Monilola Ajeniya/
New officers have been elected to pilot the affairs of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in the next one year.
Dame Onome Joy Adewuyi, the Executive Director, Finance & Admin of Cynergy Platforms Limited, who has over three decades of experience in banking and financial management was elected as the 56th President along with top business consultant, Comfort Eyitayo as Vice President; Malam Tijani Musa-Isa, a frontline financial expert is the 1st Deputy Vice President; Dr Innocent Okwuosa, an eminent scholar with a doctorate in Accounting emerged as the 2nd Deputy Vice President, and accomplished fraud investigator with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tobi Abiola as Treasurer.
The investiture was held after an election on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Institute’s Secretariat in Victoria Island, Lagos.
In her acceptance speech and inaugural address, Dame Adewuyi pledged to partner with the government to redefine national values, economic priorities and resource utilization strategies such that the mass of the citizenry can be lifted out of avoidable poverty.
She said that ICAN would leverage its professional expertise to support players in the informal sector, whose unsung value-creating activities would define the position of the nation on the ladder of sustainable development.
She lamented the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty being experienced by Nigeria, adding that the nation has reached a point in its economic development where all hands must be on deck to address the ugly situation.
“According to the 2019 World Bank Human Development Report, 53.5% of Nigerians live below poverty line of US$1.9 a day. I am inclined, like many analysts, to believe that the situation is even worse considering the high rate of crime and criminality all over the country.
“The situation is better imagined if we take cognizance of the possible effect of COVID-19 in the near term,” she said.
On refocusing ICAN capacity building initiatives, Mrs. Adewuyi said that the new administration would formalize its online trainings and incorporate them into the annual training brochure.
She added that the members’ education and training would be bolstered with cut-edge virtual training programmes.
“These would run together with the established traditional model of delivering trainings. Also, the ICAN faculties would be equipped to become centres of excellence for virtual training in the seven specialist areas of Accounting,” she said.
The ICAN President added that the lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic had challenged ICAN to redefine the values it shared, the way it related and accounted for its actions and inactions.
“Evidently, the proactive deployment and proficiency in the use of technology will continue to define corporate and individual success.
“This emerging paradigm has implications for how we relate and bond as professionals who share a common vision of working together to build a great nation with a sustainable economy driven by strong institutions,” she said.
Dame Adewuyi noted that with the drastic changing dynamics in the market, ICAN would expand its collaborative horizons to bring on board non-traditional partners, especially the Tech companies that would work with the Institute on the gradual incorporation of emerging technologies, such as Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
She assured that as the Institute would strive to hold leaders at all levels accountable, it would also enforce compliance to the professional code of ethics and sanction all proven cases of misdemeanor by members without fear or favour.
She stressed that the task of nation building must be a collective responsibility, adding that ICAN as a critical stakeholder could not continue to watch askance for the nation to be going down the hilltop through formulation and implementation of strategic policies.
She also mentioned that ICAN would make efforts to take its Accounting Technician Scheme West Africa (ATSWA) examinations to other African countries which need the middle level Accountancy support, and it would maintain excellent working relationships with regulatory authorities like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency International (NEITI), National Insurance Commission of Nigeria (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).
Dame Adewuyi graduated with a BSc degree (Second Class Honours Upper Division) in Accounting from the University of Benin in 1982 and MSc in Banking & Finance from the University of Lagos in 1993.
She is an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Boston Massachusetts USA; the Wharton Business School of Pennsylvania, USA and the Kellogg Business School, Chicago USA.
She is also an Alumnus of the International Banking Summer School, USA and the Lagos Business School.
She began her career with Texaco Nigeria Plc. as the Treasury and Investment Accountant.
She later joined the Nigerian Intercontinental Merchant Bank Limited where she started her banking career.
She worked in Fidelity Bank Plc. for close to two decades where she rose to the position of the Executive Director, Risk Management.
She has over three decades of experience in banking and financial management.
Dame Adewuyi, in conjunction with Deloitte of South Africa, was responsible for the implementation of Fidelity Bank Plc. Enterprise Risk Management System in 2008.
This culminated in the setup of distinct Credit Risk, Market Risk and Operational Risk Division of the Bank which is still in use at Fidelity Bank Plc.
She is a member of the faculty of the Financial Institution Training Centre and other private training institutions on Risk Management (Credit and Operational Risks).
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
She represents ICAN on the Governing Council of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).
She has been Honorary Treasurer of ICAN for three times consecutively: 2011-2012; 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. She was a past President of the Society for Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN).
She is a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and currently serves on the Boards of Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc. and Dominion Trust Limited as Non-Executive Director.
She has passion for charity works and development of the indigent girl child and she runs a scholarship scheme for Anglican priests and indigent children attending Nigerian universities.
She is married and blessed with children.
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