Birds of the same Feather: A Tale of the Financial Secretary and Treasurer’s Broken Promises
Oloyede Ibrahim
The Financial Secretary and the Treasurer came into office on very rocky grounds. Their performance in the manifesto and Press Night and even during the electoral committee’s screening left a lot to be desired. However, Afasites still entrusted them to lead by electing them into power. One of the reasons for this was on the basis of their manifestos. They believed that despite their performances, they were perfect for the job. Also, going unopposed was another contribution. However, close to the end of their tenure, the Financial Secretary, Kehinde Joshua and Treasurer, Oladimeji Yusuf have both failed to deliver on their promises to Afasites, and neither do they have any feasible plans to carry out these promises.
The manifesto of the financial secretary, Comrade Olayiwola KehindeJoshua was very watery and still borders on infeasibility. First, it is worth noting that the financial secretary juxtaposed his promises with his supposed duties. In the first part, he promised to work with transparency and accountability. It is one of the main constitutional duties of the financial secretary to work with transparency and accountability. If he does not, who else will? He also promised to work hand in hand with the other Executive members to see an effective administration in terms of the financial activities of the association. It can then be seen visibly that this cannot be seen as a promise. If the Financial Secretary does not work with the rest of the Executives on financial matters, there would be an evident gap. As such, this article would not be treating constitutional duties of his office as promises.
His major premise is based on section 3 where he promised to lead a seminar to educate students and executives on financial prudence and self-sustainability. This promise is yet to be achieved as no financial seminar of any form has been conducted by the office of the Financial Secretary. The Financial Secretary, when reached out to by this writer, gave an excuse that the disruption was caused by a strike and the opt-out of fintech companies and entrepreneurs. He said: “Actually, before the strike, a plan had been put in place but the strike disrupted the plan. Also, the plan was to collaborate with a fintech company and some individual entrepreneurs, but some of these people opted out due to the changes that happens due to the strike and also to the situation of the country (the naira redesigning). Also, some of the events of the association were merged and some were cancelled (Afas and I) based on the fact that there is not much time left and also not so many funds to run them.” However, this excuse cannot be said to be justifiable and valid. There was still time to organize a seminar after the strike. It was a promise that could still have been fulfilled. In fact, even during the strike, he could have attempted to organise the sessions virtually. That would at least show signs that he is a man who attempted to keep to his promises. But it is not too late to do that.
Similarly, the treasurer, Com. Abdulazeez Yussuf Oladimeji, also included his constitutional duty as a promise in section 1 of his manifesto. He “promised” proper documentation of records according to “global accounting standards”. Ignore the global accounting standards phrase, as that was unnecessary and could not be explained by the treasurer himself on the Press and manifesto night. Furthermore, the treasures of AFAS, particularly financial records are supposed to be properly documented for accountability. In fact, even if we were to include the “global accounting standards” and consider the proper documentation of records as a promise, it is ironic that some Afasites have not been issued their dues receipts despite making payments since first semester. This is a mockery of “proper documentation of records according to global accounting standards”.
His main promises bordered on organising webinars and seminars to educate AFASITES on financial management, investment and employability and also organising a financial literacy forum. However, close to the end of his tenure, none of these promises has been fulfilled. The Treasurer even seems to now have a lack of interest in the position as he is not always readily available. When reached out for comments as to why he did not fulfil it, the Treasurer did not reply at the time of publication. This shows lack of accountability on his part.
The Financial Secretary and the Treasurer proved to be birds of the same feather as they both included their constitutional duties as part of their manifestoes and have not fulfilled any of the promises they have made so far. It is evident that they rode into office on a wave of lies and deceit and will almost certainly leave with unfulfilled promises. The Financial secretary, Kehinde Joshua, and Treasurer, Abdulazeez Yussuf Oladimeji however still have ample time left to fulfil some of these promises and should endeavour to do so while they still can lest they be viewed as leaders who failed to live up to their own words. In fact, since their promises on financial literacy are similar, they can both merge and organise a seminar as a joint work of both their office whether physical or virtual.
In conclusion, the Financial Secretary and Treasurer of the AFAS association made promises to the students and failed to deliver on them. Despite being elected based on their manifesto, they did not fulfil their pledges to educate students on financial prudence and self-sustainability, financial management, investment and employability. The Financial Secretary’s excuses for not fulfilling their promises were not justifiable, and AFASITES needs to hold leaders accountable for their promises. As leaders, it is vital to fulfilling promises made to maintain the trust of those who entrusted them with leadership positions. The Financial Secretary and Treasurer should strive to fulfil their promises before the end of their tenure to avoid being viewed as leaders who failed to live up to their words.
