My Administration Will Tackle Corruption In Nigeria – Peter Obi
The Presidential Candidate of Labour Party For the 2023 Presidential election, says his administration will fight corruption and ensure that all arms of government are subjected to routine audit to ascertain the veracity of cost of governance figures.
Obi was specific on reforming procurement figures, recurrent and concurrent expenses, even constituency projects while speaking at the 52nd Annual Accountants (ICAN) Conference.
“My administration, when we come in, will tackle this corruption head on. We will have zero tolerance for corruption”
“It is no secret that corruption has been endemic and one of the biggest obstacles to our economic progress in Nigeria. Corruption is the big elephant in the room. In the past few days we have seen videos of illegal pipelines connected to national oil pipeline networks, running for kilometers… where billions of dollars that should have been used for development and welfare, have been illegally siphoned away, for up to nine years, according to reports”.
He stated that as President, one of his priorities will be rule of law and due diligence, and promoting intangible assets, which are vital components of holistic security. This will also underpin public sector accountability.
“I join you today, not because I am an Accountant, but because we are all fellow believers in the search for a new Nigeria. Also, ICAN as a body of accountants continues to contribute to economic sustainability to the country”.
“Today, I will speak briefly on “Accounting as a Requisite for Sustainable Governance.” Whether you are involved in corporate, public, government or forensic accounting, all accountants are fundamentally concerned with financial records”.
“Incompetence in financial records, totally distorts intended development. It is logical; therefore, that placing Nigeria on the part of economic prosperity will help reduce our national challenges to the barest minimum. We must therefore put in place sustainable economic policies that will drive economic prosperity in the country” he added.
According to him, “In keeping with our vision of moving the country from consumption to production, we must pursue sustainable economic policies that will help the nation to remain productive in all fronts and sectors For this reason we will endeavour to domesticate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of our governance modalities”.
He noted that his government, if elected come 2023, will expand the frontiers of financial inclusion to ensure that SMEs have greater access to credit to grow.
“We will work with financial institutions to improve their ability to identify credit worthy borrowers; and support inventory financing, which will help to unlock finance for SMEs dealing with high account receivables”.
“All loans must be invested in regenerative projects. We shall pursue a drastic reduction in cost of governance and corruption; improve ease of doing business to attract Foreign Direct Investment to jumpstart industrialization and when borrowing is unavoidable, it will be strictly for production”.
“Our message of probity, equity, innovation, competence, true brotherhood and visionary reconstruction in governance has not only been embraced by the youth, but has now become too many, their own personal and collective battle to take back our country, and rescue it from the difficult times with which we daily struggle”.
He also noted that Nigeria is not bereft of good governance ideas and plans. However, a combination of institutional weaknesses and lack of political will meant that various policies and strategies are poorly implemented leading to poor outcomes for the people.
Speaking on the position of accountants in the society, he said that the position of accountants in our society and in our public institutions is very vital in checking corruption especially in government, adding it is also true that the position of accountants in our society is also vital in aiding corruption in our society.
“If you look at the written financial regulations in any establishment, you will see watertight regulations of auditing, vetting, tendering, vouchering, joint signatories and other safeguards, designed to check embezzlement and corruption, yet these sharp practices and misappropriated sums continue to rise, and I understand that there is now a Nigerian record of almost N109 billion allegedly embezzled by an accountant” he added.
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