The scheme aimed at deepening accountancy practice to the grassroots will remain on course, according to top leadership of the Institute of Chartered accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Davidson Alaribe, ICAN president, has thus explained why he has been opening new chapters of the Institute since he came in as head of the body.
This is as Alaribe has inaugurated another chapter in Rivers State known as ICAN Ikwerre & District Society with Silas Igwe as pioneer chairman.
Speaking before inaugurating the latest chapter, Alaribe said the objective is to bring the profession closer to the grassroots and make the profession more appealing to the younger generation.
The inauguration took place at noon on Saturday, February 1, 2025, at the Autograph Event Centre on Abacha Road in the Garden City with Celestine Omehia, former governor of Rivers State, as one of the special guests.
Alaribe said he met 71 districts but that he has so far taken the tally to 81, hinting that more districts are on the way. He also talked about catching them young programme of ICAN which he said has made the profession appealing to young people and secondary school children who now take the study of Mathematics very seriously to enable them pursue accounting as a course at the tertiary school level.
He praised the students that attended the inauguration from different schools and said children of most accountants were already chartered accountants. He said his son was already chartered before getting the national service (NYSC).
The ICAN boss said it was not true that the standards were being lowered but that the examining format has been adjusted. “in the past, it was fail one fail all whereas now, any one you pass out of the five papers, it is recorded for you while you strive to pass the others within 10 years.”
He also used the opportunity to debunk insinuations that anybody could be favoured to pass. He said anybody writing ICAN would have to marry his or her book to pass because there was no other way to make it. “A woman living in the same estate with me sent me a test complaining that her daughter was too brilliant to fail a paper. I asked to write formally. I forwarded her complaint to the head of examinations. The woman was asked to pay the protest fee (N50,000) and after paying, she was asked to bring a personal assessor to meet the ICAN independent assessor. All of them came and remarked the paper. The woman then admitted that her daughter truly failed that one paper. She said ‘I will respect ICAN forever’, and the matter ended.”
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Alaribe admitted that there has been resistance to the effort to take ICAN to the grassroots, saying even the effort to create the Ikwerre District has met with endless resistance. “If people know the real significance of this scheme, they will buy me gifts. The Nigerian Bar Association has many chapters in one state but people do not want to hear that ICAN has other chapters in a state. Some people travel all day just to attend chapter meeting in their state capitals.”
He charged the new chairman, Igwe, to begin serious mobilization of members and to aggressively pursue the catch them young scheme. “Port Harcourt refused to sponsor the Ikwerre District, but Bonny had to sponsor them. By the time we are through with new Districts such as Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt would sit atop and have others such as Bonny, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor behind and below it. There are many benefits in this. When they realise the meaning, they will be grateful.”
The chairman of Emohua local council area, David Omereji, was chairman of the occasion and was represented by Clifford Ofurum, a professor of accounting and vice chancellor (Admin) in the University of Port Harcourt as well as onetime head of the Port Harcourt Business School of the UNIPORT.
Ofurum admonished ICAN members to remain on top of the ladder of the accounting profession and uphold attitudes and ethics that would stand them out as the top of the ladder especially by eschewing lateness in start of functions.
He also urged professional accountants to pursue higher academic qualifications such as masters and doctorate degrees to help boost the respect of the profession. “ICAN is number one. We can and we will stand on our honour.”
In his goodwill message, the former governor (Omehia), said ICAN was right to seek to get to the grassroots saying the NBA has many chapters in the state.
He commended the involvement of students of secondary schools and recounted how as governor, he insisted on ICAN as the forebearer of the accounting profession in terms of choice of headship of particular organisations. “ICAN is the foremost accounting body in Nigeria. Its up to its members to decide how they would audit companies to make them pay tax and how much they would have to pay.”
An elder and monarch, Mike Elechi, immediate past president of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce (PHCCIMA), said he was keen on the inauguration of the Ikwerre District.
Henry Wordu, CEO of Hencon Group, was represented by Erasmus Chukunda, a manager, who commended ICAN for inaugurating the new chapter. He conveyed the financial support of his boss to help the new district take off smoothly.
Igwe, the Owerri West-born pioneer chairman, studied accounting in Yaba College of Technology for a Higher National Diploma, obtained a post diploma in Enugu State University (ESUT), and went to the UK for a specialist course in International Banking Trust and dynamics of Nostro Accounts Management.
He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1993 became fellow in 2008. He is the managing consultant of S.O Igwe & Co.
He supported the spread of districts to grassroots and said he was proud to be pioneer chairman. “We shall do the common thing in an uncommon way”.
The event was attended by many top chartered accountants such as Amaka Ekaba, a fellow and present chairperson of the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) in the district as well as Chinedu Nwachukwu, onetime chairperson of SWAN.
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