ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

by

Major General Sebastian Achulike Owuama (rtd), B.Sc, FCA

on his

INVESTITURE
as the

46th President
of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria at the Council Chamber of the Institute on Tuesday, June 1, 2010
1

The Immediate Past President, Chief(Mrs) E.O.Adegite, MBA, FCA The Vice President, Prof. Francis Ojaide, MSc. (Econs), PhD, FCA The 1st Deputy Vice President, Mr. Doyin Owolabi, B.Sc, FCA The 2nd Deputy Vice President, Alhaji Kabir A. Mohammed, mni, FCA Members of Council, My revered Past Presidents The Registrar/Chief Executive Professional Colleagues Distinguished Invited Guests Members of the Press Ladies and Gentlemen PREAMBLE 1. It is with humility and a great sense of responsibility that I stand before you all to accept my unanimous election yesterday and investiture as the 46th President of this noble Institute on this historic day. Given the global rating of the Institute, the outstanding legacies of its founding fathers and the remarkable exploits of its members in various walks of life, I feel greatly honoured to be elected by my professional colleagues as their flag bearer in the 2010/2011 Presidential Year. Through this enviable democratic succession process which was concluded yesterday, Monday, May 31, 2010, we have demonstrated, once again, that ours is a disciplined Profession founded on trust, rancour-free and enduring democratic tradition from which the larger Nigerian society needs to take a cue. By this singular historic action, we have, again, reaffirmed our collective resolve both to advance the cause of Accountancy globally and to defend its cherished values for the benefit of mankind. 2. Let me warmly congratulate the founding fathers of our Institute for this ingenious succession process and the entire membership of the profession for submitting to the discipline of this unique system, which has positively served the interest of the Institute since 1965 when the

Act of Parliament number 15 was enacted. I am exceedingly filled with joy and profound gratitude to the Almighty God for granting me the grace to be the major dramatis personae in todays momentous event.

3. I must salute the eloquence and brilliance of Mrs. Onome Joy Olaolu, FCA, a distinguished Council member for the passion which she showed while reading my citation. The applause which intermittently laced the presentation, reaffirms not only the popular acceptance of my choice but also your faith in my sterling leadership qualities. This is an invaluable measure of confidence for which I will remain eternally grateful to you all. This is, without doubt, the crowning glory of my professional career, which started in the United Kingdom in 1984 when I was admitted as an Associate member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). 4. I would like to dedicate this honour bestowed on me today, most heartily, to the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in recognition of the invaluable contributions to the growth and development of this country made possible by the commitment of the Service to the cause of world class capacity building, professionalism and national unity. Today, I am not the one being celebrated! It is a day of glory for the Armed Forces of Nigeria as one of its products is being specially honour by another constituency of repute to underscore the premium placed on its role in manpower development. Above all, I dedicate this honour to the Glory of God and to all who cherish professional excellence, honesty, transparency and selfless service. I pledge to justify the confidence reposed on me by upholding the integrity and technical standard of the Institute with great ethical disposition. It is my earnest prayers 3

that the Almighty God will endue me with Solomonic wisdom to be able to shoulder the responsibilities of this exalted office and also strew your paths with greater successes. 5. THE INSTITUTE AND PROFESSION The global economy is currently facing a great challenge in the wake of major corporate failures in various jurisdictions and its resultant economic and financial crises. The propriety of the watchdog role of the Accountancy Profession, in the midst of this crisis, is increasingly called to question by these developments caused, in the main, by corporate governance breaches. While there is no doubt that the profession will successfully weather the storm, it behooves on all chartered accountants to raise the standard of their technical performance to universally accepted levels. The Institutes benchmark performance is clearly indicated in its Rules of Professional Conduct for all members and all applicable standards to which full compliance is obligatory. 6. Users of accounting services must be confident that we are protecting their interests. Since we are confident in our principles, behavioural codes and technical standards, the Institutes reaction to any professional misconduct, in the new year, will continue to be swift, sure and severe as dictated by our enabling Act. Accordingly, the Disciplinary Tribunal and Investigating Panels will be strengthened to ensure quick dispensation of justice such that any matter brought before these organs are concluded, at the most, within two years. While reassuring our members and the general public that the Professions tradition of promptly carrying out its obligations with integrity and honesty will be sustained, I promise to work to build a single, disciplined and value-driven Accountancy Profession wherein 4

lies our honour, prestige and respect. 7. GROWTH IN STUDENTSHIP Over the years, the Institute, through its Student Special Project initiative, has continued to encourage well-established tuition houses to expand their training programmes to some geo-political zones, perceived to be educationally disadvantaged. These are areas where the Council of the Institute perceived, with dismay, the comparatively smaller number of new students that annually register for and sit the Institutes examinations. Happily, this initiative has been well received in Yenagoa, Ilorin, Kaduna, Kano, etc, with profound positive outcomes.

8. The following statistics bear eloquent testimony to the propriety of the initiative:

REGISTRATION PER CENTRE ICAN EXAM CENTRE

1 2 ABA ABAKALIKI OWERRI ENUGU CALABAR ILORIN KADUNA

NOV 2008 107

27

MAY 2009
134 43 169 285 203 353 490

NOV 2009 149 86 184 314 273 475 628

3 4 5 6 7

162
256

128 268 417 5

8 9 10

KANO YENAGOA

245 138

331 154

396 181

NATIONWIDE TOTAL

15,498

18,094

18126

FINAL

EXAMINATION NUMBER NOV 2007

(PE OF

III)

RESULTS

FROM THAT

ICAN

STUDY AS

CENTRESSTUDY CENTRE BAYELSA CALABAR ILORIN KANO KADUNA

CANDIDATES NOV 2008

QUALIFIED

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS MAY 2008 MAY 2009 NOV 2009 8 OUT 13 7 OUT 13 21 OUT OF

1 OUT OF 5 OUT OF 2 OUT OF 5 OUT OF 14 5 = = = 9 = = 9 = 4 OUT OF 14 3 OUT OF 8 OUT OF 21

14 45 4 OUT OF 8 OUT OF 20 OUT OF 11 OUT OF

15 18 33 46 3 OUT OF 2 OUT OF 8 OUT OF 13 OUT OF 13 OUT OF 7 17 23 43 43

9. From the above statistics, the following inferences can be drawn. First, the rate at which candidates register for ICAN professional examinations in States where there are ICAN Study Centres has increased tremendously. I am proud to also mention that the pass rates at those centres have been very impressive without any threat to the quality, standard and integrity of the examination processes. As a result, in the last three years, we have been producing an average of 3,000 chartered accountants annually in order to meet the growing needs of the Nigerian nation and business environment. Second, the ICAN Study Centres have assumed scholarly leadership in the rate and quality of success. For instance, the best student in the last diet of the 6

Professional Examinations (i.e., the November 2009 diet), Mr. Bunu Bashir Abdullahi, emerged from the Kano Zone while Kaduna and Ilorin centres recorded very impressive number of passes. In addition to being the best qualifying candidate in the diet, Mr. Abdullahi also won two other prizes. 10. Unfortunately, the South Eastern States, from where I hail, have not embraced this wonderful initiative in spite of several attempts in the past to make them buy-in into the laudable Scheme. My State, Imo State, for example, which usually occupies 3rd or 4th best position in the Senior Secondary School examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has not given the initiative a thought and this possibly accounts for the low number of students that register for ICAN examinations each diet. In the ranking of States of students registering for ICAN Exams in various centres, Imo State and other States in the region, regrettably, rank amongst the lowest. Indeed, the November 2009 registration at the Kaduna centre is almost equal to the registration figures of Aba, Abakaliki, Enugu and Owerri put together! The implication of this is that the number of candidates that qualify as chartered accountants in the South East every year, does not provide reason for any one committed to development of the area to cheer. I hope that, by extension, this does not reflect the challenges other professions like medicine, engineering, law, etc, are facing. Yet Accountancy is the language of business where the Ibo race is dominant. It is therefore imperative for the governments of the South Eastern Zone to embrace this initiative without further delay. Through these Study Centres, the candidates will receive qualitative training and easy access to study materials while more examination centres can be also be created to ease the proximity of candidates to examination centres. Hopefully, with those 7

measures the pass rate will increase and more of them will qualify as chartered accountants within reasonable time. STAKEHOLDERS SOCIETIES 11. At its inception in 1965, the membership of the Institute was just 250 without any student. Today, the Institute has over 30, 000 chartered accountants, 13,310 Associate Accounting Technicians (AAT), over 120,000 students in its professional stream and over 75,000 in the Accounting Technicians Scheme. With this astronomical growth, it has increasingly become difficult to efficiently and effectively reach out to our members and students who are widely interspersed nationwide. In spite of the benefits ofhb the developments in information technology, poor infrastructural facilities in the country, has not helped matters towards ensuring complete and timely reach out to all stakeholders. Consequently, some members and students outside Lagos and other major cities, feel disconnected, alienated and left out of the activities of the Institute. The situation has also led to the wrong perception nurtured by these members, users of our services and the general public that the Institute belongs to those in Lagos area only. To address this challenge, I therefore intend to drive the Institute in another direction by a gradual but deliberate devolution of powers to the District Societies which are the outposts connecting the Institute to its stakeholders. The functions and activities of the District Societies in the months ahead will be strengthened to ensure that this disconnect and information gap will be bridged. Accordingly, Council members of the Institute will be assigned as coordinators to the District Societies and their sole tasks will be to drive and give effect to the Councils desire in reaching out to the various stakeholders. The District Societies will be expected to chart new areas of activities in 8 ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE DISTRICT

tertiary institutions that will bring ICAN closer to all so that the ICAN brand remains the preferred brand.

Service To The Nation 12. The next twelve months will particularly be challenging for the nation, its citizens, professional bodies and international investors as it marks the last year of the tenure of the present political leadership. As the year unfolds, there is no doubt that the intricacies and complexities of democratic governance will raise the level of premium placed on leadership, professionalism and accountability. As leaders, irrespective of our spheres of influence, we should have no illusion about the enormous challenge that the impending transition will pose to our skills, dexterity and ethical consciousness. Given ICANs enviable antecedents in leadership succession, the nation can learn from its rancour-free system. We must therefore rededicate ourselves to the cause of a united, caring and strife-free Nigerian nation inspired by love, commitment to service and democratic values. Let me also seize this opportunity to urge chartered accountants to actively participate in partisan politics by seeking elective offices or strive to occupy strategic positions in political parties through which their training and character can influence proceedings in a more positive direction. 13. As Chartered Accountants, we cannot be apolitical and expect the

elected rulers to do our bidding or act in our interest or for accountability to be entrenched in the system. If we continue to shun politics because it is perceived to be dirty, we would have, in my view, lost our moral right to complain when national resources are poorly managed or outrightly mismanaged. With our training, knowledge and 9

expertise, we can also cause a paradigm shift for the best. Therefore, we need to become politically active as the following ICAN members and flagbearers have done and/or are doing: Senator D.O. Dafinone, OFR, FCA, Senator (Chief) F.K. Bajomo, mni, FCA, Chief Achike Udenwa, FCA (erstwhile Governor, Imo State), Dr. Philip Salawu, FCA (Deputy Governor, Kogi State), Hon. J.J. Ajatta,FCA (Federal House of Representatives), and a host of others. It is by so doing that we can positively influence corporate governance process for the benefit of present and future generations of Nigerians. I have a dream that some day, in no distant future, a chartered accountant will be the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! Indeed, if chartered accountants are in the saddle, the much-desired dividends of democracy will not only be taken for granted but also be reflected in every facets of our national life in terms of improved infrastructural facilities, access to basic amenities, improved standard of living of the citizenry, etc. The time for chartered accountants to act on this clarion call is now. 14. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER PROFESSIONAL BODIES

As a professional body that functions within an integrated global environment, our standards and practices are influenced largely by universally accepted norms. Accordingly, we will continue to maintain our active membership of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), Association of Professional Bodies in Nigerian (APBN), Nigerian Accounting Standards Board (NASB), etc, as a strategy for strengthening our network of technical information and the global acceptability of our products. Let me seize this opportunity to affirm that the Institute will champion the cause of ABWA this year as it did last year because the Presidency of the sub-regional body still resides 10

with us. Accordingly, I will soon be leading ABWA to another meeting of stakeholders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which will ultimately lead to the signing of an agreement on the formation of the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA). This initiative is being sponsored by the World Bank, endorsed by IFAC and the African Development Bank. 15. THE SECRETARIAT

On behalf of Council, let me commend the dedication of staff to the cause of the profession and Institute. I urge all staff to continue to keep the flag flying as we shall continue to reward excellence and sanction inefficiency. A cursory look at the 2009 Financial Statements of the Institute passed at the last Annual General Meeting will reveal that the cost of running the Secretariat is could be brought lower. In the months ahead, the Council, under my leadership, will strive to overhaul the governance/administrative structure, place greater premium on capacity building and appropriate staff disposition in order to make the Secretariat more cost effective, efficient and members friendly. A sense of fiscal responsibility and discipline will be strictly maintained. Similarly, all areas of waste and bottlenecks that impede efficient service delivery will be frontally addressed with a view to eliminating them. 16. APPRECIATION

Todays success story was not and could not have been achieved by my own efforts alone. I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to all my professional colleagues, contemporaries, mentors and friends alike for their wise counsel and invaluable support and encouragement since I became a Council member in 1995. In fact, in the last three years that I underwent the required tutelage as a member of the ICAN Presidency, I had very enriching insight into the mechanism of 11

governance of our Institute and benefited greatly from the wealth of experience of my predecessors in office. I must confess that this exposure was very revealing, reassuring and inspiring. 17. My gratitude will certainly be incomplete if I fail to acknowledge the pioneering roles of our revered past presidents (many of whom are present here today) who blazed the trail in accounting excellence and passed onto us this flag of honour. Indeed, the role of all Past Presidents in my professional tutelage has been very profound. I therefore warmly express a personal sincere word of profound gratitude to my very good friend, Past President A. A. BabingtonAshaye, FCA during whose Presidency, I started this journey as Second Deputy Vice President in 2007. I wish to acknowledge very specially the pioneering roles of all other Past Presidents and the profound impact they had on my socialisation process. In particular, I appreciate the affectionate disposition of (Chief) Dr. R.U. Uche, FCA during whose tenure, I know, I had the greatest insight into the workings of the Presidency of our great Institute. To Chief (Mrs.) E.O.Adegite, MBA, FCA, the Immediate Past President, I am immensely grateful for all you have done. I congratulate you most warmly for the success of your tenure. I cannot thank my professional colleagues enough for saddling me with this arduous responsibility of continuing to provide leadership and chart a more progressive path for the Institute as we prepare to celebrate the nations 50 th Independence Anniversary.

18. I owe you all much more than words can express. I am persuaded that the best way to thank you all is to continue in that dedicated and professional spirit with which you served the Institute and the 12

Accountancy Profession so that we can also hand over to successive generations of chartered accountants, a legacy of honour and pride. Therefore, I make this solemn declaration that I will justify the confidence you reposed on me no matter the enormity of sacrifice involved. I will defend the ICAN ideal at all cost. 19. To all my well-wishers too numerous to mention, I am very

appreciative of your individual and collective support that made this historic day a reality. May the good Lord crown all your endeavours with very resounding successes. Above all, I give the Almighty God the glory for giving me the grace to attain this enviable position in my professional career. It is my fervent prayers that He would imbue me with greater wisdom to discharge this responsibility honourably, diligently and successfully. 20. Permit me distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen to specially appreciate the invaluable role played in my life by my darling wife and better half, Mrs. Theresa Chizomam Owuama, who has lived with and accommodated my inadequacies and frequent absence from home in furtherance of national and professional assignments since we married over 30 years ago. Darling, I must say that you are one in a million! I love and adore you. I pray to Almighty God to grant us good health and long life to enjoy the fruits of our joint efforts. Amen. My children, two boys and a girl, have been so wonderful. I truly appreciate all of you for your understanding and love. You have been a blessing in my life. 21. CONCLUSION

Distinguished professional colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, the Institute is at another threshold of history, which calls for rededication 13

to the noble cause of the Accountancy Profession and humanity at large. At such a time as this, we must abandon our comfort zones, demonstrate great courage by adopting strategies that will place chartered accountants in vantage positions, sustain our competitive edge and move the Institute to sustained prosperity and also champion the cause of professionalism in the management of national resources. Although, the stakes are high, we shall not shy away from taking those critical decisions that will significantly impact on our integrity and ability to create further wealth. Thus, as we set out on this arduous professional journey, I earnestly court the unalloyed support, cooperation Council and and understanding my of members colleagues. of I the am Presidency, all professional

persuaded that as a team, we can overcome all odds and build a profession whose fountain of service will remain pervasive and value driven. 22. Finally, once again, I thank you all most sincerely. I pray the

Almighty God to bless and grant you journey mercies to your respective abode. Long live the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria Long live the Accountancy Profession Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria Maj. Gen S.A.Owuama, B.Sc, FCA 46th President, ICAN Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

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