The celebration of Nigeria's 63rd years of independence was marked on Monday. The celebration has ended but the negative impact of governance in Nigeria remains. This is evident in the upsurge of economic downturn, epileptic state of education in tertiary institutions, absence of judicial autonomy and many others. While the focus is on the governing bodies at the higher level, there is a need to examine the leaders occupying small political offices, particularly in tertiary institutions such as the National Association of Philosophy Students Executive Council. In the grand scheme of things, their activities may not affect the socioeconomic development of the nation, however, they are leaders bound to assume positions of authority later. Hence the need to turn the searchlight of interrogation to the affairs of these executives as they are mirroring the Nigerian government's flair for elongation.
For students who are the proverbial grass that suffered the effect of the everlasting impasse between the two warring elephants, the federal government and ASUU during the strike, the NAPS executive council is faring unsatisfactorily in ensuring the interests of those they govern, NAPSites, are not comprised. The executives constitute the student population that witnessed the elongation of the academic calendar and the disruption of their different plans during the prolonged strike but still have refused to set exemplary leadership by expediating the remittance of funds by the immediate past administration.
This is evident in the statement of a representative of the NAPS Level Representative Council, Ola Samuel, when he said, "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.
The LRC decision to pause budgetary presentations and approval translates to stalling duties that would have commenced had budgets been approved.
Although, the Sunkanmi-led executive council had kickstarted some activities that are probably not facing budget constraints such as making the toilet key available to NAPSites. Organizing tutorials and launching a content creation platform, there is a need to expedite the remittance of funds from the previous administration for the pause on budgetary activities to be lifted.
While
Nigerians hold political leaders accountable for the deplorable state of the
economy, there is a need for all stakeholders, specifically, NAPS Executives to
satisfactorily manage and be exemplary in the leadership roles they assume.
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