•Photo: Afam Osigwe, SAN
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – As the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) begins its 2023 Annual General Conference today (Tuesday, 29 August), it has been discovered that poor planning and financial missteps by the Annual General Conference Planning Committee (AGCCPC) will set the NBA finances back by at least N700million being costs associated with procurement and handling of the bags for the conference. It is an amount far in excess of the sum budgeted and approved by the NBA National Executive Council for conference bags. This unprecedented expense threatens to undermine the bedrock of the NBA’s financial security.
The AGCCPC, is a committee led by Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN and is tasked with shepherding the Annual General Conference (AGC) which commences today.
Reliable sources within the AGCCPC have voiced deep misgivings to Sundiata Post over the apparent lack of fiscal prudence and forward-thinking in the committee’s financial actions. Their latest move involves the procurement cost of conference bags, a customary feature of the AGC, which has inadvertently stirred up a whirlwind of controversy. The committee is reported to have entered into an agreement to procure over 18,000 conference bags at a staggering cost of about N334,800,000 ($372,000). What is perhaps more staggering, is the apparent omission of shipping expenses from the initial calculations.
As reality hit home on the consequences of this negligent omission, the AGCCPC pivoted to an air freight solution that cost the NBA a whooping N390 million – an expense that would have been better managed with proper planning via sea shipment. This confluence of financial missteps has swollen the bag-related expense to over N700 million! This significantly surpasses the amount garnered from participant registration fees and insignificant amount raised from commercial partnerships.
The implications of this fiscal debacle, sources to Sundiata Post, have ignited a firestorm of criticism, not only directed at the AGCCPC’s apparent mishandling of funds but also at the potential aftershocks for the NBA’s financial landscape. Against the backdrop of a nation grappling with economic turmoil and legal professionals bearing the brunt, the decision to allocate an exorbitant sum to conference bags has been met with a chorus of disapproval. Critics have been swift to denounce what they perceive as a lack of circumspection and an unfortunate detachment from the prevailing economic reality. Many have deemed the lavish expenditure on bags not only extravagant but also tone-deaf. The allocation of such a substantial sum to conference bags, an item perceived by many as superfluous in these trying times, has sparked intense discussions amongst many observers.
As the narrative unfolds, the onus is on the Nigerian Bar Association and the AGCCPC to restore confidence, preserve its financial integrity, and uphold the noble ideals that underpin the legal fraternity.
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