The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has published the 2019 Q4 Management Account in line with the Paul Usoro’s led administration’s transparency and accountability objective.
The Q4 Management Account is herewith attached
Notes to the Account from the President:
- In keeping with our commitment to promote and entrench transparency and accountability in the management of the NBA’s finances, we are delighted to publish hereby and with this Statement the NBA 2019 Quarter 4 Management Account (“MA”, “Management Report” or “MR”) covering the period October to December 2019. The Q4 MA was tabled before the NBA National Executive Committee (“NEC”) at its meeting that was held on 12 March 2020 and was adopted and duly approved by NEC.
- Similar to what we did in respect of the previous Management Reports, perhaps I need to highlight a few areas in the 2019 Q4 MR for the benefit of our Members, viz:
- The FS shows Cash and Cash equivalent position of N654,125,272.00 as at 31 December 2019 (see page 4 of the MR), the breakdown of which is provided in Note 4 to the MR at page 8 thereof. [“Cash equivalent” refers to instruments and holdings such as stocks and similar investment instruments that could easily be converted into cash. NBA as at 31 December 2019 however had no such cash equivalent as Note 4 to the FS bears out; what we had were only cash balances in Bank accounts.] Note 4 shows that a large chunk of the Cash – N250,000,000.00 drawn from the Bar Practicing Fee Account – was in fixed deposit investment. The NBA NEC had earlier approved the investment, the interest amount of which is paid by the Bank, on a monthly basis, into the NBA Admin Account which, as at 31 December 2019 (Q4 ending), had a credit balance of N77,405,983.00 while the Bar Practicing Fee Account had a credit balance of N42,654,782.00. Noteworthy is the fact that the AGC account as at the said Q3 ending had N159,378,834.00. The remainder of the large sums in the NBA Accounts were in dedicated accounts – N13,509,488.00 in the Stamp and Seal Account, N24,383,511.00 in the NEC Account and N64,995,395.00 in MacArthur Foundation Account – and not accessible to NBA for administrative and/or operational activities. The interest income from the afore-stated fixed deposit investment as at 30 September 2019 was N9,520,548.00 – see Note 6 at page 17 of the MR and also Item (i) in the Appendix at page 21 of the MR.
- On the liabilities side, the Total Current Liabilities, as at 31 December 2019, according to the MR (see page 4 thereof), was N178,734,570.00 as against N282,404,018.00 as at 30 September 2019 and N446,542,516.00 as at 31 August 2018 when the present NBA administration came into office (see Appendix Item v at page 24 of the MR). The details of the Current Liabilities are set out in Note 5 of the MR at pages 9-16 thereof. Suffice to state that most of the liabilities were incurred prior to the inauguration of the current NBA administration. The good news is, as the figures confirm, we have paid down the inherited liabilities very considerably from where it stood at the beginning of this administration. In contemplating this liabilities amount, we must draw Members attention to the Caveat that is entered at page 1 of the MR whereat PwC expressly forewarns the NBA of the possibility of a restatement or adjustment of this figure based on fresh information and data which may be unearthed sequel to the preparation of this Management Report. In my discussions with PwC, any such Restatement or Adjustment would be reflected in the Q1 2020 Management Report which would cover the period January to March 2020.
- The Statement of Comprehensive Income (at page 5 of the MR) which is a component of the MR shows that the NBA had a total income of N68,118,702.00 as at Q4 ending. Notes 6 and 7 to the MR at pages 17 and 18 thereof provide the breakdown of this income and show that the Bar Practice Fees (N28,759,750.00) and Donations for the 2019 AGC (N19,625,000.00) represent respectively 48% and 32% of the unrestricted income the aggregate of which is N59,601,390.00 – see also the Appendix Item (i) at page 21 of the MR.
- The Statement of Comprehensive Income (see page 5 of the MR) also shows that the NBA’s Total Expenditure for Q4 2019 was N155,360,103.00. The details of the expenditure are set out in Notes 8 and 9 of the MR at pages 18 to 20 thereof and also in the Appendix to the MA, particularly in its Items (i) and (ii) at pages 21-24 of the MR, all of which provide further clarity on the expenditure for the Quarter. Again, I must highlight the earlier caveat by PwC to the effect that fresh information and data may result in the restatement and/or adjustment of the expenditure figures in our Q4 2019 MR.
- With the preparation and publication of this Q4 2019 Management Account, we have taken one more step towards institutionalizing the basic principles of governance, transparency and accountability in the NBA body politic thereby promoting efficiency and transparent conduct in our affairs and also earning the respect and admiration, not only of our Members but of our global audience. As we mentioned in our Release on the 31 August 2018 MA, “it is our hope that the consistent 2-year practice of what we have just begun – and by God’s Grace, will maintain – would inculcate these practices into the NBA DNA and make them irreversible by succeeding NBA administrations”.
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