"LRC Quick to Jump into Conclusion Without Doing Due Diligence", says NAPS President, Sukky

 

Our Reporter

The current president of the National Association of Philosophy Students, Olasunkanmi Ayeni, made the assertion on Monday, October 2nd, at an interview with the NAPS press prompted by the Level Representatives Council release about the non-remittance of funds by the immediate past administration.

According to Mr Sunkanmi, "The only thing I can consider about that letter is that the LRC is quick to jump to conclusions without doing their due diligence. We had a meeting with them and they asked that we reach out to the past administration on getting the rollover funds from them which I personally did. I was told by the past president that the reason why she has not handed over the funds is that she's looking to bring the amount up a little from sponsors that she had reached out to and had promised to send in some amount of money just so we can have something to work with and she told me the exact amount we currently have in the account.

“However, I had told the past president that she should give us a deadline and that we should be expecting this said amount to come in just so we don't wait endlessly and she did. The agreement was that if the said amount didn't come in by then, she would send what we have in the account.

He narrated, “A few weeks later, the LRC scheduled another meeting online where they had invited the past treasurer, they asked her about the funds and she said she would prefer that her other past executive members also be in the meeting as the past president and other executives were not in the meeting which the house all agreed to and we slated another date for the meeting. However, the meeting did not hold and neither did anyone reach out to me. The past president also made known that she had reached out to the LRC Chairman regarding this meeting, he gave no feedback till the moment of writing this.

"So, I have no idea why the LRC would trend such a letter making it seem like the past president intentionally did not release the money or has made herself inaccessible or unavailable for any meeting to get it sorted. I reached out to the LRC Chairman and I'm awaiting his response just maybe there might be other things that might have happened to warrant this letter that I'm not aware of." He said further.

The immediate past president of the association, Imeobong Peggy Umoh disclosed during an investigative interview with the press that there was only #28,430 left with their administration and that she was working on getting more from sponsors to get a substantial amount of up to #40,000 before handing it over to the present administration. She asserted that she carried the present president along and that she reached out to the LRC chairman concerning the fiscal issue but he gave no response.

Ola Samuel, a representative of LRC, while speaking to the press said, “It came to our notice during the last budget presentation when the Vice President (Miss Hannah) made it known that the previous administration had not remitted the rollover funds to them. The LRC Principal Officers scheduled a meeting with the Executive Members and the last Executive President, Vice President and Treasurer, but only the treasurer attended and she said she won’t be able to defend anything in the absence of her other cabinet members to ensure transparency and accountability.

"Come to think of it, there’s a new administration already and this is their 6th week, how does the Peggie-led administration expect this current administration to perform excellently when they’re hoarding funds that should be disbursed for the betterment of the department? I see no excuse tenable for the delay or refusal to remit residual funds, this is something that’s supposed to come with the handover but the current Vice President made it known that the only thing they handed over to her are books.

He said further, “So, the LRC decided to suspend every budget presentation or approval until the previous administration gave an account of how they utilized the funds, the exact amount remaining and the quick remittance of the balance to this current administration. It is only necessary we suspend budget presentation so that this current administration can consider the importance of the issue as it shows that they are nonchalant about it."

Our reporter reached out to the LRC Chairman and responded, "I'm very sorry I can't grant any interviews yet please".

It should be noted that in the early hours of Monday, October 2nd, a release was made by the Level Representative Council of the National Association of Philosophy Students. This release made by the council's clerk stated that "the rollover funds for the fiscal year, 2021/2022 by the immediate past administration has not been remitted and the exact amount unknown."

Before the current release, on the 25th of August, the council had earlier made a release stating that; "in spite of the noteworthy activities of the Executive Council, the reports of this audit raised concerns for negligence of duty amongst other breaches of NAPS Constitution by officers of the Executive Council. The audit revealed instances where financial transactions were executed without proper authorization or documentation, suggesting a potential breach of financial protocols".

However, the 'Peggie-led' administration released a statement in response to the insinuations made by the LRC. Writing on behalf of the immediate past executive council, the then president, Miss Imeobong in a release made on the 27th of August stated that; "while official budgets were not presented to the LRC, the Vice President reached out to the Chairman explaining the situation of things to him, and he gave verbal permission for funds to be disbursed, as long as it came from the sales of tickets. It was only after the event that we could lay hold on all that we needed to and also account for them. And again, we apologise that the official budget was not sent in for approval before the event was held. It was not our intention to act out of the law, we just had so much pressure and a lot on our hands. We are grateful to the LRC for the opportunity to present these budgets even after these events were held. Also, on the issue of the packages, I would like to clarify that the budget was approved before execution, though it came in late."