*Wants NNPC officials to resign for incompetence

*With stolen N109bn linked to an Accountant, ICAN should watch its members

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Wednesday declared that corruption in Nigeria is a big Elephant in the Room that must be exited for the house to be properly deployed.

Obi said that is exactly what he plans to do if elected Nigeria President, as he intends to take corruption headlong.

Speaking at the 52rd Annual Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Conference in Abuja on the theme ‘Accounting as a requisite for Sustainable Governance,’ Obi said: “It is no secret that corruption has been endemic and one of the biggest obstacles to our economic progress in Nigeria. Corruption is the big elephant in the room.

“In the past few days, we have seen videos of illegal pipelines connected to national oil pipeline networks, running for kilometers… where billions of dollars that should have been used for development and welfare, have been illegally siphoned away, for up to nine years , according to reports .

“What I first expected was that the hierarchy of our top oil management bureaucracy will immediately resign, because without mincing words, this is irrefutable evidence of their incompetence, if not collaboration. My administration, when we come in, will tackle this corruption head on. We will have zero tolerance for corruption.”

Referring to the involvement of Accountants in Corruption in Nigeria Obi said “If you look at the written financial regulations in any establishment, you will see watertight regulations of auditing, vetting, tendering, vouchering, joint signatories and other safeguards, designed to check embezzlement and corruption, yet these sharp practices and misappropriated sums continue to rise, and I understand that there is now a Nigerian record of almost N109 billion allegedly embezzled by an accountant.”

He then enjoined ICAN as a profession of honor to “increase the level of peer surveillance and internal discipline among your ranks , if we cannot properly account for our finances , the country is finished , let us as accountants, do more to check and stop corruption” Obi charged them

The LP Candidate said that Accounting is in fact a requisite in ensuring sustainable governance and a stabilising factor in development as Proper accounting serves as checks on the activities of the three arms of government as well as the three tiers of government.

Obi also spoke on the level of fiscal discipline he’s intends to bring into the system to block wastages and proper utilization of available resources.

On loans and borrowing Obi said “to ensure sustainability and resilience, we will stop borrowing for consumption. All loans must be invested in regenerative projects. We shall pursue a drastic reduction in cost of governance and corruption; improve ease of doing business to attract Foreign Direct Investment to jumpstart industrialization and when borrowing is unavoidable, it will be strictly for production”