ICAN to assist govt tackle funds’ mismanagement
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria has said it will introduce an accountability index that will help to enshrine a regime of fiscal prudence among the three tiers of government.
It said the move would also assist government at all levels to address the issue of mismanagement of public funds.
The President, ICAN, Mr Razaq Jaiyeola, said these in Abuja during an interview shortly after he made a presentation on the index to members of the Federation Account Allocation Committee.
Jaiyeola stated that the accountability index was an initiative of the institute to ensure prudent management of public funds by the three tiers of government.
He said the index would focus on policy-based fiscal forecasting, budgeting, auditing, budget credibility and management of government assets and debts.
Jaiyeola noted that the initiative would also improve the quality of governance in the country and tackle corruption in the public sector.
He stated, “The accountability index is the first of its kind; it is an initiative that we have introduced to deal with public finance management in the country. We are trying to bring in some performance index. We have several dimensions; we have indicators through which we do this management.
“The objective is to assess the performance of the various tiers of government – federal, state and local governments.
“We want to measure their performance; we will rank them and from such rankings, we will be able to address certain things within the financial management mechanism that we have in the country.”
According to him, the index consists of five pillars of budgeting, management of assets, debts, audit and public accounts.
Also, the Accountant-General of Kaduna State, Umar Waziri, stated that the initiative would help to improve public financial management.
He said, “This initiative is being presented with the critical role of transparency in the fight against corruption, which is the hallmark of this administration.
“We pray that the implementation will be smooth and the President has been assured of total support from the states on this credible objective and Nigeria’s economy will be the better for it.”
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