Mr. Linus Nkan, Hon. Commissioner for Finance, and Pastor Uwem Andrew-Essien, Accountant General, Akwa Ibom state, at a summit on anti-corruption for Akwa Ibom state government Accountants and Auditors.
By Abasifreke Effiong, Uyo
Akwa Ibom state government Accountants and Auditors have completed a-two day training on detection and reduction of fraud, corruption and related crimes within the civil service of the State.
The summit organised by the Office of the Accountant General Akwa Ibom state, for Accountants and Auditors in the civil service aimed to improve the capacity of the trainees to spot and identify fraud, and check corrupt financial practices in government finance records.
The anti-corruption summit also aimed to strengthen the integrity of government finance records by reducing errors, mistakes and all forms of anomalies capable of rendering such documents unreliable and invaluable.
Some of the topics discussed at the summit include, “Understanding Fraud, Corruption and Anti-corruption”, “Principles and Practices of Emotional Intelligence & Effective Internal Control Audit and Work Review Process.”
The Commissioner for Finance, Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Linus Nkan, said the training will keep the trainees on sound footing on trends in financial fraud and corruption to watch out for in their MDAs.
He said papers presented at the summit were carefully selected, thoroughly researched and well presented.
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Mr. Nkan thanked the Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, for approving the training, which he said would go a long way to strengthen their resistance against corruption.
The Commissioner lauded the Accountant General’s vision and foresight at organising the workshop saying, he is a man who believes in capacity-building for increased productivity.
The State Accountant General, Pastor Uwem Andrew-Essien, said financial fraud has ravaged many countries and crashed many systems, hence the need to train those in-charge of keeping government’s financial records to be abreast of fraud and corruption red flags.
He said the state government is committed to stamp out all forms of irregularities in it’s financial record keeping and errors in it’s reporting system.
The Accountant General thanked Governor Udom Emmanuel, for approving the training, expressed optimism that the trainees would be more efficient in checking fraud in their respective offices.
The summit which was coordinated by the Anti-corruption Academy of Nigeria, ACAN, has as it’s theme, “Arts and Practice of System Integrity and Value Governance as Panacea to Curbing Corruption”.
Provost of ACAN, Prof. Olatunde Babawale, said frequent training of Accountants and Auditors who are professional financial administrators will help checkmate financial fraud and corruption.
“We believe that fraud, corruption and related crimes can be controlled and managed through a system of training and retraining that will produce sound anti-corruption policies, operational efficiency and management culture”.
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Prof. Babawale implored Accountants and Auditors to keep and maintain proper and adequate records of income and expenditure, assets and liabilities in their various MDAs, such records he noted would help track cash flow, check financial fraud and corruption.
Information Officer, Office of the Accountant General, Dayeabasi Godsien, reports that participants at the summit held on 26th and 27th August at the ICT centre, Office of the Accountant General, were given certificate at the end of the training.
