Polycarp Sola -Abakaliki
Parents of the Federal Science Technical College (FSTC) Amuzu in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, under the umbrella of Concerned Parents, have raised alarm over financial impropriety perpetrated by the executive members of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA).
This was disclosed during a press briefing in Abakaliki during which the PTA Chairman, Monday Eze, the Financial Secretary, Mrs. Nwali Nkechi, and the PRO, Mr. Ogbonnaya James, were accused of recklessly squandering over fifteen million naira (15,000,000.00) belonging to the PTA.
Addressing the press on behalf of the concerned parents, Mr.Okoro Chukwu Olughu, Treasurer, FSTC, Amuzu, PTA, said they considered it reasonable to brief the press so that ignorant parents and other PTA members will feel the pains Mr. Monday Eze-led PTA is inflicting on the commonwealth of the PTA and how the school principal is folding his hands and watching silently.
He said, “We, on behalf of ourselves, all FSTC PTA members, and concerned parents, wish to use this medium to bring to the knowledge of the public the flagrant mismanagement of the PTA funds by the PTA Chairman, Mr. Eze Monday.
“Within his first six (6) months in office, he has lavishly squandered over N15 million, Fifteen million Naira, in his wanton recklessness without any substantial physical structure to show for it.
This document is intended to fully expose the details of all his financial and non-financial impropriety and his untamed, unethical administrative style. We want to let Ebonyians, Nigerians, and the whole world know that Mr. Monday Eze came to plunder the meager resources of FSTC Amuzu, empty the PTA account, and enrich himself and his family.
It is important to mention, at this juncture, the key players whose supportive roles enabled the chairman to go this far. They are:
“The Financial Secretary, Mrs. Nwali Nkechi, who firmly joined forces with the Chairman to sign withdrawals with reckless abandon, in keeping with her vow and determination to empty the PTA treasury as a revenge for the Principal’s refusal to give admission to her child who could not meet entrance requirements, You can refer to the attachment.
“The PRO, Mr. Ogbonnaya James, who was always ready to execute the Chairman’s orders without minding whether or not they were repugnant to equity and natural justice, He has always volunteered his personal account for some of those dubious transactions, and he knows exactly what financial rewards he gets. He has blown away over N15 million since his assumption of office on June 24, 2023.
The concerned parents took time to expose the excesses of the PTA chairman, including but not limited to the following:
“Mr. Monday Eze insists that every financial transaction and withdrawal from the PTA account must be routed through his personal account. Parents never knew this until the Treasurer, Mr. OkoroOlughu, had a fallout with him while insisting that due process must be followed.
“He goes all out alone to negotiate and contract with a supplier, a laborer, or a service provider, only to come back and feed Exco with the final costs he agreed with the contractors, and the payment must always pass through his bank account to the final beneficiary.
“Mr. Monday Eze flouts the laid-down procedures of the Procurement Act and does not care about the provisions of the Financial Regulations. And he operates as if none of those regulatory instruments exist. Even the PTA Financial Secretary, Mrs. Nwali Nkechi, who was a former LGA Vice Chairman, is supposed to guide him.
“He directed his Exco to always collect empty receipts from clients, which they could always fill out later after making transactions.
He dabbles in any project without analyzing the costs and benefits. He is motivated by the financial benefits he has padded into the contract or supply and does not care whether it is prudent to embark on such projects.
“He seems not to be aware of any PTA operational guidelines, or he deliberately does not want to follow them. This finds expression in the way he floated a compulsory development levy of N30,000 for every new student and forced it down the throats of the parents last year.
“This presumptuous wickedness generated a lot of reactions because it happened exactly at the same time he was releasing several media publications condemning the sudden increases in school fees and asking the Federal Government to reconsider her position in that regard.
“In a bid to cover up all of these and many more, he excommunicated the PTA Treasurer and removed him from both the Exco platform and the general parent WhatsApp platforms. And when he saw that this pleased his political allies and some uninformed parents, he was in the business of removing legitimate parents from the platforms. He has removed about six (6) other parents from whom he felt their comments in the WhatsApp group threatened his ego and cynical subterfuge to defraud the innocent parents.
“While we await the response of the Federal Ministry of Education in a letter that requested the urgent intervention of the Honorable Minister and the Director of Senior Secondary Education, dated January 18, 2024, we considered it reasonable to make this press release so that our ignorant parents and other PTA members will feel the pains Mr. Monday Eze is inflicting on the commonwealth of the PTA and how the school principal is folding his hands and watching silently.
“Monday Eze operates the PTA like a sole proprietor and never allows any transparency or follows due processes in pressing home his demands as required from a public office holder.
“The Chairman has taken further steps, in his desperate attempt to cover his glaring sins and iniquities, to connive with the PTA accounting officers from UBAbank, and they have disabled my alert system such that since January 31, 2024, I have not been getting alerts for all the withdrawals and other transactions going on in the PTA account.
This is a high-profile fraud and ploy for him to have unfettered access to the parents funds so as to misuse them as much as he pleases. Let the people in this land and the general public hear us out.
“Finally, we are calling on the generality of our parents, the school management, and all other stakeholders to rise up and investigate all the issues raised here with regards to the PTA Chairman’s decisive onslaughts, impropriety, and invasion of the PTA fund. We are always available to make clarifications where necessary.
Again, we sincerely request all parents who have been misinformed or completely ignorant of these issues to quickly join forces with other stakeholders to make a swift effort to restore orderliness and probity in the operations of the PTA Exco for the welfare of both our children and their teachers.Kindly review the attached documents.
Reacting to the allegations, Mr. Monday Eze, who is the PTA chairman, the financial secretary, Mrs. Nwali Nkechi Ruth, and the PRO, Mr. James Ogbonnaya, both denied and refused to give further clarification into the matter.
“Matters like this would not be talking on the phone, and that you introduced yourself as a journalist is not enough to disclose such a matter with you; therefore, we did not embezzle any money,” they affirmed.