By Onome Amuge.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has advised President Bola Tinubu to consider the appointment of more chartered accountants in his ministerial cabinet as part of the economic policy reforms needed to boost the country’s economy.
The association in a statement signed by its president, Innocent Okwuosa, said the socio-political challenges currently facing Nigeria, calls for the intervention of chartered accountants in public governance. It stated further that chartered accountants should man key sensitive positions requiring proper accountability as there cannot be effective public governance without accountants.
ICAN noted that the study it conducted recently provides evidence which shows that there is positive correlation between having more chartered accountants within a work force and better organisational performance.
The association argued that organisations that employ more chartered accountants perform better than those employing less chartered accountants in terms of service delivery and financial performance.
This, it explained, has been proven empirically drawing experiences from Zenith Bank, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and Lagos State government, adding that the three organisations span private sector, a government agency and state government respectively.
In consideration of this,ICAN expressed confidence that President Tinubu’s administration will experience same performance success if more chartered accountants are engaged by his administration.
The association stated further, “Today we are looking for a Minister of Finance that will clean up government monetary policy. What we need is a chartered accountant economist i.e. an economist that is a chartered accountant and not just an economist alone.
We want to state that within the ICAN chartered accountants, we have economists, engineers, doctors, pharmacists, architects, political scientists, pastors, imams, you name it. So inherent in ICAN chartered accountants are other disciplines, while accounting and finance predominates.”
ICAN, while pointing out that the president is an accountant,said he (President Tinubu) is in a good position to understand the association’s standpoint.
“When accountability permeates every cabinet member and his or her ministry, corruption will be minimised, better governance elevated and Nigerians will instantly begin to feel the dividend of democracy,” it added.
ICAN identified some bold economic policy reforms which the president has initiated within the short time of assumption of office such as removal of fuel subsidy and exchange rate unification as outlined in its previous position papers. It also identified with the president’s support for the clean energy transition that factors in the vast gas resources of the country which it described as energy justice that will reduce debt exposure of the country.
“We commend him for these quick and bold actions, drawing attention to consideration of the plight of those within the low income bracket,” it said.
