What you don’t know about the late Akintola Williams

By Okiki Adeduyite

Nigeria’s first indigenous chartered accountant, Akintola Williams, is dead.

Akintola Williams, who pioneered Nigeria’s accounting profession and was instrumental in developing the country’s financial sector, died at the age of 104.

Many do not know that he was the elder brother of Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, QC, SAN (December 16, 1920 – March 26, 2005) who was the first Nigerian to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

A source, who did not want to be mentioned, told PUNCH online that Williams died at his house in Lagos, on Monday (today).

In this report, PUNCH highlights 12 things to know about the late pioneer chartered accountant.

1. Chief Akintola Williams was born on August, 9 1919, in the UK.
2. He began his education at Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole Street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, Lagos, in the early 1930s.
3. He went to Yaba Higher College on a UAC scholarship, obtaining a diploma in commerce. In 1944, he travelled to England where he studied at the University of London. Studying Banking and Finance, he graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Commerce. He continued his studies and qualified as a chartered accountant in England in 1949.
4. Williams was the first Nigerian to qualify as a chartered accountant.
5. Williams worked as an assessment officer at the Inland Revenue from 1950 to 1952.
6. In 1952, he founded the first indigenous chartered accounting firm in Africa, Akintola Williams & Co, in Lagos.
7. He was a founding member and first president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
8. Williams played a leading role in establishing the Association of Accountants in Nigeria in 1960 with the goal of training accountants. He was the first president of the association.
9. Also, he played an invaluable role in the establishment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
10. He was honoured with the Order of the Federal Republic by the Nigerian Government in 1982.
11. In April 1997, Queen Elizabeth also honoured him with the title Commander of the British Empire.
12. President Bola Tinubu celebrated the late doyen in August when he celebrated his 104th birthday.

By Okiki Adeduyite