The latest district of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) known as Obio/Akpor and District Society has announced plans to focus on professional development of its members.
The District is also focusing on welfare scheme for its members including empowerment that may make payment of professional fees easy.
These objectives were unveiled at the weekend in Port Harcourt when the latest district of ICAN was inaugurated with Chioma Obianuju Ojukwu, a lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) as the pioneer chairman. The inauguration was conducted by Davidson Alaribe, the national president of ICAN touted as the Diamond President for being the 60th.
In her acceptance speech, the lecturer who is also a fellow of the Institute hailed ICAN one of the foremost professional accountancy bodies recognised globally for its sterling qualities.
The new chairman supported the idea of taking ICAN to the grassroots which led to the newest district, Obio/Akpor.
Ojukwu said her team was determined to champion the newborn district to an enviable height, saying the members were seasoned accountants.
Some of the areas of focus were mentioned as professional development with plans to put in place a structure that will ensure that refresher training and competence-enhancement courses are organized.
The new chairman said: “The welfare of our members will be topmost in our agenda. This will be achieved through collaborations and partnerships with the corporate bodies and government institutions.
“All these efforts will help to motivate them for higher productivity since many empirical researches have affirmed that welfare packages have high positive significance for higher productivity.
Read also: Female lecturer becomes first chairman of newest ICAN district in Rivers
“We shall also make the health status of our members paramount and key into affordable HMO schemes to ensure our members are always catered for.
“Furthermore, we intend to design a programme that encourages newly qualified members who are indigent to be absorbed for internships so as to reduce their financial burden while they learn on the jobs.
“Also, we will create regular informal meetings and gatherings where members can interact informally. This will in no small measure help to ease our members of undue relentless pressure both at work and around them.”
Others she mentioned were ‘Catch Them Young/Career Talk Programmes’ and social responsibility such as visitations to markets and other places to teach market women how to keep simple books to attract funding.
Ojukwu commended the national president on hard work and dedication to the agenda he set for himself.
In his special lecture, Oyebade Oyedepo, a fellow of ICAN, spoke on price and benefits of leadership. “The price of leadership also known as cost of leadership is the monetary and non-monetary value borne by those in the positions of authority, directly or indirectly. It is a branch of general topic of leadership that is crucial to the fulfilment of corporate goals and objectives anywhere in the world.”
He advised leaders to consider positions of authority a privilege rather than a burden. “It is a rare opportunity to lead others in any situation. The benefits of occupying leadership positions are also there as incentives, even though they should not be taken as the primary reason to serve.”
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