The Alexander Brown Hall Assembly Legislative Summit, themed ‘LEGISLATION: THE GAMES WE PLAY’, was held on Saturday, July 30, 2022 at the Famewo Common Room (FCR). The programme was organised by the Alexander Brown Hall Assembly to educate its members- alongside interested Brownites- more about the legislative council.
The anchors of the programme were Mr David Adetula and Miss Omotola Odeleke, who are members of the BDS 2K19 and MBBS 2K19 Classes, respectively. The event boasted two seasoned speakers: Dr. Orimogunje, the past Speaker of the Association of Resident Doctors, UCH Chapter, who presented the topic ‘Legislation: An Art or an Act; and Mr. Michael Adejumo, the immediate past President of the National Association of Dental Students, who presented the titular topic ‘Legislation: The Games We Play’. Both speakers delivered their presentations from their wealth of knowledge and experience; while the attendees were attentive and participatory, asking questions for better understanding and supplying answers when necessary.
However, the Famewo Common Room which is almost always filled during Hall Assembly Meetings was not filled to so much as half its capacity during this programme. One attendee, Honorable David Uzor of the E Ground Constituency, remarked that while he had learned from the lectures, he had expected a higher turnout for the program and was particularly displeased with the attendance. He also remarked that the poor attendance highlighted the disinterest of members of the hall and the Hall Assembly in the political matters of the hall and questioned what it would mean for the future of the Hall government.
After the summit, ABH Press interviewed some Brownites and found out that many of them had no idea that such a programme had been held. Many said that they might have attended, had they known the program would hold. One other thing which might have contributed to the low turnout was the impromptu change of the commencement time of the programme. Although the digital flier which had been in circulation to publicise the programme showed that the programme was scheduled for 10am, a Broadcast Message came out an hour before the slated time that the programme had been shifted till noon.
The Chairman of the Legislative Summit Committee, Honorable Semiloore Atere, expressed her delight at the success of the meeting as her expectations for the summit were met. She intimated that her expectation had been that the Hall Assembly members would learn more about the House and also the rules governing it; and she felt that the speakers had done justice to that. She commented that the attendance was fair, especially considering the other hall activities which competed for Brownites’ attention- the ABH In-reach and the ABH Games- that same day. She also said that the program would have received better responses from the departments, if the requests made to send representatives from the departmental legislative bodies to the summit had been granted.
The initiative for the Annual Legislative Summit is one that works well to inform and educate Brownites about the inner workings of the Hall government and ensure that none of them is left behind. While we look forward to the next, ABH Press hopes that plans are in the works to ensure that Brownites get interested and respond better to the cause.
