Anti Corruption War: AGF Tasks Accountants-General of States on Transparency and Accountability

Anti Corruption War: AGF Tasks Accountants-General of States on Transparency,Accountability

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris has urged Accountants in the nation to embrace the on-going fight against corruption of the current administration by ensuring that they uphold the tenets of transparency and accountability in their management of public funds.

In a keynote address delivered at the opening ceremony of the retreat organised by the forum of Accountants-General of the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT, the AGF identified monumental corruption as one of the factors responsible for citizens loss of faith in Governments.

“As Accountants-General of your respective States, you occupy strategic positions in helping to establish and engender transparency, accountability, good governance and stability in our great nation” …. Therefore “you must act in public interest at all times, consistent with the requirements of legislation and government policies”, maintains the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Mr. Idris, further stated that “ Accounting Professionals help in no small measure in combating the opportunity and the cost of fraud and corruption, thus engendering accountability and transparency which are sine-qua-non to good governance and essential elements of economic growth”.

He therefore explained that strong financial management, transparency, accountability and enhanced governance as essentials for sustainable, long term economic growth that benefit the citizenry and therefore described the Retreat with theme bothering on transparency, accountability and governance in Nigeria as “a patriotic act and a sign of their commitment towards national building”.

In his own remarks, Lagos State Governor, Mr.Akinwunmi Ambode,represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Asade identified the critical role of the Accountants-General towards engendering good governance in any nation, saying that their activities are key to determining compliance to the concepts of inclusiveness, accountability and transparency.

He further advocated the use of technology in scaling up government processes saying it is key to ensuring open governance , promoting transparency, curbing corruption, empowering citizens and improving public service efficiency

Governor Ambode said that Lagos State has made progress towards improving accountability and transparency and has pioneered the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in public Accounting in Nigeria to bring the state’s accounting and reporting systems in line with global best practices.

Earlier, Chairman of the Accountants-General forum, Mr.Akintayo Alaba Kolawole, explained that the Retreat is meant to provide the forum opportunity to discuss ways of improving the Internal reporting and workflow processes of States Governments in order to improve transparency and accountability in public finance management Nigeria.

Oise D. Johnson