2020 NBA-AGM: Usoro NBA Led Administration Inherited N908M Liability, Left Behind N676M In BPF & Admin Accts. And N397M Liability To Be Inherited By Akpata

THE immediate President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN has disclosed the financial status of the Association as at when he came on board and what the Olumide Akpata administration is inheriting from him.

This was disclosed at the concluded NBA Virtual Annual General Meeting on 28th day of August, 2020.

Meanwhile, he emphatically stated that he is ready to defend the expenditures.

“Let me make this very clear, I am ready, available and able to defend and justify all the expenditures that we made in our time.

“And if evidence is required of our prudent management of NBA funds, the evidence lies in the fact that I (we) leave behind an aggregate of…more than #600 million as I speak right now. Not less than 600 million and has never happened in the history of NBA and when I’m aggregating, I am only referring to two accounts. The NBA Bar Practicing Account and the Admin. Accounts”. He said.

Furthermore, he explained why he limited himself to the two accounts in the following words:

“Let me mention why I’ve limited myself to those two accounts. The NBA has a number of dedicated accounts. For example, the COVID-19, that is a dedicated account, it is only meant for the proceeds of COVID-19 funds and distributing the contributions from that account.

“We also have a dedicated account which is from Mc. Authur’s fund. That also is a dedicated account. We have a dedicated account which is for stamps, any money that goes in there is only for the purposes of stamps.

“But these other two, the Bar Practicing Fee & the Admin Accounts, those are operational accounts. It is the funds in those account that I use for the purposes of running the operations of the Nigerian Bar Association generally and that is why I have used only those two as the benchmark. In other words, I have not included the monies in those other accounts because they are not available for us to spend and it is that aggregate of those two accounts that I have just given to you.” He said.

However, he noted that his administration inherited close to a billion naira liability.

“We inherited an aggregate liability of #908.423.094.00 million. I can give you the break down of that. In regard to general expenses, the AGC of the previous year and other things, that was about 448 and then, there was the money that was taken from Mc. Authur fund, the money is 64 million and Mc Authur insisted that we have to refund. That was a reputational issue for us and they said we must necessarily refund that money. And then, we discovered this year that there was also as at that time, a notice from the Lagos State Government, asking that we pay 397, almost 400 million in regard to the land charges for the property that we have in Lagos. Alao Aka Bashorun property in Lagos. That’s the land charges. So, if you aggregate these ones, those three heads liabilities, that is what you arrive at 908 million. Effectively almost a billion Naira liability.

“And as we leave, we leave behind…if you are looking at even the account as at the end of June and as at the end of August, there would actually be an improvement. You will find that the liabilities that we have as of now, is about 400 million naira plus.

“Now, if you take the land charges out, then you see that what you have effectively is really not up to a 100 million liability. That is a great way to come from where you were, 900 million liability and now, you are at that point that you only have 400 million plus.” He said.

In addition, he noted that they are making efforts with the Lagos State Government with a view to seeing how they can waive or substantially reduce the liability.

“And by the way, talking about the land charges, we have written to the Lagos State Government. We have requested them to actually waive that liability for us. They have been considering it. And we are hopeful that they are going to give us a waiver, a substantial waiver which means what you would have next net , it would be quite a substantial number for the incoming administration. That has never happened.” He said.

Meanwhile, the former NBA President noted that they are hopeful that the Lagos State Government will accede to their request in respect of the Land charges.