President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday vowed to
strengthen his anti-corruption campaign, noting that
his administration would not spare anyone found
guilty of corrupt practices.

He also vowed to reinvigorate all anti-corruption
agencies in the country such as the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission.

Buhari said this at the opening session of the 45th
Annual Accountants Conference and 50th
Anniversary celebration of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of Nigeria.

The conference with the theme “ICAN: Building on a
legacy of service” is the single largest gathering of
chartered accountants in the country.

The President in his address delivered by the
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance,
Mrs. Anastasia Nwaobia, stated that the lack of
prudence, transparency and honesty in the
management of public resources had left Nigerians
in poverty.
He called on ICAN to assist his administration in
reversing the trend by ensuring that the resources of
government were duly accounted for with all sense of
transparency.

He said, “We are at the threshold of history where we
must collectively take the destiny of the nation in our
hands. As Nigerians, no one can love Nigeria like you
and I. On our part, we will continue to lead by
example making efforts to live above board.
“As we strive to walk our talk, we will carry to its
logical conclusions our initiative to overhaul the
bureaucracy of the public sector in an effort to
engender transparency and improve productivity in
public governance.

“In addition, we will reinvigorate the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses
Commission such that the processes of
accountability in public governance are reinforced.

“I assure you that persons found wanting will not be
spared.”

He said with the huge number of resources at the
country’s disposal, Nigerians had no business with
poverty.

The President said his administration had
commenced the process of rebuilding a better
country for all through the enthronement of honesty
in the management of public resources.

While admitting that the battle for the enthronement
of the right values would be difficult, Buhari said his
administration was committed to effecting a change
in the nation’s value system.

Earlier, the President of ICAN, Mr. Samuel Deru, had
said that the nation’s economy needed surgical and
drastic reforms beyond what he described as
“cosmetic privatisation of government companies.”

These reforms, he added, should begin with plugging
of all revenue leakages, revisiting and redefining
priorities, slashing of cost of governance, and
investing more in capital goods.

Others are enforcing fiscal discipline and leveraging
the country’s huge natural and human resource
endowment to reposition its path to sustained
growth and development.

He also called on the government to make the budget
cycle a subject of legislation in order to enhance
budgeting ethics and effective implementation
processes.”

He said, “In spite of the current challenges, as a body,
we are persuaded that integrity and public interest as
cherished virtues, will continue to underlie good
governance and economic prosperity.”