A Deputy Vice Chancellor with the Nasarawa State University, Professor Musa Inuwa Fodio has urged accountants to simplify accounting information, so as to enable common man on the street demand for accountability from the government and by so doing, contribute to the ongoing war against graft.

Prof Fodio made this call during the university’s 18th inaugural lectures series in Keffi. 

According to him, “When I talked about social accountability, I am demystifying accounting and accounting reports, so that, a common man on the street can understand the information we reel out to the public. That was why I said, social accountability has to do with deconstructing accounting for public interest.

Fodio explained that the role of accountants is essentially to serve the public. He therefore, asked accountants to do their reports in such a way as the common man can understand.

“The obligation of an accountant is to serve the public, even though, I deconstructed to say that, accountants should begin to redefine the relevant public, I insisted that the real public must be served. And, the real public are common men on the street. The common man on the street must begin to use accounting information to hold political office holders and those charged with the responsibility of managing our resource to account.”

He reiterated that for the ordinary Nigerians to be empowered to join government in the ongoing war against graft, they must equip with the required information.

According to the professor of accounting, the people can be empowered to ask the following questions: “How have you managed our resources, tell us how much you collected, tell us how much you spent, tell us how your spendings has actually impacted the common man. The common man should be able to use accounting information to ask lots of questions.

“As things are now, the common man finds it difficult to demand for accountability because accounting information has been made so complicated for him to understand. 

“The whole lecture is about, how do we begin to simplify this information for the common man, so that, he can determine which government is accountable and which is not. 

“How do we begin to hold government accountable and to punish public officials who are not accountable?”  



source: https://crusadersiii./2018/07/18/simplify-accounting-information-to-help-anti-graft-war-prof-fodio/