Background
Recall that after a long delay of about a year which was said to have been occasioned by the pandemic, transference of power from Aquah- led administration to Ejemeka- led Council was eventually done on 12th February, 2021. This makes the Ejemeka-led Council under the presumption of being in charge of all incidents of the Hall. Reverse is the case as after almost three months, the bank account of the Hall remains in control of the outgone administration. It is noteworthy that the Constitution of the Hall in Section 59(3) provides that all revenue to the Hall shall be kept to the Basic Account of the Hall. It is apparent that only the bank account can house all funds of the Hall, this shows the apparent indispensability of the Hall’s bank account in administering the Kingdom.
Officially, the Assistant Hall Warden, Hall Chairman and Minister for Finance are the signatories to the account, the Minister for Finance is particularly in charge of the Hall’s treasury and shall be accountable regarding it as statutorily provided. First semester of the 2020/2021 academic session remains few weeks. The administration is simply for two semesters which is a session, if change of signatories is not done now, when better could it be done? Having discovered the issue of unchanged signatories, ZikPress through her correspondents reached out to relevant Hall officers, past and present, to get to the root of the matter.
“The immediate past Finance Minister is the only delay”
The incumbent Minister for Finance, Sulaimon Popoola has attributed the delay in changing signatories of the Hall wholly to the immediate past Finance Minister, Bello Toheeb. When asked if he is truly not in charge of the Hall’s account as expected, he affirmed that he is not and in fact claimed he has no idea of how much the Hall has in her coffer at present. He said, “I have tried to reach out to the past Finance Minister in order to get the change of signatories done, but he has not been able to show up. I have tried my best to get him to show up in order for it to be done. I am sure we will get over it very soon, the immediate past Finance Minister is the only delay. I don’t know if there’s any money in the account yet because I’m not in charge of it yet.”
“Finance Minister has not even himself texted me”
Mr. Bello Toheeb, the erstwhile Finance Minister expressed how things stand from his end. He claimed he travelled down from Lagos to the school earlier this semester to effect the change of signatories. He said he had obtained the required form from the bank, however, the incumbent Hall Chairman was away at the time, neither was the Finance Minister within reach to complete the process. He stated that he was around for about five days mainly because of change of signatories. He claimed further to have spoken with the Hall Chairman to invite the Finance Minister, Mr. Sulaiman Popoola, to effect the change of signatories but both officers were not available at the time. “Neither the Finance Minister nor the Hall Chairman called me or even texted me on the issue anymore. How do you expect me, a past executive, to be the one hell bent on them to effect the change of signatories? Whereas the Finance Minister has not even himself texted me”, he stated.
“If the outgone Finance Minister really wants to come around to do it, he would have showed up…”
The incumbent Hall Chairman, Joshua Ejemeka absolved the past administration of the undue protraction but pinpointed the outgone Finance Minister’s absence as responsible for the delay in the process. “Currently, the outgone Finance Minister is not in Nigeria and his absence cannot allow the process to go on. We need him to be on ground…” He stressed that the importance of the individual presence of himself, his predecessor, the Finance Minister and erstwhile Finance Minister in effectuating the necessary changes.
He revealed that he contacted the past Finance Minister on several occasions but that his effort has been met with the outgone Financial Minister blaming his unavailability on the school authority’s prohibition of the physical presence of students on campus and that he doesn’t have a place to stay in Ibadan that would enable him to facilitate the whole process. The Zik Hall Chairman asserted that he finds this excuses rather untenable that, “if he (the outgone Finance Minister) really wants to come around to do it, he would have showed up…” but he admits that the change is not a day affair.
Mr Ejemaka pointed out that Mr Bello Toheeb, the outgone Finance Minister was briefly around but did not stay long enough for the process to even begin at the least. Mr Sebastian was nonetheless optimistic that Mr Toheeb Bello would be around very soon, the transition of the Hall’s bank account would be done and that all of the abnormalities are due to the pandemic which has influenced the school’s resumption policy which no one envisaged.
“The new administration has not reached out to us concerning the change of signatories”
Being unavailable, the immediate Hall Chairman, Christian-viva Aquah directed our correspondent to the quondam Hall Secretary, Kehinde Orolade. Speaking on behalf of Christian-Viva, the erstwhile Hall Secretary for the record stated that the signatories to the account are the Hall Chairman and the Finance Minister and it is expected that arrangement for the change of signatories has to be done by both parties, that is, the Hall Chairman and Finance Minister, both present and immediate past. When asked when the change will be done, he stated that the change of signatories will be done when both parties are ready.
“Now that the Hall Chairman is indisposed, I will take full responsibility of facilitating the process of change of signatories as soon as possible. You should know that the COVID-19 has restricted us from physical contact or gathering, and also the school management rule on meeting physically is also a hindrance. So, it is quite difficult for us to see physically and facilitate the process. Besides, the new administration has not reached out to us concerning the change of signatories but I will take it upon myself to reach out for quick facilitation. As soon as we get both parties on board, then the process begins. We will reach out to them on Tuesday”, he affirmed.
“The delay has a huge impact on the generality of Zikites”
The Honourable Speaker of the Legislative Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Otumala gave a chronicle of the efforts the House has taken so far regarding the delay in change of signatories.
“First, at the sitting held on the 20th of March 2021, the house requested through the office of the Hall Chairman that the change of signatories be effected on or before the 27th of March (a week) and the Executive Council assured us of same. However, this was not done.”
“On the 8th of April, the House wrote to the Executive Council once again through the office of the Clerk, extending the deadline for the change of signatories to the 12th of April. The Executive Council neither responded to the letter nor effected the change of signatories.”
“On the 20th of April, I met the Hall Chairman and when I asked, he told me that the reason for the delay in the change of signatory is due to the unavailability of the former Minister for Finance (Bello), whose physical presence is much needed to effect the change of signatory. That they are trying their best to reach out to him to no avail.”
When asked of the next steps the House will be taking, the Speaker affirmed that, “there will definitely be sanctions as stated in our letter dated 8th of April. The House may not authorise the reimbursement of any preliminary expenses incurred by any member of the Executive Council later than the 12th of April 2021 which was the deadline stipulated by the House.”
“The Hall Secretary, Mr Samson Oloyede reached out to me seeking the consent of the Legislative Council to use his own personal account to solicit for funds for the Zik hall tutorials for freshmen, however, upon deliberations by the house, it was rejected on the grounds that due process should be followed. Hence, the effect of this delay is though primarily borne by the executives who will not be able to access the Hall’s account and may not be able to use same to solicit for funds, hence, I learnt that most of their activities are being sponsored from their personal, individual accounts. The House also realise that it has a huge impact on the generality of Zikites, case in sight is that of the freshmen that may be affected by the delay”, he further stated.
Contributors: Emmanuel Akinkuoile, Francis Orok, Jesutofunmi Idowu and Olumide Toyinbo
