A Review of Paul Ojo's Financial Manifesto

By Ojemakinde Bolatito Maria

The Financial Secretary of the Agronomy Club, University of Ibadan, Paul Ojo, pledged to improve financial record-keeping, accountability, responsible spending and long-term financial planning through his VAULT Agenda.

With his tenure nearing its end, an interview with Paul examined the implementation of these commitments and the areas that remain outstanding.

Records and Reconciliation

Under the Verification component of his agenda, Paul pledged to keep detailed financial records, document transactions and regularly reconcile records with the Treasurer.

Paul said the records had been maintained through the Association's Gmail account, where income and expenditure are tracked.

"I can say to a considerable extent it has been achieved, income and expenditures are being sent to the Association gmail immediately the transactions occurs which helps to monitor them closely," he said, adding that there are "receipt and documentation for everyone that has paid and collected receipts for each level."

However, the regular reconciliation promised in the manifesto was not consistently achieved.

"Records kept, but reconciliation with the Treasurer happened irregularly rather than regularly as promised due to the lecture time difference," Paul said.

He explained that the Treasurer also has access to the Association's Gmail account and can independently monitor transactions.

Accountability and Financial Reporting

Paul's manifesto also pledged clear financial reporting and openness in budgeting and spending.

He said budgets were discussed during Executive meetings before funds were released and monitored afterwards.

"Firstly, budgets are being discussed openly in our executive meetings after being submitted and after the house have approved to it the money is then disbursed and closely monitored," Paul explained.

He added that programme expenditures were reviewed afterwards, while budgets were shared on the Executive platform.

On formal financial reports, however, Paul said the Executive had requested only one during his tenure.

"And so far only the executives has asked for it once and I've submitted it," he said.

The constitutional requirement for the statement of account also presented a gap. The Constitution requires the statement of account to be submitted and published three weeks before the commencement of each semester's examinations.

Paul acknowledged that the previous semester's statement was not provided within that period.

"The statement of account for last semester was not collected 3 weeks before the exams because we were having issues with change of signatory to the account," he said.

He added that the current semester's statement had not yet been printed because some expenditures were still to be reflected.

Spending and Financial Planning

Under the VAULT Agenda, Paul pledged to ensure that funds were used only for approved and necessary activities, discourage wasteful spending and encourage saving and prudent financial planning.

He said budgets were reviewed before funds were released, with unnecessary activities and expenses removed.

"We usually review budgets in our meetings where we scrap unnecessary activities and things out. Thereby only funds allocated for the approved budgets are being disbursed and they are being monitored closely," Paul explained.

He also cited cost-cutting measures, including negotiating lower vendor prices and choosing less expensive alternatives.

On long-term planning, Paul said, "We are working on creating a reserve fund in the account so that the next set of executives wouldn't meet an empty account."

The reserve fund was therefore still being developed at the time of the interview.

Outstanding Commitments

With only a few weeks left in his tenure, Paul identified the submission of financial records as an outstanding commitment.

"Submission of financial records," he said when asked what remained outstanding.

Explaining the delay, he said, "we still have an expenditures which we want to reflect so the bank statement has not been printed."

The AGY Picnic's financial review also remained incomplete at the time of the interview. Asked whether he had a complete account of the picnic expenses with supporting records, Paul said, "This is the record I have currently with me, we've not done a review of the picnic yet. I would have sent a properly documented one to you."

Beyond these issues, Paul said there were no other unreconciled, undocumented or outstanding financial transactions.

Paul's responses show that transaction tracking, budget reviews and expenditure monitoring were practices he says were maintained during his tenure, while regular reconciliation, timely publication of the statement of account and completion of some financial documentation remained areas requiring attention as the tenure draws to a close.