Social Director Addresses Budget Discrepancies, Loan Misunderstanding, and Event Challenges

 

By Omolola Gracie

 FATSSSA PRESS: Good afternoon, Mr. Ashcroft. I'm a correspondent from FATSSSA Press and we're here today for the interview regarding the controversy with the FATSSSA Picnic. So, regarding the picnic controversies,  how much was budgeted and eventually spent?

MR ASHCROFT: A budget of #398,000 was approved.

FATSSSA PRESS: (points to the hard copy of the budget) This, right?

MR ASHCROFT: Yes

FATSSSA PRESS: So, 398,000 was approved by the house. Some items include small chops, four puff puffs per person, one samosa, one spring roll, and you planned for how many people?

MR ASHCROFT: 400 people.

 FATSSSA PRESS: For the small chops, everything was priced at 100,000. The peppered ponmo was budgeted at #60,000, punch for also #60,000, DJ for #70,000, and several others, all amounting to #398,000. So how much was eventually spent?

MR ASHCROFT: #362,000 was eventually spent.

 FATSSSA PRESS: So #398,000 was, indeed, budgeted for 400 people but #362,000 was spent eventually. So, how many people was the #362,000 eventually paid for?

MR ASHCROFT: It was planned for 250 people.

FATSSSA PRESS: Kindly explain why it was so, instead of the initial 400 people.

MR ASHCROFT: The reason for this was that days before the picnic, we recorded at least 100 tickets sold already, so I spoke with my committee members, and we agreed that we couldn’t go with 400 people since we saw that it was not looking feasible anymore. We decided to cut down to work with 250 people because most of the FATSSSAITES that I gave tickets to sell were giving me feedback that most people buy tickets a day before or on that day because we had departmental picnics from the week early, to even a day before. So we were optimistic that at least we could get it since we had 100 people buying tickets already that day; we should be able to get at most 150 people on the day of the picnic or the day before. So we planned for 250 people max.

 FATSSSA PRESS: But when 398 K was budgeted for 400 people, why wasn't the budget cut to 250?

 MR ASHCROFT: The reason is that some items in that budget have static prices and are not number-bound. For example, the price for the DJ, things like the lights and some other stuff, and also let's look at even the ones that are number bound. For example, if you look at the small chops, catering for 400 people usually amounts to a higher discount from the vendor. So when the quantity reduces, the price increases and the like. So it affects the amount spent because even if we're cutting down on the number of people working for things like items that were not number bound, like graphics, photography, and likes, and even the small chops with its reduced discount. So, it was never favoring us at that point anymore. That's the reason why.

FATSSSA PRESS: OK, how many tickets were sold, and how many committee members do you have on the social committee?

MR ASHCROFT: I have eight committee members, and we also have volunteers.

FATSSSA PRESS: Did your committee members sell tickets?

 MR ASHCROFT: No, my committee members did not sell tickets because I didn't want to put the burden on them of organizing and marketing tickets, so I had other people that I gave out tickets to sell.

FATSSSA PRESS: Okay, the news did get to us that none of the committee members sold tickets anonymously, and many eyebrows were raised because they were like, why would the committee team, which is in charge of the event, not sell tickets? So, who were those that sold the tickets?

MR ASHCROFT: They were different FATSSSAITES  across all levels and departments and even some social directors.

 FATSSSA PRESS: how many were they?

 MR ASHCROFT:  I put everything in a note, but I can remember close to almost 40 or more were given tickets to sell. I remember the last time the president asked how many people were given tickets, and I responded with 40. So, at least 40 people were given tickets to sell.

FATSSSA PRESS: You sold  162 tickets, but there were rumors that the tickets were only sold by you, and you've answered that, but shouldn't that be the duties of the committee members, and were they carried along in the entire process of the selling of the tickets and budgeting and every other thing?

MR ASHCROFT: Yeah, I addressed my committee members before when we were amid the organizing, and I told them that I had a lot on my table and that I would only work with those that were available because we had the social director of the four departments for departments and faculty and even some members of their committees as volunteers. I worked with those that were available.

FATSSSA PRESS: Alright, so you saw the anonymous that was recent. Can you share your personal views and feelings concerning the allegations thrown by FATSSSAITES?

 MR ASHCROFT: I honestly cannot blame anybody for whatever they want to say because I feel that that's the essence of anonymity. Most people don't know or have in-depth knowledge of what went through or what is going on throughout the whole saga, and they will also say what they want to say. I cannot blame anybody for that.

 FATSSSA PRESS: Many FATSSSAITES genuinely believe that some amount allocated to some items on the budget was ridiculous and could have been done for lower prices. For example, 80K  for small chops, 40K for peppered ponmo, and 70K for DJ. Is it true that DJ is indeed from Ilorin?

 MR ASHCROFT: Thank you very much. I like to address these issues. First, I mentioned that day in the House when I presented the budget. I guess where this misconception came from was because I said that I have worked with a good number of DJs in and around UI, and I know their strengths and weaknesses.  I mentioned to the house that because of this, I'm recommending this guy because he's somebody I've worked with, and he's someone that I know that for this event, he can fit in well and give me what I want. Now, the DJ is a student of UNILORIN but an Ibadan-based person, so his studentship in Ilorin does not affect his price. I was letting the House know that this person was not a UITE.

FATSSSA PRESS: Did the person commute with all his engines and everything from Ilorin?

 MR ASHCROFT: No, everything was from Ibadan. He’s currently in Ibadan

FATSSSA PRESS: What about the 35,000 for photography? Like how did that come to?

MR ASHCROFT: The 35K photography is for both the FATSSSA’s Got Talent and the Picnic because we got an offer from a FATSSSAITE who is a photographer. He covered our Freshers’ Welcome for free, so we could get a package to cover the FATSSSA Got Talent and the Picnic for 35,000.  Before this agreement was made or this package was gotten, we were working with a former president of the Association to plan one of his events, one media literacy event, and he told us to recommend photographers to him. Now we have an average price. I remember the president and I reached out to four or five photographers, and the average price we got was at least 60 K for one event. There was a photographer, Prime Photos from AFAS. He charged us #80,000. Now, these people charge according to how equipped they are and their portfolio, so you cannot get a static price. Now, we got an average price of #60,000, and we got #35,000 for three events. FATSSSAITES will not know these things if they don't ask, and if they don't come for sittings, they don't know these things, and I explained it to them in the house when they asked.

Now, concerning the small chops, #80,000. If you go to Mellanby, a woman sells small chops. Of course, if you want to look at standards, that's not the content. Now, this woman sells her small chops for  #700, no #1000 for one. Just one plate of the same content- four puff puffs, one samosa, one spring roll, and one ‘kwashiorkor’ chicken for #1000. Now, if you want to go outside, you will see that same package for #700. If you want to break it down for 162 people, this is #80,000 divided by 162 people. That's #493. Let's say #500 for one plate of small chops, so I don't see how that's ridiculous or expensive for four samosas and one spring roll.

FATSSSA PRESS: What about 40K for peppered ponmo?

MR ASHCROFT: I can't remember how much the vendor told me she gets meat, but when I was the social director of my department, we had something like peppered ponmo, and we went to Bodija to get ponmo. I think we had a budget of 250 people, and we bought the large piece of ponmo for not more than 30k, just cowskin, and it was from Bodija market. When I spoke to the vendor, she said she would have to get it from a primary meat market in Eleyele. I thought it would be cheaper, but she said that wasn’t how it works. She wanted to work with quality because it was her brand, and she wanted to give the best. I budgeted a #40,000 maximum for the ponmo in the document. We had to settle for less on the size because of how expensive things are now; it affected the price, too.

FATSSSA PRESS: The issue now is when a huge sum of 80K was spent on just small chops, why did you still go ahead to get peppered ponmo? Especially since this is an event that you planned for 400 people and since you saw that many FATSSSAITES weren’t forthcoming, why didn't you just cut down on some things even with the lady of peppered ponmo? You worked with vendors all through. Why didn't you go and go ahead to Bodija to get it? Why didn't you just cut down on some costs that could have been avoided or reduced?

MR ASHCROFT: OK, thank you. Now, looking at that, one of the reasons we didn't scrape peppered ponmo was because we tagged it as small chops, and if we look at the proper contents of such, there should be an appropriate form of protein. Meat, fish, and chicken are expensive. We substituted these with peppered ponmo as the protein. When publicizing events to FATSSSAITES and UITES generally, they ask, “What are you giving us?” and we had told them that there would be pepper ponmo. We felt that it would be somehow to scrap off the peppered ponmo, so we decided to go ahead with it.

FATSSSA PRESS: These people you had to publicize to, in a certain way, to ensure they show up; it became evident that they were not going to. You could have made that decision to cut down on the budget, considering the eventual aftermath. Everything has turned out this way, so what must you say?

MR ASHCROFT: Coming to this office when we had our first meeting, we chose the team name, and we decided on ‘paragon’ because it simply means the model of excellence, and we assured each other that no matter what, we are going to push to attain excellence in everything we do. Now, we are facing difficulties with turn-out, funding, and the like. You might have said why not cut down on some things. Looking at the budget, the significant things that took a major part of the money were sound and small chops. Usually,  if we wanted to cut down on the budget to save money to return to the Association’s account, we would have targeted the significant things, the things taking most of the funds, which are sound and food. And it was not looking sensible to us to cut down sound and food. So if we cannot cut down these things that are dragging the budget down, why do we now have to remove the thingslike 15K, 20K, 30K, and likes? So that was why we decided to proceed with it and even our plans. We even wanted to bring Asun, but we could not. We had to cut down many things that I cannot go into detail about, disregarding the things that were not number-bound, like the DJ. Even if one person attends, we’d still pay the DJ the same amount. That is not his business.

FATSSSA PRESS: Wasn't there Another DJ that was less money intense?

MR ASHCROFT: OK, the primary reason we didn't go for anything substandard is because there is already this notion in the mind of FATSSSAITES that any faculty event is always whack. So, honestly,  I told my committee members that either we'll scrap this picnic or give them what we have now, and I got suggestions from them to forge ahead. We could not follow the same status quo of ‘whatever the faculty is bringing to you is rubbish.’ So, like, let's do our best with what we can do, and we leave the rest. That's why we decided to go ahead with it.

FATSSSA PRESS: So, are you of the opinion now that that was the only DJ you could use? I'm here with the Picnic Report of NSASA Press. And they used a good DJ, and the DJ charged 60k. Wasn't there another alternative that was also good? In marketing surveys, yes, some people trust the quality they deliver, but some overcharge. So, was the DJ used by you the only option?

MR ASHCROFT: The primary reason why I worked with that DJ was because I have worked with a good number of DJs. I have worked with the most to the least popular; you could mention any. I have worked with several, including DJ Gabby.

I worked with every single one of them, and I know what one can give that the other cannot give. And looking into the event that I wanted to hold, I thought, OK, this is what I want, and I can get it from this DJ. If you even want to look at it across the DJ, the average price you get is #60,000. Before the whole increment of school fees, fuel, and everything, the average cost for a DJ was 50,000, but then DJs increased their price to 70,000- 80,000. But even with the 60 K that he got for the Sociology Picnic, I  recommended that DJ to the sociology director. You can ask the Social Director. You can regard 60K as an average price. I know very well the capacities of each DJ. The Sociology SD asked me for my advice and went for who he chose because he knew him and the price was fair.

I knew what I wanted and what could work for the event so that I could cut down to 70, nothing less than 70.

FATSSSA PRESS: According to the proposed border, the house approved 100K for small chops for 400 people, but you spent a sum of 80K for 162 people. So what do you have to say about that?

MR ASHCROFT: Yeah, I mentioned it earlier. The fewer people you are trying to cater to, the lower the discounts, and the reason why there's 100,000 there on the budget deal is because that was the most affordable. But funny enough, after thesitting, the FATSSSAITE came back to me telling me that she made a mistake with the calculation because her mom owns the whole catering service brand. She made a mistake in the analysis for 400, it is not 100,000; it's 165,000. Then, I explained the situation to the president and the executive council.

FATSSSA PRESS: So 165K was supposed to be for 400 people, not 100K, and you spent 80K for 162 people.

MR ASHCROFT: Yes, I just mentioned it. The fewer items for the lesser discounts; if you do this for more people, it's easy for them to pay the price because they will still make a fair gain. When we are doing less, it will reduce the amount they can cut the cost to.

FATSSSA PRESS: But then, at this point now, there's been so many speculations and different opinions, So.  We should know that in situations like this, there's always a need for evidence. So, do you have any proof of receipts for each of these things so that the minds of FATSSSAITES can rest?

MR ASHCROFT: Yeah, I have screenshots of transactions with some of these vendors.

FATSSSA PRESS: We would need this evidence.

MR ASHCROFT: I need to confirm if I haven't deleted them (check phone). I think I've deleted them.

FATSSSA PRESS: You can request a statement from your bank, right?

MR ASHCROFT: Sure, sure. I'll look into that. 

 FATSSSA PRESS: Can we get that before the end of today?

MR ASHCROFT:  I will try because I'm using a microfinance bank. I'm just going to try to see if I can get through.

FATSSSA PRESS: So there's been an essential issue about a loan. Did the Office of the Social Director indeed take a loan of 200 thousand from the House? Also, what do you say about the FHR stance that a loan was granted to the social directors’ office?

MR ASHCROFT: OK, thank you very much. To start with, I would like to establish the fact that this whole issue is coming from a place of misunderstanding because I can remember very well that the speaker said that in her time as a legislative member, she had not seen any student association that sponsors or funds a picnic, which is false, because when I was social director of my department student association, not just that since I've been involved in organizing and planning of the events of the student association, it has been a standing rule. It is even evident in the FATSSSA Constitution that the Association should sponsor all the events and instruments for all these events. When I was the Social director of my department, I came out very well. I bought a budget of close to 150,000 for 250 people, and they argued that the department did not have enough money for the event,  so I said that we were going to be selling tickets. Now, the norm is to pay and sponsor the event. The budget was to be able to make deposit payments for some of these things. We must start disbursing funds early, so the student association should sponsor the event first. Then, any amount from the ticket sales will come back as revenue to the Association’s account. That's the norm when it comes to picnics, and that's what I proposed to the House because I can remember vividly the speaker asking if our tickets would be sold. I said yes; she wondered if it was a paid event, and I said yes. Then I proposed to the house that if I can get,  in my words, if I can get at least half of the budget to start planning the event, it will be fun. Because I remember I started with, “I would like to visit this honorable House to give me at least half of this budget to start the event’ and the speaker put it to the House. When they deliberated, she said, “You still have a series of events that we need to fund and the likes,” so they cannot bring 400,000 after the event. So I said at least half. They say it is a big event, too, and they can only loan me the amount I'm requesting for now. I said it was a misunderstanding on my part because I didn't understand that it was going to come as a literal loan. What was in my head was the usual thing of giving me this amount. When I sell the tickets, I'll return whatever I get from the ticket to the association, not that I am mandatorily returning the money, like I'm borrowing money from the association.

FATSSSA PRESS: But that's what a loan means

MR ASHCROFT: I  didn't ask for a loan. I asked that the association's account cater for half of the budget. Then, the speaker took it to the House and established the fact that the money was too much because there were a series of events that would still be coming up. We cannot just remove #400,000 from the association account, which is well understood; yes, I propose that at least half should be catered for and returned after ticket sales. The main reason why I even agreed to that was because we were in good hopes, judging from our past events, that we would have nothing less than 400 people in attendance. Usually, when you organize an event, you don't arrange for a static amount; you plan higher because you might fall short, and with sponsors, we can cater to some of all these things in the budget. When I bought the budget for FATSSSA Got  Talent, I brought a budget of 150,000 plus, and sponsors catered for 100,000. But we didn't get sponsors early for this event because we had just finished FATSSSA Got Talent. So, in good hopes that if we go back to the field, we can get more sponsors for the event, I agreed to pay back the mandatory 200,000 and not come to them for a loan. I didn't come for a loan. I don't know if you understand me.

FATSSSA PRESS: There were no sponsors? 

MR ASHCROFT: I didn't get sponsored because the office in charge of sourcing sponsors did not do anything.

FATSSSA PRESS: Which office is that?

MR ASHCROFT: That's from the office of the financial secretary. There's an ad hoc committee under that office. That's the sponsorship committee that is in charge of that. We didn't get positive feedback from them, and that was one of the major issues we faced.

FATSSSA PRESS: Is it that they didn't work on it, or they didn't get positive feedback?

MR ASHCROFT: We didn't get anything from there. So, they didn't work on it.

FATSSSA PRESS: So you said you never asked for a loan and never stated in the house that you needed a loan. However, the FATSSSA press live coverage says something different. Should I open it?

MR ASHCROFT: No, I've seen it already. This is funny because I don't understand how that came to be because even the president and others could testify that I didn't request a loan. In my words, it was if I could get half of the money from this budget. I don't know why FATSSSA Press did not include that.

Okay, let me start this way. From the beginning, I wasn't even given a chance to talk. When I was given an opportunity to, I told him that I wanted to see this honorable house so that I can get at least half of this budget catered for because we need to deposit some of these vendors and other things so it doesn't draw us back in organizing, I would appreciate that. It wasn’t a loan.

FATSSSA PRESS: Did you or did you not agree to a loan?

MR ASHCROFT: Yes, I agreed.

FATSSSA PRESS: So you admit that you did agree to a loan, and then there is news reaching us, the source, anonymous, that you had intended to ask for a loan even before reaching the house.

MR ASHCROFT: I just said clearly that usually, the Association is supposed to sponsor the event. So, having that knowledge, I don't see why I would still come to the House to borrow when I know that the house is meant to sponsor this event.

FATSSSA PRESS: Okay, but the last director wasn't given. Your predecessor wasn't given funds for it. He funded the picnic with the tickets alone.

MR ASHCROFT: Which I was not even aware of.

FATSSSA PRESS: But you did agree to a loan; you were granted an interview recently by an honorable member, right? And there, you stated that you never asked for a loan. So are you saying now that the House is intentionally stating lies about the loan against you or that the House is in liaison with the press against you concerning the loan?

MR ASHCROFT: As I said earlier, this issue is coming out based on a misunderstanding. I think there was a significant misunderstanding on the day I presented the budget because, as I mentioned, the speaker said that, based on her knowledge, the Student Association doesn't fund picnic, which I said is false because, based on my understanding, that is the usual thing which is in the constitution. So, I went to the house to get money, and it came back to me as a loan. I feel it's just based on a misunderstanding because I remember when I had the first meeting with my committee members, and I told them that we would need to push tickets to more people than usual because we are to return 200K to the house. I remember one person said that it is not like it is mandatory in his word. I said  I didn't know, but they said I should return it if I sold up to 400 tickets. And this person is quite knowledgeable because he's a 400-level student and was once an exco, I think, a social director at his department level. This is someone who understands clearly that the faculty is to sponsor this event. That was why he made the statement that it not being mandatory that I should not stress myself, but I said that  I would want us to return the money, and I didn't even get more.

FATSSSA PRESS: So, OK, Are you saying agreements made in the House are with clauses and not mandatory? Because I believe that the house is like a court of law, and there's no ignorance in the court of law, and words are binding. Once you say something, it stands, and there's no clause. There's no Oh since you didn't sell 400 tickets, the loan is forfeited, or what's your own opinion about that?

MR ASHCROFT: OK, I remember when the house agreed to loan me 200K. The Speaker clarified how I would do it and how I wanted to pay back the money, and  I told her that it would be from ticket sales and hopefully when we get sponsors. Then she asked, can I assure the house that I will sell 400 tickets? So I said that it is not possible because when organizing an event, you plan higher in case you fall short; you cannot get a specific amount of people to attend the event. It's not possible, but we will try every possible best to sell up to 400 tickets, not 400 tickets, and then get enough to return to their Association account. That's what I told the House.

FATSSSA PRESS: Do you agree that a loan was granted indeed to the social director's office?

MR ASHCROFT:  Yes.

FATSSSA PRESS: Why didn't you return the money?

MR ASHCROFT: I just mentioned that we sold 162 tickets a few days before the event, which was not up to the amount we can return and even insufficient to cater for necessary things, so I spoke with some of my committee members we decided to work with what we have because at that time we already deposited the #200,000. We couldn’t take just 100K back to the house, which wasn’t even possible because just the small chops and a few other items were amounting to more than that. 150,000. So we decided that since it's not even enough to take back to the house, let's go on with what we have to cater for everything that we need, not even everything, basically only the basics because we have to score down from #400k. I worked closely with the directors of all the departments, and if sociology had a budget for 200 people if one department budgeted for 200 people, why should the faculty go to that level or less than that? That was why we decided to do 250 due to the way ticket sales were going. So we went down to the bare minimum. You could say things like peppered ponmo or table tennis, which were unnecessary. But then, if you want to look at it, what's the basis of a picnic? They are Games, activities, music, and food. I was like if we’re not portraying the true meaning of a picnic, then why have one? That's why we decided to get games and other things like mats.

We can't say mats are not essential. We don't want people to come and stand on that day, or we can't know the punch is not essential; maybe we should have done satchet water instead, I don’t know. We cannot say punch is not essential; we cannot say small chops are not basic; we cannot say the sound is not essential; and we cannot go down to lights that were just 10,000. If we cut down that #10,000, it doesn’t give us the #200,000 or what else is present in the budget, maybe drum for punch that is just #1000 or what else that we could have put down to get up to #200,000. That's why I said if you were not going to leave the things that were taking most of the money, like sound and small chops, then why should we cost down?

FATSSSA PRESS: But then, yes, it should. When it comes to money management, the Office of Official Director is not exempted from acquiring such skills because from what has been said, FATSSSAITES, Mr. Ashcroft, you thought that is the major thing that has to be cut down. But you do realize that even it's little things that spoil everything, like removing 5K from each minor things, would have made an enormous difference. For NSASA Picnic, the Social Director spent #275,300  for 200 people, and now FATSSSA is paying 362K for 162 people. That is more than #2,000 per person.OK, so please endeavor to show us the receipts because we need them. It is essential.

So what's in work about paying the loan?

MR ASHCROFT: Currently, I'm still in talks with the Executive Council, and I think we're going to work with the house. I'm unsure what is happening, but we've not had a specific plan confirmed. We're still trying to get the best we can work with, but we are on it. We are working towards returning the money to the association’s account.

FATSSSA PRESS: So, is it each person? Every executive, including those whose offices are unconcerned with the picnic issue? Everyone has to face this?

MR ASHCROFT: Well, we are working on it, and we can not say which office, and we are working as a  team.

FATSSSA PRESS: Yeah, you're working as a team, but then there are different segments, like other parts of the body.

MR ASHCROFT: I understand you, but  if you want to regard events, I will not say, ‘my event’; I will say “the associations’ event” “the paragons’ event.”

FATSSSA PRESS: However, you were not available for the events organized by the vice president. I heard that none of the executives were available.

MR ASHCROFT: For the other executives, I do not know, but I had a reason why I was not there.

FATSSSA PRESS: Did you give the reason to the vice president?

MR ASHCROFT: I came after the event, and when I saw him, I told him about it. We even addressed it again today as a team. I gave him my reason, which was quite good because I had no class. I don't have class on Friday, and I was pretty undisposed before, so I decided to rest so  I don't get to break down or something. And even the real estate event, which is not a FATSSSA event, I didn't have any classes on that day, but almost all the executives were present. So, if it's for the event's glory or the downfall, we take it as a team.

FATSSSA PRESS: Okay, so you maintain that the offices of the FATSSSA executives are all united, and regardless of whether it's the office of the social director that has issues, everyone bears the brunt of it together.

MR ASHCROFT: We work as a team; that’s the definition of “we work as  a team.”

FATSSSA PRESS: So, is there anything you have to say to FATSSSAITES?

MR ASHCROFT: I think everything I must say has been mentioned in this interview. That is why I tried to be very explicit in explaining how it went because I do not understand why this is bringing much of it. If you look at the previous administration, the news that got to me was, I think, up to 600K or so, and then he could not even account for how the money was spent and how tickets were sold and the like. I came up with every detail needed, but my major issue was overspending, as they tagged it.

 FATSSSA PRESS: No, it's not as they tagged it. You did overspend.

MR ASHCROFT: I just want to know that I did not embezzle or spend money on my personal needs. The whole #362,000 was spent on organizing the events. That's the primary thing I'd like to put out there, not for my personal use.

FATSSSA PRESS: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, and kindly endeavor to send the receipts. Have a nice day.

MR ASHCROFT: And you too.