 The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICANN, is advocating better transparency and accountability as it will result in improved governance in Nigeria. President of ICANN, Innocent Okosa, who said this on the sidelines of a presidential dinner organized in his honor by the Lagos and District Society, said since 2017 the Institute has developed a framework to check the level of accountability in the management of public finance. More details in this report. Dignitry is from within the Lagos and District Society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICANN, gathered to host their 59th president. It is also time to inaugurate their new excursion of the FBN chapter. The feather-first chairman of the Lagos and District Society, Tony Abyar Salami, welcomes all present. Which reflects on the journey so far, while restating the district's staffer's commitment to inspire the next generation of accountants. We have remained steadfast in our commitment to excellence. Noted in initiatives such as the Catch them young program was also held in November, which hosted over 200 students. While chartered members of the noble profession, wine and dine, issues affecting accountants globally take center stage at the interactive session. In the chat with ICANN president, he is quick to share insight on transparency and accountability in the public finance space. And what we have discovered is that the level of accountability and transparency is low for some states. Some states are taking the bottom five lowest performance states and we have been advocating for this better transparency. Because we believe that when there is better transparency and accountability, then there is an improved governance because the various arms of government will be able to state what these funds are used for and how the funds impact on the life of the citizens. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants, Global Economic Confidence Survey, shows the clining confidence among accountants globally for the fair consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2023, consistent with a further moderation in global growth. What is being done to drive confidence in young people to the profession and what does the future hold for the industry? As a district every year we have all these programs that we carry out during the year. One of them is the Catch them young program where we go to schools within our catchment area, we visit them, we give books, we give presents, we do quizzes, we try to encourage them to become accountants. This year alone we had one in November and we intend to have another one on the 28th of February and all this is all done with sponsors and people who come together just to encourage our young ones to become accountants. So what has happened in the profession is that globally, especially in the western world, the profession is no longer attracting the young ones. And of course you know where you don't have young ones, the tendency is that the profession is going to get into extinction. But in ICANN, which is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, we have a program targeted at the young ones. We call it Catch them young program and because of that our program we have been able to attract young ones to the profession. It's presented to outstanding members of the district for exceptional service and dedication. Justin Akadone, plus TV News leaders.