Lagos State to fight corruption with forensic accounting

Lagos State Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke, at a 2-day Forensic Accounting workshop for Accountants and Auditors in the Public Service has stated that the State Government is set to fight corruption and ensure zero tolerance to fraud which has made the country an object of ridicule in the comity of nations.

Akintola further said that the objective of the workshop is to train the workforce on Forensic Accounting skills to fight corruption to the barest minimum, develop appropriate controls and install fraud detection programmes.

According to him, “In today’s highly competitive commercially driven world, almost everyone is a potential victim of fraud and other criminal activities: it seems to be a cost of doing business and a way of life.”

He noted that the advent of computers, internet and complex accounting systems has made it easier to perpetrate fraud, adding that fraud has been labeled the fastest growing crime with the outcome of financial loss which undermines public support for government thereby reducing available resources for development.

The Commissioner stated that fraud and other crime has become the crime of the millennium with no respect for boundaries as it weaves its web of deceit from one country to another.