Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has taken steps towards entrenching a more effective digital accounting system that would meet the growing demands of the agency.
Speaking at a two-day NAMA Accountants Retreat which held in Lagos, Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu said the programme was borne out of “the agency’s commitment towards promoting transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline in the system, stressing that it had become imperative to reposition NAMA and its business transactions to comply with the dynamic world of technology especially as it affects the aviation sector.”
Capt. Akinkuotu who charged staff of the agency to embrace technology said “the recently issued Federal Government Executive Orders on the ease of doing business in the country demands that we carry out our business transactions on an e-basis”, adding that management would support the finance department in its quest for the best available technology that would meet industry best practices and also enhance efficiency in service delivery.
While allaying the fears that automation of business transactions would lead to job losses, the NAMA boss expressed confidence that the interactive nature of the retreat would give staff the opportunity to use their professional expertise to brainstorm on possible challenges in the system and also devise new initiatives of finding solutions targeted at improving the agency’s procedures using the benefit of e-business. Earlier in his remarks, the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr Aniefiok Umoh called for the cooperation of staff as the agency transits from the “manual system of preparing financial and management information reports to automated processes” granted that “everything in our environment is going electronic.”
“If it is not e-learning, it is e-commerce. If not e-business, then it is e-transaction and NAMA cannot afford to be left behind,” Aniefiok said. Also in his remarks, the General Manager, Finance, Mr. David Akpan said accounting just like any other profession is passing through a dynamic phase and that the role of accountants will continue to undergo a series of changes. Akpan who tasked accountants to strive to remain relevant in the emerging e-accounting system noted however that those who continue to play by the old rules may lose out in the automation equation. The 2017 NAMA Accountants Retreat with the theme: Positioning the e-Accountant for e-Business Transactions, is aimed at inter alia, finding more efficient ways of revenue generation and collection, developing cost reduction strategies and enhancing financial information reporting through improved technology.