By Olusegun Obisanya
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has called on the new Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, to ensure Financial Stability, Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria’s financial sector.
The President of ICAN, Dr. Innocent Okwuosa made the submission in Abuja yesterday when he paid her a courtesy call in Abuja.
Okwuosa, in a statement signed by the Assistant Director, Corporate Communications, ICAN, Olubunmi Owolabi, noted that the position of the Accountant-General of Nigeria carries immense responsibilities, especially now that Nigeria stands at a pivotal juncture, facing a rapidly evolving economic landscape, changing regulatory frameworks coupled with endemic corruption.
He said, “As the Accountant-General, you have the responsibility for maintaining the financial stability, transparency and accountability of the nation as a whole.”
The new ICAN boss however, assured her of ICAN’s continued support to her office to ensure effective management of government finances, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the country’s budget and other fiscal management obligations. ‘’We understand the enormity of your responsibilities and we will continue to encourage you and all our members in the public service and private sectors to adhere to the profession’s ethics to succeed,” he added.
Okwuosa also used the opportunity to apprise the AGF of the ICAN Accountability Index (ICAN-AI), one of the Institute’s innovations to contribute to the promotion of accountability and transparency in the Federation. It is a novel and first-of-its-kind index developed to assist the adoption of best practices in Public Financial Management (PFM) in all tiers of government.
He added that the ICAN-AI has been ratified by several national and international organizations (such as, the World Bank, the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), among others) as an equitable and professional way of monitoring Public Financial Management practices.
In her response, the Accountant- General expressed her appreciation to the ICAN team for the honour.
She said, “I acknowledge the enormity of the task and I am aware that the expectation is very high especially in relation to accountability and transparency which I believe the Institute has a lot of resources in stock to give all its members and non-members to follow, the ethics of the profession is there, beckoning on us on how to handle our activities, so as not to be caught in the web, thank you for bringing these to the fore, we cherish them and it will continue to be our watchword in the office of the Accountant- General”.
