The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel has identified culture of integrity, discipline and high professional standard as among the qualities that have placed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) ahead of other accounting bodies that have been established in Africa.
Emmanuel, made this assertion in Lagos, at the weekend, during the ICAN’s 2023 Annual Dinner and Award where he, along with seven other persons and corporate organisations, emerged the recipients of the 2023 award.
The other awardees were the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Mr. Muhammad Nami; Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba (FCA); former Regional Partner and Chairman KPMG, Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Elebute (FCA); Founder/President Signal Consulting Limited, Dr. Greg Ezeilo (FCA) and the Managing Director/CEO of UYK Nigeria Limited, Mr. Usman Yahaya Kansila.
The award recipients also included two corporate organisations, namely Nigeria Bottling Company Limited (NBC) and the Pedabo Associates, a tax, audit and advisory firm.
Emmanuel, Adelugba, Ezeilo and Elebute were honoured based on their strength and professional contributions as members of ICAN while Nami and Kansila emerged as awardees under the non-member category whereas NBC and Pedabo were honoured on corporate body category.
Emmanuel, who is also an FCA, said: “Today, I want to say on behalf of all the awardees that we are very proud of this body. I am yet to see any professional body in Africa that can compete or rub shoulders with ICAN. None yet! They have called themselves whatever names they liked. But anywhere you go the first question they will ask is: are you a chartered accountant?
“I want to appreciate all the past presidents of ICAN who have actually kept the standard, the discipline, the integrity of this body. If ICAN did not have this remarkable and outstanding integrity, probably by now we would have been like other professional bodies.
“But the standard and the integrity behind this name and everything good about ICAN is what that has kept ICAN today and endearing ICAN to all others.”
He added: “We owe the society our service. We owe the society our integrity. We owe the society our commitment and we owe the society transparency and accountability that we are known for.”
According to him, the next president who would rescue Nigeria would be a chartered accountant.
Then, “Nigeria will be restored. Nigeria will recover its lost glory. We are waiting for that time and when that time comes people will know that it is only the chartered accountants that Nigeria is waiting for,” Emmanuel said.
Delivering his keynote address, the 58th President of ICAN, Mr. Tijjani Musa, said the objective of the annual gathering was for networking as well as recognition of personalities and organisations making worthy impact in the society.
Musa said: “This gathering is, therefore, the celebration of excellence and dedication, in all its forms, as we acknowledge the notable accomplishments of our distinguished awardees.
“The recipients of this evening’s awards have not only made significant contributions to our institute’s mission, but also to the Nigerian economy in their respective fields.
“The governing council of the institute deems it fit to publicly acknowledge the immense roles being played by the awardees in professional and national development. It is, therefore, our great pleasure to acknowledge and honour their outstanding achievements.”
He also said reputable members of ICAN that were honoured were the institute’s “worthy ambassadors in their various spheres of influence, engendering positive change in society. They are beacons of hope in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. We are gathered here today to honour them for their immeasurable support of the activities of the institute and their tremendous contributions in their various fields.”
He added that, “this evening is not for rhetoric as the achievements of the awardees already speak more eloquently. We are dedicating the evening to give due honour to these well-deserving personalities and corporate bodies.”
The chairman of the IFRS also expressed his appreciation over the award.
Nami said: “At IFRS I am opportune to be working with 2,350 chartered accountants. This means a lot to me because everything I have done in life came through (working with) members of ICAN. I cannot thank ICAN enough.
“It means that being a professional body that ICAN is taking stock of people who are contributing positively to the development of the institute. I am happy that they have resolved within themselves to reward the hard work that we do as a team in the IFRS.”
