The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales [ICAEW], Mr Martyn Jones delivered judgement in favour of chartered accountants on CNN yesterday:
“According to popular myth, chartered accountants are dry, boring and narrowly-focused. We in the profession beg to differ and now we have a great opportunity to prove that the “been-counter” description really does not equate to the wider realities.”
That is precisely why chartered accountants are here in large numbers to participate vigorously and enthusiastically in the National Colloquium anchored on the theme:
“Leadership Factors And Good Corporate Governance – Key To National Growth and Development”.
The roadmap with which we have been provided has been calibrated to gauge the following perspectives and sub-texts:
(i) The Role of Society and Politics
(ii) Religion and Ethnicity in Corporate Nigeria
(iii) The Professions and Nation Building
(iv) Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria
(v) Corporate Governance – The Nigeria Experience
Quite frankly the colloquium could not have come at a more opportune time as our nation’s image at the intercontinental/international level is at its lowest ebb.
Much of the damage was inflicted by the abduction of 276 girls from Chibok by Boko Haram terrorists. Almost belatedly, the Federal Government has now admitted its blunder with regard to communication (locally and internationally) when the kidnapping occurred.
Much of the damage was done by the gory spectacle on You Tube of the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Sekau callously boasting that he would sell off the girls as wives and that he was beyond capture by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Not even by the United States of America.
This was followed by an unauthenticated video of a girl who had proved “stubborn” by refusing to convert to Islam.
She was frog-marched at gunpoint into a hole which had been dug in the ground and stoned to death. Really horrible. Even more gruesome was the video of male victims of Boko Haram whose throats were cut while they were still alive. It does not get worse than that.
Our collective responsibility at this Colloquium is to reflect on the emergence and performance of those we have vested with power and authority through a semblance of democratic process or those who simply wrestled power from us, rendering us powerless even when we feign that we are fearless.
The obvious starting point is to remind ourselves of the cannon of wisdom delivered by Abraham Lincoln:
“Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
The rest of the world has beamed its searchlight on us and is anxiously waiting for evidence of “SSOI” (Significant Signs of Improvement).
We must refuse to surrender to despondency even when we are confronted by the front page headline of the “Daily Trust” newspaper (June 26, 2014):
“JONATHAN: BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY WORSE THAN CIVIL WAR”
President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Boko Haram insurgency is worse than civil war that broke out in Nigeria in the late 60’s.
Jonathan said this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday while receiving the College of Bishops of the African Church led by Primate Emanuel Udofia, who paid him a courtesy visit.
He said during the civil war, the battle line was drawn and the enemies known; while in a terror war, the enemies are from within and are faceless.
Thanking the bishops for their prayers, Jonathan pledged that his administration would continue to do everything possible to move the nation forward. “…apart from those of us from the Eastern region who witnessed the effects of the civil war, people have not witnessed this kind of insecurity in the country.
In the North-East, it is almost like it is even worse than the civil war because in the civil war, you know if you are here, you know the battle line, either a Biafran or Nigerian. You know where to run to. Right now, you don’t even know where to run to because the enemies are in the sokoto (trouser) pocket,” Jonathan said.
He urged the church to continue in moulding the character of the nation “especially now that most parents are too busy to have time for their children.”
Earlier, Primate Udofia described the Boko Haram insurgency as the most unfortunate affront on Jonathan’s administration and accused some members of the security agencies of being sympathetic to the terrorists.
He also described the religious connotations to the insurgency as largely responsible for the continued spread and strength of terrorist activities in the country.
“Some of the security agents charged with the responsibilities of combating them are silently sympathetic to Boko Haram. Our hope to bring an end to Boko Haram lies in our God Almighty who is the mighty Man in Battle and ever ready to help His people in times of trouble,” the Bishop said.
The President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria last week admitted that the Nigerian government should have dealt with the communication issues in respect of the abduction of 276 girls from Chibok promptly and vigorously. The lapse has severely damaged Nigeria’s international image and reputation.
In the same vein, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the economy made the following deposition:
“Sometime ago, I was attending a conference in New York and a young man brought about 11 African newspapers to me,” she said.
“All of them were saying negative things. From Kenya to Ethiopia to Nigeria, all of them. This is not good, especially for young people who are the future. We should accept and empower them. We should give them confidence and hope, particularly in these trying times.”
The minister acknowledged the role of young people in the development of the continent and advised them to take up their rights by forcing the leaders to work.
On the country’s insecurity challenge, she emphasized the need to tackle terrorism from social and economic perspectives.
Okonjo-Iweala also commended the international community for their willingness to assist the country in rescuing the female students kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State.
Meanwhile, the African Union believes that the presence of the international community in Nigeria is an indication that the menace of cyber-terrorism will be defeated.
Erastis Nweche, deputy chairperson of African Union, condemned the kidnap of Chibok girls and expressed appreciation to all the countries that have pledged to assist.
“I sympathize with the people of Nigeria and thank the international community for standing by the country to tackle this menace,” he said.
“Terrorism is not just in the Sahara. It is all over the place. It is organized. It is financed and cannot be contained by one state.”
Also speaking, President of the African Development Bank (ADB), Donald Kaberuka, described the abduction of female students by Boko Haram as an attack on the right of girls to education, saying it would never be tolerated.”
Regardless of the apologies tendered by Mr President and the Minister of Finance, the front page editorial of “ThisDay” newspaper of July 7 2014 did not pull any punches:
“The monumental corruption and waste that go on in the name of governance at virtually all levels have all combined to deny the people a decent standard of living.”
It is bound to provoke the question: But where are the auditors and chartered accountants?
Perhaps it was purely co-incidental that on the same day, several firms of chartered accountants took their case to court to protest against the over-domination of the accountancy profession by the “Big Four” international firms.
J.K Randle
