At the 50th Annual Conference of our Institute held in Abuja from 5th to 9th April, 2021 I was literally ambushed by several professional colleagues who were mostly from small firms of practising Chartered Accountants. They were accompanied by a posse of journalists much to my surprise. Even more startling was that they had swapped their white ICAN T-Shirts for a more attention-grabbing red version with a poignant message: “WE CANNOT BREATH”.
They wasted no time in alerting me that they were under threat of extinction. I assumed that this was largely on account of the raging COVID-19 pandemic and I attempted to reassure them that they are not the only victims of a virus which does not discriminate between small, medium and large firms, be they Chartered Accountants or whatever else. It was to no avail.
Before I could proceed on a different tack, they insisted on delivering their verdict on what they described as an overpowering sense of impending doom or imminent danger – to our noble profession and our nation.
Of course we all know that the nation has been caught within the whirlwind of insecurity – kidnapping, banditry, ritual murders, armed robbery, arson, ethnic tensions, insurgency etc.
That prompted me to suggest that we have to be focused and objective. What is paramount is to separate the particular from the general. Hence, my plea to them was that they should remain steadfast and faithful to the credo, ethics, and ethos of our profession regardless of the raging storms and the devastation as well as vagaries inflicted by Climate change.
They would not budge or shift ground. I had no choice but to remind them that our nation made wrong choices along the way. Hence, in spite of the huge potentials with which the Almighty has endowed us in terms of mineral resources (ranging from oil and gas to gold, iron ore, coal, tin, zinc etc.) we deliberately chose to squander it all. At Independence (1st October 1960), we were in the same economic/development bracket as Singapore and Malaysia. Now, they have outstripped us and left us far behind. The prospects of catching up with them glow dim with every passing day and fade completely at night.
It is self-evident that our major handicap is the Trust Deficit further compounded by ignorance, poverty, wickedness and incompetence. However, all these are no match for the putrid corruption we claim to be fighting.
The trust deficit is writ large – between those who govern and those who are being governed. It does not end there. Even more troubling is the chasm between Chartered Accountants and those we serve under the aegis of the public interest which is our sacred duty.
We cannot blame the public for placing Chartered Accountants on a pedestal based on our avowed commitment to:
“Truth, accuracy and integrity”
in accordance with the motto of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria [ICAN].
The lawyers advertise themselves as the learned profession. We prefer to enter the arena as both learned and disciplined. To crown it all, we profess to be the noble profession.
However, Oscar Wilde (1854 to 1900) the playwright has warned:
“Self advertisement is the worst form of recommendation.”
The public whom we serve are entitled to believe that we have all read:
“Great Expectation” – by Charles Dickens (1812 to 1870).
We cannot now turn round to issue a disclaimer that any expectation of greatness is unfounded or misplaced.
When the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria obtained its Charter on 1st September, 1965 from the then Minister of Education, late Chief Richard Akinjide S.A.N. it was implied that the Institute would be the custodian of enduring greatness – churning out men and women who have been deemed fit in character and learning. The order is important – character must be accorded precedence over learning.
According to the website of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria [ICAN], we currently have fifty-two thousand Chartered Accountants – spread between the public and private sectors. Hence, the public is entitled to expect us to play a dominant role in driving financial discipline in the critical sectors of our nation’s economy and financial architecture especially the “commanding heights.”
Alas, at our last Annual Conference, it was the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service [FIRS] Alhaji Muhammad Mamman Nami who in his contribution to the discussions on “TAXATION IN A DIGITAL WORLD: PROSPECTSAND CHALLENGES”dropped a bombshell:
“99 per cent of our nation’s revenue is being spent on debt service and payment of salaries and allowances.”
Extract of an address delivered on 26th April 2021 as Guest of Honour at the 19th Conferment of Fellowship by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
