The Executive Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji has disclosed that financial probity and accountability are the watchwords of his administration in line with the principles of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

The governor who was represented by his Deputy, Chief Emeka Ananaba, made the disclosure while declaring open the 6th Eastern Districts Conference of ICAN, in Umuahia, Abia State, on Wednesday.

He said: “Our new Government is in a hurry to develop our state, catch up with lost time, and change the face of Abia State as a fast developing and sustainable economy. Financial probity and accountability have become our catch words in this new direction and makes us the ideal partners of ICAN’s principles.”

He said that ICAN has always played a formidable role in the setting of financial standards and priorities that impact on financial accountability and probity in the running of the nation’s economies.

According to him, “the need for this role (played by ICAN) has become even more urgent, especially in the face of recurring deficit budgeting at all levels of government, and in the growing levels of corruption and other attendant issues of financial accountability or lack of it.”

He described the conference which has Public-Private Partnership: Challenges and Prospects as its theme, as being timely, considering the dire need for collaborative efforts of both the public and the private sectors in developing the country’s economy.

Declaring that no nation could do well economically without the cooperation of the two sectors, the governor urged chartered accountants to use their expertise to proffer solutions to the lingering financial ills of the nation.

In his own speech, the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Mr. Udeh Oko Chukwu, a Fellow of ICAN, urged chartered accountants in the country not to shy away from politics but rather participate in it. He said that people may think that politics is too challenging, but that accountancy profession is far more challenging than politics.

His words: “ There is need for all hands to be on deck to take the country to the next level. Accountants should get involved in politics and be more interested in how the country is being run.

Those of us in the legislative arm of government are trying our best and will also ensure that the issue of public-private partnership is taken seriously as a tree cannot make a forest.”