Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, the 59th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), led a delegation on a courtesy visit to Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. During the visit, Dr. Okwuosa commended the bold economic policies of President Tinubu’s administration, including the removal of fuel subsidies, unification of exchange rates, efforts to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), effective deployment of monetary policy to stabilize the naira and control inflation, and the recapitalization of banks.
He highlighted ICAN’s contributions to Nigeria’s economic development, starting with the late Pa Akintola Williams, the Doyen of the accounting profession. He noted that Nigeria’s first balanced budget was produced under a chartered accountant as Finance Minister, and the popular report on the rationalization of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) was produced by a committee headed by a chartered accountant, Mr. Orosanye.
Dr. Okwuosa emphasized ICAN’s role in shaping the government’s economic policies through its position papers, budget symposiums, and national economic discourses. He also discussed ICAN’s advocacy for accountability and transparency in public fund management through the ICAN Accountability Index (AI). He informed the Vice President that the Association of African Accountant General, in its inaugural conference, proposed to recommend the ICAN AI to the African Union (AU) for adoption as the African Accountability Index.
He urged the Vice President to raise awareness of the ICAN AI among National Economic Council (NEC) members and proposed its official adoption by federal and state governments. Dr. Okwuosa suggested the cooption of ICAN as a permanent member of the NEC.
Additionally, he proposed the establishment of a Monetary and Fiscal Policy Coordinating Committee or the integration of monetary and fiscal policy coordination into the NEC’s mandate. This, he argued, would ensure that the NEC drives the synergy between monetary and fiscal policies for national economic development.