Our attention has been drawn to a publication in the Guardian Newspaper of 10th March 2021 authored by a certain Dr Innocent Okwuosa. Ordinarily, this would not have attracted any response whatsoever from us because it has become a routine for members of a certain professional body with a vested interest to hide under any availing cloak to throw missiles and constitute themselves as a clog in the wheels of progress of enacting the Bill to establish The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria. It remains to be said, however, that the wheels may progress slowly, but surely and their antics may only slow the process, but shall not abort the birth of The Chartered Institute of Forensics and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria.
To start with, Dr Innocent Okwuosa is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and ICAN for whatever reason, has nominated itself as the chief spoiler in the works that should give birth to the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria. Thus, as a starting point, therefore, we are not surprised that the publication in question emanated from him.
Ordinarily, the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals in Nigeria have now gotten accustomed to the needless attacks from professional bodies who otherwise should have been at the forefront of the fight against corruption, we have left everything to God and indeed the Nigerian Legislature whose astute knowledge of issues have made it possible for them to see in between the lines and to understand that the campaign and propaganda against the passage of this bill appear to be nothing more than the handiwork of those that may be rightly regarded as the enemies of this Nation.
Now that they seem to have exhausted the limits of their attacks and opposition to the bill in the name of Professional bodies, they seem to have now adopted other tactics, that is, engaging individuals clothed in various regalia but engaging in the same enterprise of trying to kill the bill for the establishment of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals in Nigeria.
Dr Innocent Okwuosa alleged that “The speed of lightning with which the Senate passed this bill shows it is more important to them than the security challenges confronting the Country presently or the present economic sufferings of the citizens, none of which has attracted any bill from the Senate”. Our simple response to the above assertion of Okwuosa is first, this is rather uncharitable and undermining the tremendous efforts and sacrifices the Senate and indeed the leadership of the National Assembly has put in place to assuage the present situation for anyone to make such sweeping and unguarded statement. This allegation shows clearly that Dr Okwuosa who prides himself as a statesman lacks not only a basic understanding of the working of the Legislature, he clearly has not followed the activities of the National Assembly in recent times, otherwise, he would have known that the senate has moved several motions, passed several resolutions and severally debated the issue of insecurity in Nigeria and ways by which the menace can be tackled. Or perhaps Dr. Okwuosa only follows the activities of the National Assembly when it concerns the Bill for an Act to establish the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals in Nigeria.
The fact that Dr Okwuosa is nothing more than a sponsored mercenary is exemplified when he commented that “There was no public hearing on the current bill, but a mad rush, a hasty passage, designed to take them unaware.” This sentence in his campaign begs the question, “who are the “them” that will be taken unaware”? Maybe we could proffer the answer; those who don’t want things to work in Nigeria, those who know that the passage of the Bill has become a threat to their long practices of sleeve corrupt practices, those who think they own Nigeria and expect the Senate or the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to be answerable to them, those who pride themselves as saints meanwhile are milking dry the Nigeria System or their various establishments, and most importantly, those who have avowed that they will ensure that the Bill is not passed by the National Assembly; these are the people that have indeed been caught unaware.
What has become surprising is the fact that Dr Okwuosa despite his acclaimed knowledge of the workings of the Legislature, has failed to drive home his ill-equip point to understand that the bill has undergone rigorous public hearing sessions; We strongly take exception to the deliberate and calculated insults targeted at our lawmakers, Dr Okwuosa should have told the world of his personal grievance with the Senate President rather than disparaging his person on the worthy title bestowed on him by the Institute. Dr Okwuosa should know that if he distinguishes himself not in the manner he is currently doing, the institute is always ready and willing to partner with patriots.
Dr Okwuosa alluded albeit wrongly that there were fundamental flaws on the bill though passed by the eight Assembly as a result of which the President declined assent to the bill. However, Dr Okwuosa did not mention what those flaws are on the basis of which presidential accent was denied the bill. To give Dr Okwuosa some elementary education, whenever a Presidential accent to a bill is declined on the basis of flaws as alluded to by Dr Okwuosa, there will be a communication to the National Assembly pointing to the perceived flaws. We, therefore, invite Dr Okwuosa to avail us of the communication from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria disclosing that accent to the bill was declined on the basis of perceived flaws and what those flaws are.
The tone of Dr Okwuosa’ comments is regrettable. To say that the introduction of the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professional of Nigeria (Est) Bill 2021, and refereeing to the Members of the National Assembly of Nigeria as “quacks” is, to say the least disrespectful, Dr Okwuosa should know that he cannot because of his pecuniary interest or vested interest speak to Nigerians as if we are under his tutelage, we remind him that Nigeria is not an extension of his association where he prides himself as a president or a body where he sits as a member of a governing body, Nigeria cannot remain at a standstill simply because you want to be a promoter of a group, Nigeria is bigger than any one of us.
It is rather preposterous to suggest that member of The Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria (Est) Bill 2021 are quacks or into quackery or the members of the National Assembly for that matter. The usage of gutter language in an otherwise supposed noble cause can easily explain the motive of Dr Okwuosa. We are really taken aback; Dr Okwuosa, we once knew you as a fine breed, what happened to you? The Okwuosa we know would have sought audience with even the National Assembly or the Promoters, this is certainly not the Man we were looking forward to working with in the actualisation of the core mandate of the fight against corruption, we acknowledge your vulnerability as human, perhaps the human nature got the better part of you. Like we have said, we do not have a personal grudge against you but the position you have taken which is against the generality of the wishes of the Nigerian People cannot be supported.
Suffice to state here that the level of animosity of Dr Okwuosa in the above online publication appears familiar but leaves much to be desired. Be informed the fight against corruption is real and the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals in Nigeria is ready and prepared to assist towards the realization of that goal.
Global best practice examples today indicate a gradual bifurcation between core accounting bodies and emerging forensic and investigative bodies. For instance, in most Commonwealth jurisdictions such as Canada and India, forensic bodies exist as an independent profession distinct from the existing accounting bodies while in the United States, following the enactment of the Sarbanes –Oxlay Act of 2002 in response to the multi-billion-dollar accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom, the emphasis is now placed on the need for independence, objectivity and professional scepticism. In England, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) established by royal charter in 1880, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA) exists separately from forensic bodies. Zimbabwe, Ghana and South Africa which are smaller African countries have separate bodies for forensic, and Dr Okwuosa is fighting against the global best practice in Nigeria simply because this noble idea is not coming from a particular professional body. The irony of the whole thing is the same people who opposed forensics have now introduced a bill at the House of representative. Please tell them that they are already overwhelmed with the management of their members. Forensic is broad and cannot be narrowed the way some are thinking. Where were they when CIFIPN has been training professionals in this field since 2014? Why do they want to stop CIFIPN Bill simply because it does not emanate from them? Please corruption must stop in this country by all means.
It is interesting to note that while some professional bodies appear contented with the current mechanisms for accountability and will do everything imaginable to frustrate any agitation for a paradigm shift from existing approaches to globally accepted practices, available statistics on the losses suffered by private and public practices as a result of weak anti-fraud mechanisms should ordinarily be worrisome to any patriotic Nigeria, and in furtherance constitute huge worries to the opposition group; that with all their knowledge, sophisticated fraud are still being committed in our country. According to the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) as reported in the Nation Newspaper of June 21, 2018, Nigerian banks lost 12.30bn to fraud in the last four years. According to the Managing Director of NIBBS recorded fraud volume in Nigerian banks increased from 1,461 in 2014 to staggering 25,043 cases in 2017. Where were the know it all professionals when all these were happening in Nigeria?
It is an established fact that Governments at all levels are losing billions of Naira to fraud, and most criminal cases bordering on corruption, fraud and Cyber Crimes are lost partly due to a lack of investigators. According to Femi Falana, prosecution of financial fraud in Nigeria is hampered partly by lack of experienced investigators and prosecutors and where they exist they are overwhelmed or overstretched. We need not mention here that government agencies and multinational corporations spend huge sums out of the scarce foreign exchange to retain expatriates forensic and investigative professionals to come and unravel complex cases of fraud. These are some of the considerations and lapses that necessitated the promotion of the CIFIPN Bill. We do believe that the passage of the Bill will impact positively the war against fraud and corruption in Nigeria while helping in redeeming the global image of our dear country with respect to fraud, corruption and Cyber Crimes.
16. In rejecting this sustained effort by some group to stop the establishment of CIFIPN in Nigeria, we wish to emphasize that it is the prerogative of the National Assembly pursuant to section 4(2) of item 49, part I of the Second Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended to establish and grant a parliamentary charter to deserving professional disciplines like CIFIPN.
We are therefore calling on the National Assembly, the Presidency, the general public to ignore Dr Okwuosa and his enablers as desperados engaged in the moves of a drowning man who can even ignore the sharpness of the edge of a blade in a bid to stay afloat for safety.
We, therefore, urge all well-meaning Nigerians in all spheres of endeavours to support this noble cause of entrenching an institutionalized framework that is targeted at fighting fraud, corruption and cybercrimes at its conception stage for the robust benefits of all Nigerians.
Dr (Mrs) Enape Victoria Ayishetu, PhD, FCFIA, FCNA, FCTI, FCFA, CFE, CPFA, MNIM is the Pro-tem President, Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Professionals of Nigeria (CIFIPN)
The author of a book titled Practical Steps on Forensic Auditing and Fraud Investigation
www.cifian.org
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