The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has faulted Federal Government’s wholesale adoption of foreign policies and programmes without recourse to the nation’s peculiar socio-political and economic realities.

Its National President, Mrs. Comfort Eyitayo, who made the submission yesterday during a royal reception for her team by the Akarigbo and paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, in Sagamu, Ogun State, warned that adopting foreign templates “hook line and sinker” to solve Nigeria’s problems might further compound the nation’s woes.

Further speaking at the event, organised by the Remo Growth and Development Foundation (Remo GDF), she noted that the habit had not yielded desired result, urging a bottom-up approach to development of policies.

Eyitayo regretted that the most populous black nation was struggling under the weight of intractable corruption, wanton destruction of life and property, poor socio-economic indices and weak institutions.

She said: “The current approach of adopting foreign policies and programmes, hook line and sinker, to address local challenges may lead the country to perpetually grope in the dark of underdevelopment.

“Evidence has shown that, over the years, national priorities are not adequately reflected in most of these global policies and programmes.

“When it becomes necessary to import foreign policies, then the managers of the country should do a smart adaptation of such policies to meet the peculiarities of our socio-political and economic dispositions.”

The ICAN boss urged government to assign constitutional roles to traditional rulers, stating, “the traditional institution should fully be involved in any policy intervention to address the increasing and discouraging negative trends in the country.”

She added: “We are of the opinion that the rich and invaluable knowledge of traditional rulers should be leveraged in building a nation we would all be proud of.”

In his remarks, the monarch, who is also ICAN member, canvassed building of strong institutions to curb excesses of leaders, challenging the accountants to come up with suggestions and solutions to some of the problems confronting the country.

Oba Ajayi also called on government to give constitutional roles to traditional rulers, stressing that monarchs should be carried along in the formulation of policies that affect the people at the grassroots.