During the 126th inaugural lecture, held on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, in Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, the inaugural lecturer, Professor ThankGod Agwor said the reason for the failure of governance is coined from accounting-finance nexus complexities that is at the heart of Nigeria Government.
Professor Agwor explained that budgeting remains an integral part of governance as government don’t fail in abstraction but through concrete systems of budgeting, auditing amongst others.
The inaugural lecturer pointed out that crisis in the Nigerian governance system cannot be remedied with the absence of accounting-finance nexus at the center.
“Accounting and Finance are not neutral technical tools, they are governance technologies that structure incentives, define transparency and mediate trust in the state”
“Where these tools are weak, compromise and technologically manipulated, governance failure becomes systemic rather than episodic”
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Professor Isaac Zeb-Obipi expressed concerns on the theme: ‘Failure of Governance and Governance of Failure in Nigeria: Unveiling the Accounting-Finance Nexus’, adding that one of the challenges is the inability of government to meet the needs of the masses.
Professor Zeb-Obipi recommended that the use of empirical and secular evidence should come to play where accounting and Finance have affiliates in governance.
“My take is that the nexus of accounting and Finance is defined by the fact that while accounting provides the figure, finance uses these figures to make strategic decisions.”
He encouraged government to pay attention to this relationship in the political governance.
Furthermore, the Professor Agwor encouraged that the government should recognise that accounting and Finance are not peripheral technicalities, rather they are the infrastructure of governance.
“Where they are strong, governance is resilient. Where they are weak, governance fails and failure becomes governance”
During an interview with Kristina Reports, the inaugural lecturer cited cases where budgeting and financial intelligence are not at the forefront of governance and the repercussion were seen while the masses bears the burnt of such unwise decision.
“We need to have a reorientation, Government need to be particular about meritocracy”