The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, has charged practicing accountants in the society to adequately play their statutory role in order to help curtail corruption and contribute to economic development.
Owasanoye gave this charge during a courtesy visit by the President and management team of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) to the Commission’s headquarters recently.
The Chairman stated that for the country to develop, accountants will have to be a very strong part of the process, saying that the accounting body was very important to economic development and have a huge role to play in curtailing corruption because they know figures. “To steal money you need accountants but they don’t need you to steal money,” he added.
Owasanoye further emphasized that if professional bodies were going to contribute to national development, it was necessary for them to carry out their assignments dispassionately with no iota of compromise.
He commended ICAN on their support to the anti-corruption fight especially with the introduction of Accountability Index (ICAN-AI) which assesses international best practices in Public Financial Management of the three tiers of government.
“Accountants can help call their management’s attention to mismanagement of funds and help them understand when things are going wrong, they stand in a very good position to play such statutory role,” he said.
