FG Inaugurates FRC Board, Seeks Improved World Bank Ranking

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, yesterday inaugurated the Board of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC).

The board is made up of 23 members and has Adedotun Sulaiman as the Chairman and Daniel Asapokhai as the Executive Secretary/CEO.

Enelamah said the reconstitution of the council was significant given the critical role of the FRC in ensuring that economic agents in Nigeria produce and publish high quality financial information that underpin the efficient working of the capital markets and the overall economy.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 9, 2017, appointed Sulaiman and Asapokhai to work with a new board that would chart a new direction for FRC towards effective and efficient delivery of the council’s mandates.

FRC is responsible for developing and publishing accounting and financial reporting standards to be observed in the preparation of financial statements of public entities in Nigeria.

Its duty is also to ensure the highest standards among auditors and other professionals engaged in the financial reporting process and enhance the credibility of financial reporting.

“The inauguration of a new FRC board will help restore full board oversight to the council and thereby enable the organization to carry out its mandates more effectively,” Enelamah said.

The minister reiterated Nigeria’s desire to create an enabling environment for investment, saying government is irrevocably committed to moving Nigeria up at least 20 places in the global Ease of Doing Business Rankings conducted by World Bank and attaining the 100th position by the time the mandate of the present government terminates in 2019.

Nigeria made the top 100 ranking but has since slid down the pecking order as it is presently ranked 169.th

Enelamah said investors would only take the country seriously if there is marked improvement in its ease of doing business rating which is tied to an environment that gives investors and other stakeholders increased confidence that their interests are protected.

Sulaiman, who expressed gratitude to the president for appointing him, said the council would raise the quality of financial reporting and corporate governance international benchmark.

He said the FRC, going forward, would be more consultative, less belligerent and less controversial in the discharge of its statutory duty without being any less firm, assertive, authoritative and effective.