Mallam Tijani Musa Isa, 58th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has affirmed that Nigeria must find a permanent solution to the forex crisis.
The development was necessary to enable the country to grow at the desired pace.
Isa,who spoke on Thursday in Lagos during the commemoration of the International Accounting Day 2022 at the ICAN secretariat, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He said without doubt, the Naira has been in an unprecedented pressure against the US Dollars that as at date, with largely insufficient supply at official channels, the Dollar to Naira exchange rate hovers around N780 to N820 in the parallel market
“This has profound implications on inflation, sourcing raw materials and services as well as other productive activities. As a nation, we must find a permanent solution to the forex crisis if we are to develop at the desired pace.
He also stated that several socio-economic imbalances are biting hard on citizens, that the inflation at the end of the third quarter 2022 was 20.77 percent, the highest in seventeen years and this is amidst declining purchasing power of citizens.
To address the problems of inflation, according to the ICAN president, Nigeria must adopt both short and long-term.
He said the Institute acknowledged the Central Bank of Nigeria’s objectives in its recent initiative to redesign the Naira to discourage hoarding of bank notes by members of the public, address the worsening shortage of clean banknotes and reduce the increasing risk and ease of counterfeiting.
“While ICAN would soon release its position on this policy initiative, it suffices to say that the CBN should consider the views of the various stakeholders and ensure that critical issues(such as the cost of designing and printing the new currency notes, the timing of the policy, the policy’s likely impact on inflation and exchange rates) are satisfactorily addressed.
Speaking, he said that the problem of brain drain in Nigeria is worrisome, that while the phenomenon is not peculiar to Nigeria, all must however take deliberate steps as a nation to stem the tide.
“Unfortunately, the quality of our certification makes our members more desirable for jobs outside our shores. The weak socio-economic environment of our dear nation has not made it easier to persuade our local talent to stay.We therefore encourage managers of our economy to create an enabling business and regulatory environment that would elicit professionals’ interests in staying back to build our nation.
He said ICAN is contributing its part in developing the entrepreneurial skills of its members, but an enabling environment is required for professionals to deploy their full potentials in job creation and employment generation.
He said that the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA), the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) and other Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAOs) all over the world are equally celebrating this day in their various jurisdictions and that this shows the global nature of the event and the premium placed on the Accounting profession.
Isa noted that the profession has evolved since 1494 and accountants are globally acknowledged for the great work they do to make businesses thrive, support the economy, and help people navigate the complexities of finance.