CONSTITUTION OF THE ENGLISH SCHOLARS’ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA
(Adopted at the Inaugural Conference)
- NAME: The name of the Association shall be English Scholars’Association of Nigeria (ESAN)
- AIM: The principal aim of the Association is to promote the study and teaching of English language and literature in English in Nigeria by:
(a) bringing together at regular intervals those concerned with language or literature for discussion of common problems;
(b) distributing and exchanging relevant information, especially with connection to research being done in Nigeria;
(c) Publishing at regular intervals a Journal to the objectives of the association
- MEMBERSHIP
(a) Ordinary members shall be those concerned with English studies in Nigeria and such other persons the executive committee shall determine.
(b) Affiliated Membership shall be open to relevant societies, institutions or associations which the Executive committee may approve. Affiliated members shall not be entitled to vote.
(c) There shall be an annual subscription determined by the Annual General Meeting on the recommendation of the Executive Committee
- NATIONAL ORGANISATION
(a) There shall be a National Executive Committee consisting of the following officers:
President
Secretary
(b)i These officers shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting.
Ii Members of the Association not present at the Annual General Meeting may register their votes by post to reach the Secretary before the meeting.
iii Members of the Executive Committee shall hold office until the next Annual General Meeting shall be eligible for re- election.
(c) The Secretary shall convene the Executive Committee for at least two ordinary meetings in a year.
(d) The Executive Committee is empowered to set up sub-committees.
- LOCAL ORGANISATION
(a) There shall be local Executive Committees to encourage the formation and co-ordinate the activities of branch associations.
(b) Each local committee shall determine the form and scope of its activities
- ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
(a) The National Executive Committee shall summon the Annual General Meeting.
(b) The Annual General Meeting shall be held in each of the areas of the country in rotation.
(c) Notice of the meeting shall be sent out to reach all members local committees at least six weeks before the appointed date.
(d) The annual General Meeting shall normally take place as part of a conference of the Association.
- AMMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
Motions for the adjournment of this Constitution shall be carried by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting at the Annual General Meeting
PROPOSED AMMENDMENTS TO ESAN CONSTITUTION
After the Name, a new item 2 should be inserted as follows:
- Vision Statement: To become the principal forum for all English language and literature in English teachers at all levels of Nigeria’s educational system
The present item 2 aim should be changed to Mission Statement and should have a new Item (d) added as follows:
(d) offer professional support to teachers of English at all levels of the educational system through networking, training activities and special interest group activities.
The present item 3 Membership should have the word ‘institutions’ deleted from item (b), and the present item (c) should also be deleted and new sections (c), (d) and (e) should be inserted as follows:
(c) Institutional membership for which the rate of subscription shall be twice the individual membership rate
(d) Honorary Membership which shall be for life but which does not carry voting rights
(e) Life Membership which shall be conferred on a member upon the payment of 25 years’ annual subscription at the prevailing rate.
Under National Organization a new item (a) should be inserted as follows:
- There shall be a Board of Trustees for the Association consisting of a maximum of five members appointed by the Annual General Meeting for a maximum of two terms of five years each.
The present item 4(a) should now read:
There shall be a National Executive Committee consisting of the following officers:
- President
- Vice-President
- Secretary
- Assistant Secretary
- Treasurer
- Publicity Secretary
- Editor
- Six Regional Co-coordinators
Four of the Special Interest Group Coordinators to be elected by the Annual General Meeting
The three Immediate Past Presidents of the Association
The present item 4(b) (3) should read as follows:
Members of the Executive Committee shall hold office for a maximum of two terms of two years each provided that any vacancy occurring due to resignation or other reason shall be filled at the next Annual General Meeting
Between National Organisation and local Organisation, a new item should be inserted as follows:
Regional Organisation
There shall be a Regional coordination Committee for each of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria which shall coordinate the activities of the State Branches and Special Interest Groups in the zone.
The Regional Coordination Committee shall consist of the following officers who shall be elected by a General Meeting of the members in the zone for a maximum of two terms of two years each
- Coordinator
- Deputy Coordinator
- Secretary
- Assistant Secretary
- Treasurer
- Editor
- Special Interest Group Coordinators
The present item 5 Local Organisation should be amended as follows:
There shall be a State Branch of the Association in each State of the Nigeria Federation which shall have the following officers as members of the state Branch Executive Committee:
- Chairperson
- Vice-Chairman
- Secretary
- Assistant Secretary
- Treasurer
- Editor
- Special Interest Group Coordinators of the State
The three immediate past Chairmen of the State Branch shall be ex-officio members of the State Branch Executive Committee
After Local Organisation, a new item should be inserted as follows:
Special Interest Groups
There shall be Special Interest Groups within the association to serve as fora for networking and other professional support activities.
These Special Interst Groups may be based on type of institution to which members are affiliated (for example, ore-primary, primary, secondary, polytechnic, college of education or university) or an academic areas of interest to members (for example, literature in English, Nigerian English, oral English, English for specific purposes) or on methods and approaches (for example corpus-based research, computer-assisted language learning).
The Special Interest Groups at the State Branch, Regional and National levels shall elect the following officers for a maximum of two terms ot two years each:
- Coordinator
- Deputy Coordinator
- Secretary
- Assistant Secretary
- Editor
The Special Interest Groups shall work under the general direction of State, Regional and National Executive or coordination Committees as the case may be
The Special Interest Group Coordinators at the State level shall be ex-officio members of the State Branch Executive Committee and the Coordinators at the Regional level shall be ex-officio members of the Regional Coordination Committee
After Special Interest Groups, a new item – Finances should be inserted as follows:
Annual subscription fees, which shall be collected bt State Branches and be shared in the ratio of 40:20:40 in favour of the State Branch, the Regional Coordination Committee and the Nation Body respectively.
The annual subscription fee shall be determined by the Annual General Meeting on the recommendation of the National Executive Committee
Members of the Special Interest Groups shall pay an additional subscription fee to their Group at the State level which shall not exceed one quarter of the Association’s annual subscription rate
The Special Interest Group subscription fees shall be shared in the ratio 60:20:20 in favour of the State SIG, Regional SIG and National SIG respectively.
Under Annual General Meeting, a new item (e) should be added as follows:
An Extraordinary General Meeting shall be summoned upon the receipt by the Secretary of a request for the same supported by one third of the registered members of the Association.
After Annual General Meeting, insert three new items as follows:
Award of fellowship
Honorary and Academic Fellowships may be awarded to deserving members (and non-members in the case of Honorary Fellowships) after meeting qualifications and criteria approved by the Annual General Meeting
Discipline
Members of the Association may be suspended or expelled by the Annual General Meeting if a case of misconduct is established against them after due process
Dissolution
The Association may be dissolved by a vote of two thirds majority of members at an Annual General Meeting and when so dissolved the assets of the Association shall be donated to another association or body with similar objectives
