Until recently, it was difficult for economists to identify themselves with any professional body because of the non-existence of an organized and independent professional body to regulate the conduct and activities of the profession. This problem of identification has forced a good number of our economists to become marketers, bankers, accountants, or administrators without genuine enthusiasm. The economics profession, which hitherto had an in-built honour and dignity, suddenly turned out to be at the mercy of other professional bodies for acceptance and recognition.
This unbearable trend stirred up a general clarion call by the Director General and Chief Executive Officer to establish a body that would regulate the activities and general conduct of the noble profession.
The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria was established by the companies, and an Allied Matter Act, 1990, had the pioneering statutory rights to regulate the practice of Economics in Nigeria and still has these rights today.
Therefore, The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria was established out of a burning desire to promote and encourage the study and development of the art and science of economics in public practice, industries, commerce, etc., and to teach professionalism and specialization in the economics profession in Nigeria. Given this development, the institute had been mandated by the Act establishing it to regulate the activities of all the different aspects of Economics, such as:
ESTABLISHMENT OF ICEN:
ICEN was founded in 1998 in Kaduna, Nigeria, and was established under Act 1, Cap 59 of 1990, and gazetted by the House of Representatives in 2012 and 2024. The Federal Government approval was secured via additional Registration, with approval Number NG/TM/2022/67881 to authenticate its legality and acceptability in Nigeria with the following additional responsibilities:
The purpose of this new registration is to protect the name, operational activities, and objectives of professional vendors in our society from duplication. No other organization in Nigeria shall have similar names or objectives. We sincerely appreciate our legal teams and the Director General for their wisdom in this matter. The only recognized Institute of Chartered Economists in Nigeria is ICEN. Congratulations to all members for your support; without you, ICEN would not exist. We also want to take this moment to express our appreciation for every board member.
ICEN enjoys the same rights, privileges, and immunities as any other association of similar professional stature. The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria (ICEN) was launched for the first time in Kaduna on August 27, 2002. At that time, the founding membership was just a handful of individuals. However, over the years, our membership has grown significantly. Therefore, if you qualify for membership in ICEN, consider yourself chosen to serve our country and help ICEN achieve its noble objectives.