By Omotunde Alawode
The OGE Business School has collaborated with the Association of Forensic Accounting Research and Professionals (AFARP) to offer free virtual training to 2,000 anti-fraud professionals in the country.
This gesture is part of OGE’s corporate social responsibility aimed at enhancing capacity in investigation and forensic accounting towards successfully fighting fraud in the country.
Lead facilitator and founder of OGE Business School, Prof. Godwin Oyedokun, identified knowledge gap in concerned disciplines, which he said was inimical to tackling the scourge, as a major challenge.
He explained that the first edition of the programme during COVD-19 outbreak in 2020 was received with positive feedback, adding that yearnings for more and the scary fraud profile in the country ignited this year’s outing that will last three months, beginning from May 1, 2024.
Referencing a 2021 report by Palo Alto Networks, a California-based cybersecurity firm, which puts Nigeria’s annual Internet fraud loss at N127 billion, representing 0.08 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product, Oyedokun submitted that fraud in the country has assumed a national emergency status, requiring all hands to be on deck.
“The fight against financial crime demands a dedicated and skilled workforce. The training will equip participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel as professionals in the field on one hand, and will go far in delivering apt strategies to tame heavy fraudulent tendencies that have eaten deep into the fabric of the country on the other hand.
“Concerned professionals or those interested in uncovering financial wrongdoing or seeking a career in forensic accounting, fraud examiners as well as law enforcement agents are encouraged take advantage of the lifetime opportunity that will also see them being awarded a professional diploma certificate,” he said.