The 58th president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Tijjani Isa, tells BABATUNDE TUGBOBO about his career, the accountancy profession and other issues
Many accountants choose the profession because they are good with numbers. Was that also the case for you?
Mine was destiny, to put it simply. Also, one cannot be wiser than one’s destiny. Otherwise, the vogue in my time was for the brightest (students) to study medicine.
What will you like to be remembered for as the 58th president of ICAN?
I would like my legacy to be the provision of quantifiable diverse access to information for members’ engagement, growth, and future-readiness, as well as greater public interest impact. I hope that in the final analysis, we would have been able to satisfy the stakeholders’ expectations as much as possible.
You trained locally and internationally. Do you think the education system, as it is currently, is grooming accountants who meet international standards?
Speaking broadly, the challenge with professional education in Nigeria stems from the multiplicity of professional associations. The nation’s legislature and the executive must realise the danger of the proliferation of professional bodies, especially in the accounting profession. ICAN has made its position on this subject known at different fora. The institute’s certification process has been tested for many decades. The syllabus for our professional examinations is in line with the recommendations of the International Federation of Accountants. That is why our members in the Diaspora easily become members of other professional accountancy organisations. There is an urgent need for professional organisations to align with global best practices in their syllabi and avoid anything that could generally bring professional qualifications into disrepute.
In what ways did your time at the London School of Accountancy shape your career as an accountant?
It did in many ways, including the robustness of the syllabi of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the competences of the lecturers, and the diversity of the students. There were students from all over the world, especially, the Commonwealth countries. Students from Africa, especially from Nigeria, were in the majority. Those factors provided a conducive learning environment.
For one who participated in an executive education programme at the Columbia Business School, United States of America, what were the key things you took from your time at the school that you will love to see replicated in the Nigerian education sector?
Attending management courses in those schools/environment convinced me that management is really a science. As for the Nigerian education sector, the critical things include providing the enabling environment from infrastructure to training the teachers, and competitive compensation packages. These will all have to be predicated on adequate funding in both public and private sectors. In Columbia (New York), the environment for learning was really conducive.
Public universities were shut down for months due to a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities. As a member of the governing council of the Federal University Lafia, what do you make of the lecturers’ demands and the government’s failure to meet them, considering that the issues at stake have been unresolved for many years?
The 2009 FG-ASUU agreement is the principal source of the protracted industrial dispute between the government and the lecturers’ union. In 2009, both parties met, discussed and agreed on the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution to replace the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System. Other demands of the union included autonomy and freedom, salary structure, and allowance, funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowance, poor funding of state universities, and promotion arrears.
The demands of the lecturers included increase in the funding of universities. Do you agree that public universities are not properly funded and what measures do you think can be taken to tackle this?
Funding is the key problem confronting Nigeria’s education system. The percentage of the national budget allocated to education annually is extremely low. For instance, what was allocated to education in 2021 and 2022 was about 5.68 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively, and that falls short of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s benchmark of 15 to 20 per cent of the annual budget. Out of this 7.9 per cent in 2022, an even smaller percentage of funds was allocated to tertiary education. Funding is grossly inadequate to remunerate lecturers and facilitate research and infrastructural development. Government must rethink the funding of the education sector and find sustainable ways to revive it. Tertiary institutions should begin to increase their internally generated revenue by making valuable contributions to science, innovation, technology and industry. But, not by penalising students (through strike actions) even though education, realistically speaking, cannot be completely free.
It is widely believed that some bigwigs in the country evade paying taxes, yet they go unpunished. As a federal commissioner in the Federal Tax Appeal Tribunal, what efforts are being made to ensure that more people pay their taxes promptly?
The administration of taxation at the federal level is under the purview of the Federal Inland Revenue Service; and boards of inland revenue service at the state level. The role of the Tax Appeal Tribunal is essentially tax dispute resolutions. Tax evasion is a criminal offence. Addressing the challenge should be by, among other things, sensitising the general public and bringing more people into the tax bracket, enhancing capacity in terms of number of staff and requisite skills, adequate compensation package (to avoid compromise) and effective reward and sanction system.
As an officer trainee at the Bank of the North Limited, what were your duties, and in what ways did it prepare you for the rest of your career?
Please, be reminded that at that time, everything was analogue. As an officer trainee, we were prepared to work as bank officials and to be versatile. We were therefore exposed to all aspects of banking operations — from cashiering (receiving and paying cash) to preparation of loan application documents and the ‘waste’. The waste was like a daily trial balance of the branches. However, I had no intention of pursuing a career in banking, therefore, on my confirmation as an officer, I left for the United Kingdom to study for the ACCA examination.
What were the highlights of your time as the Head of Internal Audit at SCOA Nigeria Limited?
My first challenge was the fact that I was the pioneer internal auditor. My first major assignment was to review the operation of the air conditioners. This was to determine the numbers and types of air conditioners and their physical conditions. The report of the exercise was highly commended by the management in 1992. I was made a part of a team to start up a strategic plan for SCOA Plc Group. The strategic plan was for three years— from 1993 to 1996. The consultants were from Anderson Consulting, an arm of Arthur Andersen.
Over the years, ICAN has provided several platforms for the development of its members. Do you think those programmes have achieved what they were created for?
Our target remains to act in the public interest and boost our contributions to national growth and development. We explore innovative ways to consistently add value to our members and enhance their technical capacities. In doing this, we support our members to add superior value in their various circles of influence. Consequently, our members’ professionalism is being felt across the polity and in all sectors. We will not refrain from creating awareness on the imperative of transparency and accountability in the country. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to instill the core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and credibility across all sectors of the economy. The overall intention is to ensure improvement in our members’ contribution to the transformation of our country.
You once said, ‘Accounting profession is a body of gatekeepers’. Can you expatiate that ideology?
It is a ‘body of gatekeepers’ because the members are usually in charge of money in their various organisations and are expected to ensure it is judiciously spent in line with the internal control processes put in place by the board or its equivalent. On a football field, once the ball passes the goalkeeper, it becomes a goal. Similarly, if an accountant or auditor in an organisation is not alert, the organisation’s money could be frittered away.
Nigeria is believed to have a lot of potential. From your point of view as an accountant, what do you think are the factors stunting the country’s growth towards prosperity for the majority?
The unstable political environment, lack of economic infrastructure, poor access to education, poor health facilities, weak judicial system, and corruption can be said to be responsible. Some of the negative effects of these are reduction or loss of tax revenue, reduction in the purchasing power of citizens, devaluation of assets, brain drain, and economic stagnation.
Nigeria has been rated as one of the poorest countries in the world. What will you attribute the country’s poverty level to?
According to a World Bank report in 2020, as many as four in 10 Nigerians, which is about 40 per cent of the entire populace, live below the national poverty line. More worrisome is the fact that the percentage may rise to about 45 per cent with a total number of about 95 million people by the end of 2022. The report equally claimed that poverty reduction in the country had stagnated since 2015. Poor access to education is one of the devastating causes of poverty in the nation. Currently, we lack a robust educational system to cater for the educational needs of most Nigerians. Over 10 million Nigerian children do not attend school. Education gives many the skills they need to enter the workforce and escape impoverishment. Lack of economic infrastructure, misappropriation of funds, poor access to quality healthcare are additional factors behind the country’s poverty level.
What policy has ICAN put in place to curb unemployment among its members?
The statistics of unemployment rate in the country is alarming. As part of the institute’s public interest mandate, we established the Entrepreneurship Development Centre, and the ICAN-BOI Innovation Plus Hub to address the high rate of unemployment in the country, especially among the youth. Our objective for establishing the EDC was to make our members and interested members of the public job creators and not job seekers. The ICAN-BOI innovation hub is empowering youths through digital skills, competencies, entrepreneurship, and innovations.
What is your opinion on accountants practising without being chartered/or being members of ICAN?
There is a limit to what an accountant can do if not chartered. However, it is not all chartered accountants that can carry out audit engagements to express opinion on an organisation’s financial statements. A chartered accountant can only carry out an audit engagement if they have obtained the practice licence of the professional accountancy oganisation that they belong to after satisfying all the requirements for the licence. Thus, a chartered accountant that does not possess a practice licence cannot legally hold themselves out as auditors; otherwise the law will find the person culpable. The implication is that a chartered accountant with experience can practice as a consultant on other accounting-related services, but not as an auditor.
What are the most significant lessons you have learnt as a leader?
They include the imperativeness of patience, fairness and justice. Others are creating the enabling environment for performance, and then judge by result, based on the evaluation of set criteria.
What is your take on the taxation policies currently in place in Nigeria, and how do they affect the accounting profession?
The Nigerian tax policies are very investor-friendly because avenues are created for dialogues and appeals. However, incessant disagreements between the Federal Government and the states often lead to multiple taxes levied on the taxpayers. Again, the frequency of changes to tax policies leaves much to be desired.
Planning becomes difficult with such frequent changes as the investor cannot predict the government’s next policy direction.
Also, the accounting profession is adversely affected in terms of advising clients. It is difficult to keep abreast of the frequent changes in policy direction.
For the sake of small business owners, can you explain the vital role of proper bookkeeping in the growth of an SME?
The role of SMEs in the economy is pivotal. They bridge the gap of slow growth of the informal sector of the economy. Sadly, research point out that they have not been performing well due to lack of, or limited bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is an important tool for business growth. It is an integral part of the accounting process, in which businesses keep track of their financial transactions in a systematic and logical manner. One of the most significant benefits of good bookkeeping is financial control. Staying fully informed about your business’s financial position fosters informed decisions about progression.
Similarly, cultivating a sublime bookkeeping culture is advantageous for obtaining a loan from financial institutions, attracting investors, and preventing fraud and theft, which could impede the growth of the business. In essence, this is called ‘financial literacy, which is necessary for the proper financial evaluation of the businesses, which is essential to even know whether the business is making profit or not. And, for owners to act accordingly.
What do you recall as the most challenging period of your career?
Well, I am still very much in my career. Of course, there have been ups and downs. But by God’s grace, the challenges have not been unsurmountable, and we are moving.
How would you describe your childhood?
It was a very normal one. I grew up just like other children in the locality.
How do you balance your work and family in a way that none suffers?
I do that by being realistic, and having an understanding family.
Many parents like it when their children follow their career footsteps. Is any of your children practising as an accountant?
Yes, my first daughter is a member of ICAN. The others are professionals in their own rights. I advised them to pursue professional disciplines, but based on their personal interests and capabilities.
How do you unwind?
I rest, read, and go for purposeful visits.
What factors do you consider when choosing your vacation spots?
I don’t go for vacation; I never had that privilege. But when I have the time, I prefer being with my family, going to the village, or to Saudi Arabia for spiritual pilgrimage.
Are your children closer to you or their mum?
They are equally close to both of us.
How did you meet your wife?
I saw her sometime in 1978 walking to Islammiya School on Sokoto Road, Government Reserved Area, Kano. We started dating in September 1979 and got married on July 16, 1983.
What were the qualities that endeared you to her?
Her sincere love for me. She is a good home manager. She brought up our eight children very well. They are all well-mannered. Six of them are already graduates, while two are yet to graduate. Out of the six, two have master’s degrees. One is undergoing while one is about to start his master’s degree, and one is a lawyer, who was called to the Bar in July 2021.
What is your favourite food?
Tuwo and miyaikuka.
What is your favourite colour?
I love white.
How do you like to dress?
Simple and traditional. I feel very comfortable in jeans and T-shirts.
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