Lawsa's General Assembly!

On Wednesday the 20th of April 2016, the association of Law students University of Benin chapter witnessed a historic event - The General Assembly Of Law Students!
The General Assembly [The GA, as it's now fondly called],

is the gathering together of all law students from all levels together, under one roof to discuss and deliberate on issues pertaining to their well being and interests as an association.

Constitutionally, the GA is an event that is supposed to be held at least twice every semester but unfortunately due to reasons that are still unclear, it's an event that has not taken place in the last ten years.

So it was against this background that when word got out that the Supreme Lawsa Congress via the office of the Speaker and in conjunction with the executive arm was calling for a General Assembly, that all law students or at least most were psyched, excited and eager to experience what is now a rare occasion.


The event was billed to start by 2pm and by fifteen minutes past two, LT One, the venue for the event was already almost filled

and by 2:40pm when the event finally kicked off proper with the entrance of the Speaker, Mr President and other elected officials of the Association, the Lecture theatre was already filled beyond capacity as quite a remarkable number of Lawsans were seen standing behind and beside the LT.

Joshua Ogbeide from the 400level constituency was the Master of Ceremony.

As with most Lawsa events, this one started with an opening prayer by Jane Igbineweka, Clasfon's Vice-President, who was ably represented by Zainab Mukthar from 200level and then the Muslim prayer by Muhammad Nasir from 200level constituency, followed by a welcome address by both the Speaker, Nna Victor and the President of the Association, Nosa Garrick, respectively.

This too, was followed by introduction of guests and dignitaries by the Master of Ceremony, starting with all principal members of congress, all the executives and judges of the association plus the faculty representatives at the student union government.

Succeeding the introductions, the speaker, Nna Victor proceeded to enlighten law students about the need for a constitutional amendment and the steps taken thus far by the parliamentary arm to achieve this feat i.e the setting up of a constitutional amendment committee, provision of a soft copy of the Lawsa constitution amongst a few others.

At the end of his speech he called for questions and when there were none, he proceeded to set up the "seven man committee", which had two persons from 500level and 400level constituency respectively, while a single person from the remaining constituencies.

Jona Jones - 500level.
Davidson Obabueki - 500level.
Auta Friday - 400level.
Nenenwa Esther - 400level.
Patrick Omodia - 300level.
Michael Okperin - 200level.

The chief judge of the A.C.E Jural court Awesome Ojeah administered the oath to these ones.

The next item on the agenda was Law and it's SUG aspirants, the electoral representative for the faculty - Toju Peters, was unavoidably absent and in his stead, Olubunmi Olatunji proceeded to sensitize Law students as to the stakes, interests and aspirants of the faculty in the upcoming election.
This was notably one of, if not the biggest highlight of the General Assembly, as the "jagaban" of law as he is fondly referred to in some quarters, lit up the occasion with his oratory and revved all law students present into a frenzy.
After which he presented the candidates, who were greeted with a thunderous applause and screams their numerous supporters.

It was immediately after this, that the president of the association, Nosa Garrick, took the podium, for the most anticipated and arguably the main highlight of the event - "The State Of The Association!"
At this junction, "ULP" could spot refreshments going round as Law students reclined to get an update as to the affairs of "their" association.
The President proceeded to appreciate congress, the planning committee and all lawsans for making the GA finally a reality.
He went on to list the achievements of the administration and shine more light on the ongoing project of journal publication amongst a few others.
The president reiterate that the major problem of the association is and has always been finance, he pleaded with law students to support the association by fulfilling their financial obligations.
He went to buttress this point by giving the total number of students that had paid their lawsa dues from each of the constituencies, with 400level been the highest with a little over a hundred and 500level the lowest with under thirty students having done so.
The president then fielded questions from those in the audience, this section of the General Assembly had mainly members of the 400level constituency, Augustus Ndiyo, Iyere Promise and a handful of other law students asking pertinent questions and tossing suggestions, all which the President answered and promised to see implemented.

Mr Speaker brought the event to close by giving a vote of thanks, after which James Uro, the CALSAN President said a brief closing prayer.



ULP spoke with some of the attendees after the event and they described the event as successful, commended the organizers and implore the association to make the occasion more frequent.





Report by gafar.