Governor urges accountants to key into anti-corruption war

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Friday urged accountants in the state to key into the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari and promote transparency in their duties.

Ambode, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, said this at the opening of the 8th Annual Accountants Retreat, organised by the state Ministry of Finance.

The theme of the three-day retreat is: 'Public Sector Accountants as Agents of Change'.

The governor charged the accountants to promote accountability and support the state government’s efforts to reduce cost of governance.

He urged them to be agents of positive change and employ universally accepted principles of accounting to provide solutions to financial challenges that government faced.

"This three-day retreat is a veritable platform for policy review, evaluation and formulation by the state's public servants.

"It also serves as a clarion call for the application of our competencies in addressing the myriad of challenges facing our economy presently.

"We must transcend from being mere accountants and become public finance managers who will use innovation and creativity to ensure efficient management of resources as well as expand our resource base.

"There is a need for us as accountants to be agents of change by keying into the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Treasury Single Account policy," he said.

Ambode urged the accountants to ensure strict adherence to the rules and ethics of the profession and pledged government's commitment to the enhancement of skills and capacity building.

Umar said there would be no improvement without change and emphasised the need to meet up with the dynamics of global public finance management.

In her remarks, Mrs Olabowale Ademola, the Head of Service in the state, commended Gov. Ambode for initiating and approving the retreat.

Ademola urged participants to discuss deeply and apply the lessons from the retreat to improve their competence in the management of the state's finances.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor initiated the annual retreat in 2006 when he was the state’s Accountant-General.