AFAS BANK STATEMENT: WHAT THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY AND OTHER EXCOS ARE NOT TELLING US
When it was said that AFAS executive council was spendthrift and had spent more than is really necessary, they were quick to write a rejoinder in their defence. Time has proven that they have not only overspent, but have also spent money that could not be accounted for by the individuals who spent such money, and the individuals’ in-charge of giving out the money. Before now, the association has not been this smeared with overspending.
As at last semester, the association had spent over a million naira on budgetary allocations, projects in the secretariat, association programmes and other expenses that could not be accounted for such as the N25, 000 released to the former Clerk and the Deputy Clerk of the Faculty Legislative Council (FLC), on the 3rd of July, 2019.
Consecutive Financial Secretary in the association have failed to keep the constitutional provision of Article 11, Section E, Number 8 which states the Financial Secretary shall “through the Director of Information, publish the Association’s account at the beginning and end of each semester.”A semester has ended and another one has begun. However, the current Financial Secretary did not publish such last semester and would most likely not publish for this semester too, especially since he is confused and sometimes ignorant of the nature of money that he gives out. Of course, former Financial Secretaries have always blamed their inability of not publishing the account of the Association on the basis that former Association’s staff adviser, Professor Olakunbi Olasope’s, was on sabbatical and hence, she was unavailable to give her consent. Now that the current staff adviser is around, the Association’s Financial Secretary, Olarinde Victor, said in the house (FLC) last sitting (Friday 22ndNovember, 2019) that he could be attacked if he publishes the Association’s account for Afasites to know since he stays off-campus.
In addition to this, the former speaker of FLC, Peter Olagunju, has always defended the Financial Secretary on the basis that the statement of account of the Association was not ready. According to him, the N265, 000 misappropriated by the immediate past president of the Association, Isaac Lijadu, had not been released to the association by the immediate past Sub-Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Abidemi Bolarinwa. This defence by the former Speaker was baseless as the statement of account submitted to the FLC on Friday 22nd November, 2019, shows that the money was transferred to the Association’s account on the 30th of July 2019 by the immediate past Sub-Dean. This was about a month after resumption. Thus, the Financial Secretary has had the opportunity to publish the statement of the account but has failed to do so because of his own insecurity and the pleas of former Speaker of the FLC.
But as it is now, the Association’s purse is red. According to the bank statement obtained from UBA Bank with account number 2130028682 and covering from June 1 to November 13, 2019 shows that the Association has N3, 657,357.84 left of the N4, 412,344.26 deposited by the Financial Secretary also acting as the Treasurer. The Financial Secretary withdrew N754, 986.42 between June 1 and November 13, 2019 in addition to the actual opening balance of N550,000. This clearly shows that the Association is low on cash and could see some Association’s event suffer. For example, the annual Association’s dinner would cost the Association at least N2, 000,000 which include money for food, prizes and certificates, venue, logistics and other things. Also, part of the money would go into production of package for Afasites who paid their dues which as at the 22nd of November, 2019 are numbered 1,409 according to the Financial Secretary (not to mention the production of shirts and excursion and also cultural day and Dean’s Games). By the time the expenses for all these things are made, the Association would most likely be neck-deep in bankruptcy and without money to hand over to the next administration to start work before the school resumes for operation next session.
On the other hand, the Financial Secretary who doubles as the Treasurer violates Article 11, Section I, Number 7 which states that the Treasurer shall “not release any money in his care except on the presentation of a written request approved by the FLC, signed by the President and in accordance with the provision of the constitution”. He released N35, 100 to the Vice-president of the association as money for “unforeseen circumstances” during the AFAS Freshers Orientation Week
without approval by the FLC
did not appear on the Bank Statement obtained from UBA Bank and submitted to the FLC
The total sum of N3,657,357.84 cannot possibly be all the money that the Association has. At different times, the financial secretary had given out cash to the Director of Sports inter-faculty competition and the Vice-president and the Director of Social and Welfare Services for AFAS Freshers Orientation Week. Thus, the Association could have more than the Bank Statement is showing. Therefore, the Financial Secretary should come out clean with the amount of money he had hitherto given out by cash, whether by approval by the FLC or without.
Aside the Financial Secretary who has more work to do in safeguarding the Association’s purse, other members of the executive council such as the Vice-president and the Director of Sports also claimed to have too at one time or another. For example, the Vice-president, Mariam Shittu, claimed she returned N13, 300 to the association out of the N313, 550 approved for the AFAS Freshers Orientation Week. According to her, she only spent N300, 250. Yet, she also claimed she had spent an extra N35, 100 “due to unforeseen situations encountered during the execution of this event” i.e. the AFAS Freshers’ Orientation Week. This is not only a clear case of spending more than what was approved for a particular event and the Financial Secretary acting as the Treasurer violating Article 11, Section I, Number 7 of the AFAS Constitution, but a deliberate act of causing confusion for all the parties that are concerned. Part of the report she submitted to the FLC on November 22nd, 2019 reads,
“The House approved the sum of 313,500. The sum of 300,250 was spent with 13,300 remaining as change. The sum of 13,300 was returned to the association. It should be noted that 35,100 extra was spent due to unforeseen situations encountered during the execution of this event.”
When the extra money she spent is added to the N300, 250 she spent, the total amount spent is N335, 350. And why she would return N13, 300 only to withdraw another N35, 100 is not quite clear. Of course, both the balance she claimed she returned and the extra N35, 100 she spent on the event were not on the Bank Statement that was submitted to the FLC. Whether she is saying the truth or not could not be ascertained at the moment as all the transactions were done without records that could be linked to the Bank Statement.
The Director of Sports also said that he returned N1, 900 out of the N147, 323 approved for the inter-faculty competition, meaning he spent N145, 420 in total. Despite this humongous amount of money approved for the competition, the football team crashed out from the group stage while the athletics placed fourth overall. Again, the collection of the approved N147, 323 and the eventual return of N1, 900 did not reflect on the Bank Statement. This means that the money was collected in cash and the balance also returned in cash.
As it is now, the Financial Secretary is performing below par in his duty as the acting Treasurer of the Association. For inconvenience sake or whatever reason, he had kept some funds of the association with him. Apart from being overly incompetent by releasing money that was not approved by the FLC, he is also not acting wisely by not accounting properly for the total amount he had given out as cash to individuals within the association.
