The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ICAN

  • ICAN seeks nationwide implementation of cashless policy

    With an estimate of N3.5 trillion circulating yearly within the unbanked and under-banked (constituting over 10 million traders), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria(ICAN) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to extend the cashless policy outside Lagos to bring more cash into the system.

    In addition, the institute said spreading the policy outside of Lagos will help the government in its anticorruption and anti-money laundering campaign.

    Addressing the institute’s 17th Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) annual conference, ICAN President, Mr Adedoyin Owolabi said when cash remains outside the banking system ,the ability of banks to create credit and supply productive capital to the economy will diminish.

    His words: “Bringing cash into the banking system produces an equal increase in bank reserves, enabling banks to facilitate more consumer and commercial loans, thereby stimulating consumption and business growth.”He stressed that the institute supports the cashless policy not only because it can promote transparency of transactions through the provisions of audit trails but also because it can increase the size of the informal economy and access by government to loanable funds.

    On the AAT scheme, Owolabi said it has generated interest among school leavers ,including undergraduates of higher institutes in other disciplines. This, he attributed, to the scheme’s certificate acceptability by employers of labour and rising demand for the programme across the West African sub region.

     

  • CBN may create Collateral Registry to promote lending

    TO ensure a vibrant lending system, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is planning to create a collateral registry.

    The registry will keep all documents relating to the collaterals used by borrowers to obtaind loans.

    CBN is collaborating with the World Bank to create the registry.

    The Bank of Ghana created a collateral registry and registered 72,703 collaterals from 197 lenders between February 2010 and September 2012.

    The Director of Communication, CBN, Mr Ugochukwu Okoroafor, said the bank was working out modalities for creating the registry to improve lending.

    CBN, he said, was working with the World Bank to ensure the success of Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020. He said efforts were on-going to strengthen the capacity of banks to lend.

    He said: “We are going to work on collateral registry for the banking industry. We do not have registry for people to access facilities and further protect credits offered them to develop their business.

    “By collateral registry, when you buy a land and you want to take loans, that land will be registered. If you want to collect loan, and you use your land to borrow money, that should be referred to as collateral registry.”

    He explained that the registry is in form of guarantees provided to secure facilities granted by the banks.

    According to him, the structural changes that have taken place in the recent times attest to the fact that the industry has stabilised. He foresees a more improved and value added industry ahead, as CBN continues its proactive measures.

    Industry observers attributed the CBN’s decision to come up with a registry to the needs to reduce the burdens encountered by banks while trying to recover some of their loans. They said the CBN has learnt its lessons, following the huge debts recorded by banks after the 2009 stress test.

    Former President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr Emmanuel Ijewere, said banks recorded huge toxic assets that almost grounded the industry. He said the reforms, which exercise started in 2009, has achieved certain objectives, arguing that the weaker position of some banks would not have been exposed if the CBN and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) have not conducted an audit test.

    He said the banking watchdog is trying the best it could to protect the depositors fund and further re-invigorate the sector. He said the registry is good, and capable of boosting the growth of the industry and the economy, adding that the more lending improves, the better for the critical sector of the economy.

    He said the agricultural sector has suffered from bad lending in the past, noting that banks’ lending to the industry has grown from the about two to three per cent.

  • ICAN endows scholarships, donates laptops to ABUAD

    •Legal Council praises Law programme .

    The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and the Nigerian Legal Council have made separate inspection tours to the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).

    Led by its President, Mr Adedoyin Owolabi, the 40-member delegation from ICAN was received by the founder, Aare Afe Babalola and top management staff of the university at the council chambers.

    ABUAD Vice-Chancellor Prof Sidi Osho described the university’s evolvement as an intense story of determination, courage, sacrifice, empowerment and transformation, inspired by Babalola’s desire to establish a model university.

    “This visit marks a landmark in our quest to showcase the inherent qualities of our staff to the accountancy body. We call on you (ICAN) to explore ways of partnering with ABUAD,” she said.

    In his address, the Provost, College of Social and Management Studies, Dr Yekeen Lawal thanked ICAN for approving ABUAD as an examination centre. He also said the university desires to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with ICAN to facilitate its B.Sc. Accounting programme and translate same to a combined B.Sc/ICAN degree.

    According to him, the MOU would remove the rigours of going through the cumbersome ATS (Accounting Technicians Scheme) route to professionalism.

    On behalf of ICAN, Owolabi presented accountancy quarterly journals and student journals to the university, in addition to four laptops uploaded with relevant accounting packages and books.

    He announced a scholarship awards for brilliant students. Under which scheme, anyone with first class in Accountancy will be sponsored to write the professional examination, while any student wishing to pursue a PhD in Accountancy will receive a grant of N500,000.

    Thanking the institute, Babalola challenged ICAN to do even more.

    He said: “Over the years, Nigeria has a cause to show appreciation to you (ICAN) for your contributions to national development but I urged them to do more. For me, ICAN is the most powerful group in the economy of Nigeria hence you should be the directors of Nigerian economy.”

    Dr. Inefidon who led the legal council team expressed surprise at the well-stocked and up-to date Law Library, adding that no other university in Nigeria can boast of current Law journals that ABUAD has.

    Secretary of the team Mr Bala Bello said their visit was to assess the quality of teaching facilities and staff in the College of Law.

    He said the university can cope effectively with more students than its present enrolment, judging by its facilities, conducive environment and the strength of its faculty staff. He was particularly impressed with the acquisition of the latest Yale and Harvard Law reports.

     

     

     

    Reacting to the capacity issue, Babalola criticised the rule which set quotas on admission numbers into courses in tertiary institutions.

    “It is absolutely unfair to deny youths the opportunity to study their preferred courses thereby changing their destiny in life,” he said as he called on the Nigerian Legal Aids Council to join hands with stakeholders in the law profession to correct this anomaly.

     

  • ICAN president visits OAU

    It was a historic homecoming last week for the 48th president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr Doyin Owolabi, who visited Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), his alma mater. Owolabi is the first alumnus of the institution to head Accountants’ body.

    He was accompanied by professionals in private organisations and academic when he was being conducted round the campus by the Vice–Chancellor of the university, Prof Tale Omole.

    Owolabi said he was happy at the maintenance of the architectural and horticultural beauty of the university, which made it, according to him, the most beautiful higher institution in Nigeria.

    In his remarks, which were laden with experiences of his undergraduate days, the Economics graduate said that he was elated to visit the institution in the period of its golden jubilee anniversary. He described OAU as a stakeholder in the Accountant body.

    Prof Omole said he was not only happy receiving his childhood friend, but also the first OAU alumnus to be president of ICAN. He assured the professional body of OAU’s support. “If before now we were not supporting ICAN, we are going to support the body now that one of our own, a very distinguished alumnus, is the helmsman,” the VC said.

    He continued: “When we were young, we never knew we would be what we are today. OAU’s department of Accounting is the most vibrant in the country. This fact is evident from what our graduates and undergraduates are doing in their various professions.”

    At the reception held in honour of the ICAN president were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Prof Ayo Salami, Registrar, Mr Ayorinde Ogunruku, Acting Bursar, Mrs Ronke Akeredolu, Heads of Department of Management and Accounting, and Economics, Professors Taiwo Ashaolu, Joseph Adebayo respectively.

     

  • ICAN faults govt on budget implementation

    ICAN faults govt on budget implementation

    The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) yesterday criticised Federal Government on its budget implementation, saying the citizenry are yet to feel the positive impact of the budget despite huge funds that have been released.

    Speaking at the ICAN symposium in Abuja, the President, Adedoyin Owolabi, said the non-implementation has culminated in high rate of poverty and unemployment in the country.

    He said there has been a mismatch in the brilliant proposals of the budget and its achievement in terms of reduction in unemployment, poverty, inflation, and infrastructure deficit.

    The ICAN symposium with the theme, ‘Budgets of the Federal Government of Nigeria,’ took a retrospective look at the 2009, 2010 and 2011 budgets.

    The review was geared towards assessing the impact of the budget on the economy and how governance and management of some key macroeconomic indicators have affected the successful implementation of the budgets.

    Owolabi, said, “As a stakeholder in the economy, the institute is deeply concerned about the nation’s paradox of poverty in the midst of wealth.

    “The nation is richly endowed with human and natural resources, and therefore has no reason to be a poor sprinter in the economic development race, urging that the bright ideas contained in the budgets should be translated into reality.

    Owolabi further picked holes in the huge budget deficit which had been mainly financed through borrowings adding that its utilisation had not addressed infrastructure deficit.

     

    He said “The huge absolute value of budget deficit financed mainly with borrowings from the banking system has continued to negatively impact cost of funds in the economy. Capacity utilisation in the real sector has not improved phenomenally.