of the SUG should be run.
The Constitution is a reflection of the operational frontier or jurisdiction of all the arms of government, that is, it tells us what is expected of the legislative, executive, and the judiciary arm of the union, stating how it should be done and in what instance it needs to be done.
How do they expect the students to know what the constitution says about the union activities, its restrictions, obligations, and abuse of power when they have been shut away from the constitution and how would the(arms of the union officials) perform exceptionally when little or no knowledge is known about the constitution?
A society without particular law or Constitution, should not entertain sanctions, but in as much as there are laws and constitutions regulating the affairs of the union, there are bound to be sanctions and regulations to check the excesses of office holders.
How do students know if they are being cheated? If their rights are being trampled upon or violated when they have no access to the constitution?
The constitution is not a secret document that needs to be kept away from the eyes of the public except there are discrepancies in it.
We kept on talking about the dying state of students unionism on campus and how it kept wallowing in shambles, why won’t it die when the needful is not done. The necessary education the students ought to have access to has been ostracised from them due to one form of secrecy or the other.
Other notable schools like the University of Ibadan, Unilag, Uniport, etc, have their SUG constitutions published online for easy accessibility of the student to be fully informed and participate in student unionism but the reverse is the case in MAPOLY.
It is believed that when students have access to the SUG constitution, it prepares them ahead of what they should expect when they finally take up the mantle of leadership.
In view of this, the union Constitution needs to be accessible to the students to revive the dying culture of the Union and serve as a means of education for the students to know more about the activities of the union when they eventually take up the mantle of leadership.
