A member of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Sir Paschal Okolie has ascribed the economic recovery and governance successes recorded by the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration in the past four years, to prudent management of lean resources and his ingenuous interface with professionals to help drive his state policies.
Speaking during the grand party and dinner organised by ANAN, South East Zone to mark the 40th Anniversary of the association, Okolie, who is the state’s Accountant General and chairman of the occasion, added that Ugwuanyi has wisely employed the services of members of ANAN to manage the state’s scarce resources.
The accountant general disclosed that the enviable feats recorded by Ugwuanyi’s administration in regular payment of workers’ salaries, with or without allocations from the federal account, as well as pensions and other entitlements of workers are as a result of the governor’s commitment to professionalism, fiscal discipline and the wellbeing of the people of Enugu State.
“If you look around, industries are springing up. The economy of the state is being reactivated each time salaries are paid. All these are because we are prudent, accountable, transparent and Enugu State is experiencing peace and good governance”, he said.
In his welcome address, the Chairman of ANAN, South East Zone, Prof. Uche Ugwuanyi, stated that ANAN as professional body had at its formation strategically positioned its members at the strata of the society “through robust, well-focused and appropriately structured capacity development,” adding that “continuing education and retraining programmes have continued to yield positive impact in the critical sectors of Nigeria’s economy”.
According to him, “it is gratifying to note that the association has remained a pivotal force in ensuring that Nigeria’s dependency on the commercial and industrial efficiency of its productive capacity is attained through education and training of professional accountants in Nigeria”.
This was the first time the South East Zone of ANAN joined other zones to celebrate “our enviable professional body,” Ugwuanyi expressed the profound gratitude of the leadership and members of the state branches of the zone to members of the national body led by the President and Chairman of Council, Prof. Muhammad Akaro Mainoma for their support, cooperation and remarkable achievements.
“As ANAN celebrates her 40th year in Nigeria and happily being celebrated under the Presidency and Council Chairmanship of Prof. Muhammad Akaro Mainoma, Ph.D, FCNA, 1ST Vice Presidency of Prof. B.C. Osisioma, PhD, FCNA and Registrar/Chief Executive as Dr. Nuruddeen A. Abdullahi, this galloping Accountancy Professional body has achieved much locally and internationally within their relatively short stay in office as helmsmen.
“Internationally, we are very proud to be identified with ANAN and her enviable affiliation with some international professional bodies as: International Federation of Accountants (IFAC); International Association of Accounting Education and Research (IAAER); XBRL Business Reporting Standard Organisation; Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA); Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) and South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA).This has placed ANAN ahead of most of her local and international contemporaries in our profession.
“For the aforementioned achievements, too numerous to mention, and other programmes billed for the year 2019, I appreciate the Government of Enugu State, the National Executive of ANAN, South East Executive of ANAN, State Chapter Executives and other critical stakeholders for their invaluable contributions and support to our vision and modest efforts”, he added.
“Action Democratic Party views this affront as a pre-determined plan to favour the highest bidder and sacrifice competence with mediocrity by promoting money politics, impunity and corruption,” the party said.
It noted that the party has pegged its nomination form at N8 million for male aspirants; female aspirants, N700, 000 while the physically-challenged will get nomination forms free.
“As a nation endowed with tremendous natural and human resources and therefore, ought not to have business with hunger. But ironically, countries with far less endowment than Nigeria have attained greater prosperity with robust and stable economy, while Nigerians continue to wallow in abject poverty,” the party said.
On security, he said, “Mr. President should confront the issue of insecurity because we have all that it takes to do that. We don’t want a situation that we cannot control which will snowball into something that all of us will have reason to regret.
“I don’t believe it is the duty of service chiefs, like Mr. President said that they should justify the exorbitant amount spent on them, rather Mr. President should justify the confidence and mandate given to him by Nigerians.
“He should rise to the occasion and tackle the issue of insecurity because it is becoming a tool for people with ulterior motives to cause problems. I cannot understand how high profile targets will be targeted by bandits. There is more to it than meet the eyes. The death of Funke is a very sad situation. We would not like that to continue,” he said.
The factional National Chairman of the SDP, Prof. Tunde Adeniran also, in a statement, yesterday, described the incident as “repugnant and unacceptable to the people of Nigeria,” and urged “the federaleral government to intensify action to ensure that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are brought to justice without delay.”