ICAN faults calls for devaluation of Naira

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, yesterday faulted individuals and groups calling for the devaluation of the nation’s currency, saying they were not sincere as devaluing the Naira would create more problems for the country.


The institute urged Nigerians to show understanding and not to pressurize President Muhammadu Buhari to devalue the Naira because since the country was not an exporting economy, it would be foolhardy to devalue the nation’s currency. Jos District ICAN Chairman, Mr. Pam Gyang, who spoke with journalists at the “Catch Them Young” programme organized by the District alongside ICAN national body to sensitize school children on the need to have interest in the accounting profession, pleaded with Nigerians to patience until the dollar stabilized. He commended the federal government on her fight against corruption and insecurity and charged her not to neglect the economy, stressing the need for the diversification of the economy to boost growth. Gyang said: “Accountants are disciplined people; we abhor corruption so we support the fight against it but the economy is backward. We have been advising government but politics override our advice. What we failed to do in the past is affecting us today. We need to diversify the economy. No country survives without borrowing. We can borrow but we should not devalue the naira. We should not be in a hurry to devalue the naira because we are not exporting anything. ”Devaluing the naira will create more problems for us. We should be patience and not behave as if without dollars we can’t live, when we have patience, the dollar will stabilize.” He added that the 400 students from 26 secondary schools across the state were assembled in Jos and encouraged to aspire to be chartered accountants because of dearth of chartered accountants in the country, saying a situation where there were “only 39, 000 available chartered accountants in the country does not augur well for the country.”