ICAN Canvasses Education, Sanctions In Anti-corruption War

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  • Tasks FG on unemployment, poverty alleviation, youth entrepreneurship

BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) says Nigeria urgently needs a three-prong method to effectively address the challenges on endemic corruption and poverty.

According to the nation’s foremost accounting body, the Federal Government must adopt and deploy education, prevention and sanctions to succeed in the fight against corruption and repositioning of the economy for sustainable growth.

The accountants also challenged government on unemployment and poverty eradication, insisting that efforts should be geared towards creating start-up entrepreneurship programmes for youths as well as supporting them with enabling environment and funding facilities.

In a communiqué at the end of its 49th Annual Accountants’ Conference in Abuja, attended by about 5,653 participants from 14 countries, the accountants said education through strengthening relevant institutions remains key in fighting corruption and tackling unemployment and debilitating poverty in the land.

Signed by the President and Chairman of ICAN Council, Mazi Nnamdi A. Okwuadigbo (FCA) and Chairman of ICAN Conference Planning Committee, Queensley S. Seghosime (FCA), the communiqué said focus should be on revenue collecting agencies, the three arms of government, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, political parties and electoral bodies to regularly train and retrain their employees for effective service delivery.

“Education should be given a pride of place as it creates awareness that enables citizens to easily identify where corruption exists,” the conference said.

Similarly, the accountants said conducive and necessary environment should be created to prevent ‘crimes of opportunity’ by ensuring individuals and organisations operate within the shared fundamental traits that are grounded in law, particularly appropriate and prompt payments of remunerations.

“Some of the agencies created to fight corruption appear to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and have in certain instances adopted strategies that seem to infringe on the rights of citizens.

“The sanctions to be meted out on corrupt citizens must be fair and not selective. It should not be seen to infringe on the rights of citizens. These institutions and agencies should demonstrate independence from government interference,” the communiqué said.

On transparency and public accountability, the accounting body charged government to hasten the full implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) to enhance transparency in public financial management and reporting.

In their submissions, the accountants said; “Government institutions are accountable to their people and should use their resources judiciously and not mismanage them. Transparent leadership and governance will allow citizens to identify indicators of under-performance on the part of political leadership and exert well-targeted pressure to put them back on track.”  

Also addressing the issue of growing insecurity in the country, ICAN urged the Federal Government to create employment opportunities as a means of curbing insurgency while also developing sustainable strategies to manage the impact of climate change in the Borno State and various parts of the country that are currently facing huge security challenges.

For the accountants; “Security is evidently the pillar upon which every meaningful development could be achieved and sustained. Many had hoped that the return to democratic governance in Nigeria would address insurgency and restiveness. Instead, insecurity remains one of the major obstacles to development.”

Citing the case of Borno State, the conference noted that sadly “insurgency and climate change had destroyed over 75 per cent of developmental infrastructure and forced about 80 per cent of livestock farmers and pastoralists to migrate from the Lake Chad Basin to the Middle Belt and other parts of the country”, adding that the ugly developments have “caused unfortunate clashes between herdsmen and farmers.”

On infrastructure, the conference recommended huge investments in power lines and sub-stations through the rehabilitation of abandoned equipment; dealing with under-performing contracts; re-conductoring of 132KV lines; vigorous pursuit of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on hydro and other sources of power; accessing and re-assessing donor-funded programmes and their management.

They also maintained that aside generally adopting a disciplined application of market rules in the power sector. government should take advantage of the Nation’s young and growing population of professionals to be leaders in the area of disruptive technologies. 

Admitting that the processes would require upgrading the curriculum of the entire educational system in the country, ICAN also counseled its members to skill up and adapt quickly to the new changes within the profession.

In this direction, the conference proposed that the accounting profession’s response to cyber risks should include focusing on business-critical data, new controls around detection, response, resilience and a dynamic externally focused approach.

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