Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate says he will ensure all arms of government undergo routine audits if he emerges as the president of Nigeria.
Obi is among the top candidates in the Nigerian presidential election to be held in February next year.
He said, “As President, one of my priorities will rule of law and due diligence, and promoting intangible assets, which are vital components of holistic security. This will also underpin public sector accountability.
“We will abide by the Fiscal responsibility laws. All arms of government will be subject to routine audit; this is the only way to ascertain the veracity of procurement figures, recurrent and concurrent expenses, even constituency projects.”
The former Anambra State governor spoke on Wednesday at the 52nd annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Speaking on the theme, ‘Accounting as a requisite for sustainable governance,’ Obi claimed that incompetence in financial records totally distorts intended development.
“If we cannot properly account for our finances, the country is finished,” he said and charged accountants to do more to check and stop corruption in Nigeria.
According to Obi, he had outlined a three-tracked plan aimed at achieving Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said, “Second, pursuant to Goal 9 of the SDGs our administration will from its inception continue to encourage investment in infrastructure, energy, transportation, irrigation, and telecoms to grow these and other sectors.
“We will expand the frontiers of financial inclusion to ensure that SMEs have greater access to credit to grow. We will work with financial institutions to improve their ability to identify credit worthy borrowers; and support inventory financing, which will help to unlock finance for SMEs dealing with high account receivables.
“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 industrialisation and when borrowing is unavoidable, it will be strictly for production.”