On Thursday, May 18, 2023, the Nigerian Army Resource Center, Asokoro , Abuja , was agog with activities. That day marked the launch of a book written by the Chief of Account and Budget in Nigeria Navy Rear Admiral (Dr). Kashimu Bushi. (Ph.D), a man the public can rely on where trust, honesty, and accountability are required.
Titled: “Fundamentals of Nigerian Public Finance and Accounting”, it was presented to the reading public as a jewel that will advance the public account sector and help enhance innovation and accountability in Nigeria’s public finance. It is the third book from the stable of Rear Admiral Bushi.
The book launch was well attended by many distinguished Nigerians from all walks of life. Prominent among those who graced occasion included royal fathers, top military officers, politicians, captain of industries. These included but not limited to the , Emir of Lafia, Hon. Justice Sidi Bage Mohammed 1, and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero , the Chief of Naval Staff,, Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Sen. George Sekibo, Prof. Ibrahim Saleh, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State and other prominent Nigerians.
In his remarks, Rear Admiral Bush explained that the book was written in response to the u to adequately prepare young graduates and newly employed accountants in public sector for the job. He said he also realized that throughout his 29 years of service in the public sector and indeed in the Nigerian Navy, most work experiences in different sphere of endeavours were not documented.
According to him, accounting graduates are not exposed to the practical issues in public sector accounting and those that are newly employed in the public sector are not well equipped with the knowledge of public sector financial management and accounting.
“Even public sector accountants are barely exposed to the regulatory aspect of public sector accounting, which often serves as a guide to accounting functions. Suffice to state that most accountants in government sectors improve their knowledge and skills of public financial management and accounting through safe efforts. Therefore, there is need to involve professional training of the public accountants.
“This informs the publication of this book to add value to the existing body of knowledge in the field of public finance and accounting in Nigeria.
“The accountants, as we know, are the key driver of government financial management system, which is key to economic development and prosperity because all policies are hinged on finance, budget and the accountants are the key implementers of our budgets,” he said.
Bushi said that getting it right at the training stage would help the finance managers and accountants to have the knowledge of implementing policies effectively and would impact the achievements or success of the budget.
He added that developing the knowledge and skills of accountants would help in improving the performance of the national budget. The book also provides the requisite knowledge on public sector financial management and accounting.
The Chief of Transformation (Navy), Rear Admiral Okon Eyo, who represented the Chief of Naval Staff, described the author as forthright officer with high sense of dedication and passion to service.
Rear Admiral Eyo said the senior officer had continued to make the Nigerian Navy proud both in service to navy and contribution to national development, adding that Rear Admiral. Bushi was a disciplined officer and a go-getter. According to him, it is a clear reflection of the attitude he brings to bear in his primary responsibility as the Chief of Accounts and Budget and the books that are churned out.
“He is quite becoming a prolific writer because this is the third book in quick succession and they are all on financial subjects.
“So I think he is trying to share his experience and the knowledge he has gathered both in classroom as students and practically on the on the job so people can learn from it,” he said.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Sen. George Sekibo, commended the author for giving back to the public his wealth of knowledge through the book. And he charged the author to continue to write more books so that Nigerians could learn and benefit from his knowledge as the country would be better for it.
The book, presented to the reading public by the Institute of Governance and Leadership Studies in Africa (IGLSA), was reviewed by Prof. Ibrahim Saleh, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State.
A lecture with the theme: Public Financial Management and Accounting: Impact on the Nigerian Economy’ was delivered by Prof. ABC Akujuobi, a former Head of the Financial Department, Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
Who really is Rear Admiral Bushi? Kasimu Bushi was born on 5 April 1968 in Kumbo, Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State. As someone who is mindful of what he wanted to become in life, he wasted no time to advance his academic pursued. He started his primary and secondary education early and gain admission in one of the prestigious Universities in the country, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree (B.Sc.) in accounting in 1991.
Rear Admiral Bushi did his National Youth Service with Dayo Oloje & Co (Chartered Accountant) in Akure, Ondo State and completed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 1992.
After his service years, he enlisted into the Nigerian Navy on 23 August, 1993 and was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant on 23 August, 1994. He rose through the ranks. He became Rear Admiral in 2022, a course of direction which remains his career pursued till date.
It is this undeniable zeal to serve the nation that made him join the prestigious Nigerian military force. Bushi has become a true iconic example of a citizen who places national interest above personal one, whose passion is to serve the nation with his life inborn.
The personality of Bushi is very amassing; humble, patriotic, loyalty, perseverance, hardworking and dedicated to service. In Nigeria today, the desire for self-attainment and self-aggrandizement has taken a center stage rather than patriotic service to fatherland. Leadership challenges have contributed immensely to the current problems faced in the country such as corruption, banditry, militancy, kidnappings, rubbery among others.
Thus, the need to spot charismatic and dynamic young and up-coming leaders that can be trusted with leadership positions is important. It is in this light that, individual personality in the public sector (including the military) who through their selfless service, dedication to duty, exemplary and good leadership qualities as well as contribution to the development of their organizations, communities and the nation in general are often identified and honored for good performance as motivation for enhance service delivery.
In many circles, Bushi has made his mark in this regard; contributed immensely to the Nigerian Navy and the nation at large both professionally and otherwise.
In an attempt to improve his academic prowess, Bushi attended several schools. Some of the things that stands out clear and highly paramount is that he has an uncompromising interest in the field of Accounting and Finance as well as Public Administration.
In his quest to achieve the best, he has attended many courses. These included his stint at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration where he obtained PGC in Public Administration 2002. He also attended Federal University of Technology (FUTO) and obtained PGD in Financial Management and MBA Finance in 2001 and 2008 respectively.
He further enrolled for MSc Programme in National Mathematical Centre affiliated to University of Abuja in 2015 and obtained MSc Financial Mathematics and a PhD in Finance. As a result of his sterling qualities and service to the nation, Admiral Bushi has received several honours and awards. These include Productivity Centre Merit Award, Humanitarian Service Award, Financial Prudency Award, Ethical Ambassador Award, Integrity Award, Good Ambassador of Taraba State Award, ICON of Hope Award and the prestigious National Public Service Award (NPSA) amongst others.
A highly trained and very discipline officer, Admiral Bushi has attended several conferences and seminars both local and abroad, prominent are: International Conference on Pre-retirement Planning at Ghana in 2015, International Conference on Public Finance and Administrative Strategies in the Post Covid era held at Kigali, Rwanda in 2021, Chartered System Accountant International Conference at Louisiana, USA in 2022, ANAN. Chartered Institute of Finance and Control (FIFC) yearly conference amongst others.
He has several decorations which includes Forces Service Star (FSS), Meritorious Service Star (MSS) and Distinguished Service Star (DSS). Others are Chieftaincy titles; Santali of Gudape, Bebeji of Lafiya Kingdom and Katuka of Gire Adamawa.
Equally, Admiral Bushi has been honoured with two honorary Doctortate degrees. He has honorary Doctorate Degree in Leadership and Good Governance from South American University as well as honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Affairs from University of Benin Republic.
Bushi also had his military training in the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College as well as Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Nigeria where he obtained Pass Staff Course (psc).
Bushi is highly decorated and also, an astute professional and certified accountant whose knowledge and competence has gained him several Fellows both national and international institute which include: Fellow Chartered National Accountant (FCNA), Fellow Chartered Institute of Taxation (FCTI), Fellow Chartered Institute of Finance and Control of Nigeria (FCIFCN), Fellow African Institute of Strategic Managers (FAISM), Fellow Institute Corporate Administration (FICA), Fellow Chartered System Accountant (FCSA-USA), Fellow Occupational Safety and Health Association – UK (FOSHA), and a Certified Fraud Detector (CFD) UK.
In terms of service delivery, Dr. Bushi has proved himself as an effective financial manager and administrator, an inspiring motivator and intelligent leader. He gets job done on unobtrusively and efficiently and communicate well with creative ideas which he can see it to completion. He certainly has led a very good example of reliability, dependability, loyalty, and commitment.
He has also made a remarkable impact on the cultural ethics of public service life and led by example in all he has done. This has been attested by his trust to hold several sensitive and crucial appointments on financial management and public administration; a job which requires trust, honesty, and accountability.
His first appointment was Staff Officer (Cash) in Western Naval Command Headquarters, Lagos in 1995 – 1999. He was then transferred to Defence Headquarters in Abuja to work as Staff officer finance in 2000 – 2006. He later became the Base Account and Budget Officer (BABO) in Nigerian Naval Base, PATHFINDER, Port Harcourt from 2007 – 2009. For his outstanding performance void of malpractices and with his enthusiasm and discipline, he was later made Assistant Director (AD) Computer, Military Pension Board (MPB) between 2007 and 2010. A period which witnessed unprecedented transformation of the Military Pension Board. He brought dynamism in the management affairs of the Military Pension Board.
Dr. Bushi was instrumental to the introduction of biometric data system in the management and Administration of military pension which drastically curtailed corruption, manipulations and other forms of financial malpractices that were militating smooth administration of the Pension Board. He screened and vetted all the pensioners’ data in the retirees’ payroll and ensured that only eligible pensioners were enrolled into the biometric data system. He also ensured the integrity of the personnel payroll data.
In addition, he intensified measures to eliminate fraud and financial malpractices in an organization. Dr. Bushi deployed some strategies to deepen transparency in the financial management system. All these were achieved through constant training and sensitization of the personnel on the need to be ethical and professional in the discharge of duty.
Another area of competence of the officer is developing financial ideas that tends to solve problems in the society: he developed annuity funding model for the implementation in FMBN for loan disbursement to the benefit of public servant who are contributors to Federal Housing Scheme of Nigeria. In 2019, Dr. Bushi was a member of the committee for the Manual of Accounting and Financial Administration approved by Mr. President C-in-C for the Armed Forces of Nigeria which brought enhanced salary and allowances to the Armed Forces personnel.
Furthermore, Dr. Bushi focus is to ensure that the grass root, cleric accountant and all the people involve in keeping financial records in the navy are kept abreast of the accounting standards and practices. This informed his decision to publish a working book titled ‘Understanding the Basics of Nigerian Navy Financial Management and Accounting System’ in 2020.
Ever since Admiral Bushi’s commissioned into the Nigerian Navy, he has not disappointed that institution, one day, with his conduct and activities. He has not only been sustaining the rich tradition and ethics and principles of the accounting profession, he has been galvanizing the people for development and productivity.
He has sponsored countless entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes to build capacity for youth and make them useful to themselves.
What is unique about this admiral? Well, almost everything. First apart from being a distinguished scholar, he is a man who radiates much goodwill. His physical presence is a delight and inspiring. A man with graceful gait, Rear Admiral Bushi is a man with a chord of empathy. And he speaks with wisdom and the most kindness upon many things of common interests.
Some people are inspiring like chancing upon a fine poem; people whose handshake is like a brimful of unspoken fondness. Meeting Admiral Rear Bushi is one such experience. Second, he is a strong message of hope for young public sector accountants. He offers a unique vision for global well-being and competitiveness.
The essence of Admiral Bushi’s philosophy is that a conscious attention to productivity, discipline, moral responsibility be seen as parts of the public sector account. Then the practitioners should key-in to unlock the full potentials and deliver great services to the country. To him, walking on the path of these values is the only way to solve some the problems that face public sector accounts in Nigeria.
Over the years, Admiral Bushi has worked commendably towards these and developing those values and strengthening the public awareness of truth and integrity, hardwork and creativity in public sector finances.
All these explain why the people hold him dearly for his simple, yet life-impacting activities and scholarship. No wonder, his works are gaining wider acceptance. Thus, his influence and popularity continue to grow.
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