New ICAN President promises to partner government to redefine national values, economic priorities, others
The newly elected President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mrs. Onome Joy Adewuyi, has promised to partner with the government to redefine national values, economic priorities and resource utilisation strategies such that the mass of the citizenry can be lifted out of avoidable poverty.
She said this in her acceptance speech at her investiture as the 56th President of ICAN which took place at the institute’s secretariat in Lagos, Tuesday.
According to her, ICAN would leverage its professional expertise to support players in the informal sector, whose unsung value-creating activities will define the position of the nation on the ladder of sustainable development.
She lamented the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty being experienced by Nigeria, adding that the nation is at a point in its economic development where all hands must be on deck to address the ugly situation.
“According to the 2019 World Bank Human Development Report, 53.5 per cent of Nigerians live below poverty line of US$1.9 a day. I am inclined, like many analysts, to believe that the situation is even worse considering the high rate of crime and criminality all over the country. The situation is better imagined if we take cognisance of the possible effect of COVID-19 in the near term.”
On refocusing ICAN capacity building initiatives, Adewuyi explained that this year, the institute would formalise its online training and incorporate them into the annual training brochure. She added that the Members’ Education and Training would be bolstered with cut-edge virtual training programmes.
“These would run together with the established traditional model of delivering trainings. Also, the ICAN faculties would be equipped to become centres of excellence for virtual training in the seven specialist areas of Accounting,” she expatiated.
Speaking further, the ICAN President said the lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged ICAN to redefine the values it shares, the way it relates and account for its actions and inactions.
“Evidently, the proactive deployment and proficiency in the use of technology will continue to define corporate and individual success. This emerging paradigm has implications for how we relate and bond as professionals who share a common vision of working together to build a great nation with a sustainable economy driven by strong institutions, she said.
In his valedictory speech, the immediate past ICAN President, Mazi Nnamdi Anthony Okwuadigbo, said his administration has taken steps to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the institute’s activities in order to protect the integrity of Accounting profession.
He said COVID-19 has raised new ethnical issues in the profession, adding that followed these development, the institute has provided guidance to its members as may be required.
“We have created COVID-19 resources centre on our website. We equally strengthened the disciplinary mechanism of the institute and made sure that cases of infraction are speedy resolved. The integrity of the institute’s examinations were guarded jealously in the course of the year,” Okwuadigbo said.
Some of the achievements of his administration, according to him, included approval of three diets examinations which he said arrangements had been concluded for commencement in March 2020 but suspended as a result of the pandemic as well as reenforcement of students and membership drive which he said yielded positive result.
He said they have fulfilled all international obligations to international bodies including International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Chartered Accountants Worldwide, Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA, Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), etc.
