ICAN New President: Says Institute to Partner Govt on Economic Development

The newly installed 58th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Tijjani Musa Isa, says that the institute as a professional body will partner with the government to redefine national values, economic priorities and resource utilization strategies in order to lift the masses out of poverty.

Isa made the pledge while reading his acceptance speech as the 58th President of the Institute at the ICAN Head Office in Victoria Island Lagos.

He say ICAN will leverage its professional expertise to support stakeholders in the informal sector, whose unsung value-creating activities will define the position of the nation on the ladder of sustainable development.

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“As a nation, we are painfully at a cross-road. We are at a point in our economic development race where we must address the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. Given the nation’s huge natural and human resource endowments, this is clearly an aberration.

Isa further stated that the anger of the hungry and the sense of insecurity of the helpless and vulnerable must be addressed for this narrative to change, for the sake of all.

“This is especially imperative as the nation stands at the threshold of a new political administration. We will continue to insist on the ideals that would enable the prosperous economy that we all desire.

“As professionals skilled in resource management, we must confront these inexplicable, inexcusable and unacceptable misery indices accentuated by high rate of unemployment, poor access of the citizenry to the basic things of life, high illiteracy rate, huge number of out-of-school children, low life expectancy rate and high rate of girl-child marriages, if we are desirous of making any appreciable progress in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals by year 2030.

“Although these challenges are not new, I am of the opinion that, for too long, public expenditure and service has been driven by narrow personal gains rather than the common good. For too long, the nation has celebrated wealth without recourse to source. For too long, we have placed the cart before the horse in our developmental agenda. We must collectively right the wrongs of our ages past and also avoid policy summersaults,” he said.

Speaking further he said during the presidential year, the Institute will ensure that the students are given the attention they need to become stable and dependable chartered accountants.

To achieve this, in this Presidential year, according to him, the Council will vigorously pursue Students’ Special Projects (SSP) for its students in educationally disadvantaged jurisdictions that are not yet covered.

“SSP that commenced in the 2002/2003 Presidential year has produced over a thousand Chartered Accountants and we intend to improve upon,” he said.

The immediate past president of the institute, Comfort Eyitayo, who outlined her accomplishments during her term as the 57th President of ICAN, said that the success of her tenure was due to God Almighty, while she is indebted to all her professional colleagues for their unwavering support in making ICAN great again through visible impact.