The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, on Thursday, clarified that the institute was not a beneficiary of federal government’s budgetary support and would not be affected by the government’s decision to discontinue funding of professional bodies from next year.
Okwuosa stated that the clarification became necessary following a federal government’s circular that it would stop budgetary allocations to professional bodies.
He said the circular had aroused members of ICAN inquisitiveness on whether the federal government had been funding the institute while they had been paying membership levies to finance the institute.
But, Okwuosa, stressed in a press statement that ICAN was not among the professional bodies affected by the circular.
He said: “I want to categorically state that since 1990 to date, ICAN has been a self-funded organisation and does not receive any budgetary allocation from the federal government.
“ICAN relies on members’ subscription, professional examination, continuous professional development (CPD) and faculty programmes’ net fees, other self- financing events example Annual Accountants Conference (AAC) as well as financial support from different organisations that identify with the ICAN brand.”
Okwuosa, however, said ICAN welcomed the decision of the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) to discontinue budgetary allocation to professional bodies/councils effective 2024.
“We believe that like ICAN, all professional bodies should be self-financing organisations. On no account should budgetary allocation be extended to any professional body.
“This will assist in bringing down the high cost of public governance which we advocate for and as well discourage the proliferation of professional bodies,” he said.
He also said ICAN would, “not support the discontinuance of budgetary allocations to some regulatory councils that function as parastatals. For example, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) and the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC).
“We will advocate for more budgetary allocations to be made to the FRC to enable it fulfil its many mandates.
“Similarly, given that climate change and energy transition are now burning global and local issues, the NCCC will need more budgetary allocations to be able to execute the important mandate given to it.”
He also advised members of the ICAN, “not to read meaning into the headline news as there may have been misinterpretation of the original intention behind the communication on discontinuance of budgetary allocation to professional bodies by the media.”
Dike Onwuamaeze
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