Minister charges ICAN on transparency, accountability

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has urged members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, to embed the ethics of transparency and accountability in the profession.

Adamu said this in a statement issued by Mrs Chinenye Ihuoma, the Director of Press in the ministry, when he received the President of ICAN, Alhaji Ismaila Zakari and his delegation in his office on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister said this will be in line with the anti-corruption drive of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration.

Adamu, who lauded the body for its contributions to the development of the Nigeria’s education system, particularly accounting education, enjoined it to also address some challenges facing the institute.

He said doing this would attract more students to the profession and remain a model in manpower development in the country.

Adamu, who spoke on budgetary allocation to the education sector, said that there had been a steady budgetary increase during the two years of the administration and pledged government’s commitment to do more.

Furthermore, Adamu said that besides the annual budget, government also used intervention funds such as UBEC, TETFund and NEEDS Assessment, to complement infrastructural development in the education sector.

Speaking earlier, Zakari stated that the visit was to consolidate and strengthen the existing cordial relationship between the ministry and ICAN.

He lamented the inadequate funding of the education system, saying that budgetary allocation to the sector has consistently fallen short of UNESCO’s recommendation to education.

Zakari said as part of its contribution to the sector, ICAN had adopted a policy of building lecture theatres in accounting department and related facilities in tertiary institutions across the country.