The President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Dr Innocent Okwuosa, yesterday said that the ICAN Accountability Index, ICAN-AI, will enhance management of public finance in the country.

Speaking while receiving a team of Vanguard Newspaper Editors at the Institute’s Head Office in Lagos, the ICAN boss stated: “We started the ICAN-AI in 2018 with the 2017 fiscal year and since then, we have been on it”. Okwuosa said that in the ICAN-AI captures all the scrutiny a government could be subjected to on the management of public finance, adding that it encompasses all those processes, including the budgeting, preparation, and the processes, as well as the budget execution, the reporting and the impact on the citizens.

He pointed out that the ICAN-AI was more encompassing, compared to States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Index, SFTAS, a World Bank program, which provides incentives for governments to comply.

Emphasizing the need for partnership with Vanguard Newspaper and other media outlets for publicity of the ICAN-AI and advocacy activities of the institute,  Okwuosa said, “There has been mass awareness that we created in this presidential year and we have even taken it beyond the shores of Nigeria, to the Pan African Federation of Accountants, PAFA; African Union and Accountant Generals of Africa.

 “What we need is the press to help us amplify our voice in what we do in ICAN-AI. We have not kept quiet on government policies in this presidential year. We have position papers, we have written on every government policy; we articulated our position and advise the government on what to do.

“We did that when the policy on removal of fuel subsidy came, we did that for unification of foreign exchange, we did that on the quest for foreign direct investment travel by the President.

“We did that on $3 billion AFREXIM Bank loan; electricity tariff hike; we also did that during our last symposium where we x-rayed issues around the budget. 

“So, we have not been quiet at all about what the government is doing. Each time we visit them, they would always acknowledge that they see what we are doing.

“We have met the budget Minister and asked for a role in budget monitoring, in monitoring the implementation of the budget because we know our members have the necessary skills to do that and of course, sometimes you get cooperation and sometimes, you do not get. We have never given up; we will continue to push our frontiers in that direction.”

Responding, Vanguard Saturday Editor, Mr. Onochie Anibeze, assured that Vanguard Newspaper will use its wide circulation and online platform, which enjoys massive followership, to support ICAN in its efforts to create awareness of its various activities especially as relating to accountability and transparency in the management of the nation’s resources.  

Crude theft, aging oil pipelines, low investment, and divestments from oil majors operating in the country have all contributed to declining production.  

To ensure enough local supply to the 650,000 barrel-a-day refinery, Nigeria’s upstream regulator, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), released new draft rules last month that will compel its oil producers to sell crude to domestic refineries.  NUPRC mandated all oil companies in Nigeria to supply crude to domestic refineries that are unable to procure it locally. 

 

Producers are allowed to export crude only after meeting these domestic supply obligations.    

Under the new rules, NUPRC will act as an intermediary between local refiners and producers when agreements on crude supply are not reached, facilitating a sales purchase agreement using a willing-buyer, willing-seller model.    

This new policy could benefit Dangote refinery by enabling it to procure crude oil from local suppliers rather than depending on imports.    The plant, currently running at about half capacity, is taking advantage of cheaper US oil imports for as much as a third of its feedstock. Since the start of this year, it has received at least one supertanker carrying about 2 million barrels of WTI Midland each month.  

An official at Dangote declined to comment on the report, Bloomberg stated.