Foremost accountant, Pa Akintola Williams, has died at the age of 104 years.
Reputed as the first Sub-Saharan African to become a chartered accountant, he died in his sleep in the early hours of Monday, September 11, 2023, 32 days after marking his 104th birthday on August 9.
Born on August 9, 1919, his grandfather, Z. A. Williams, was a merchant prince from Abeokuta and his father Thomas Ekundayo Williams was a clerk in the colonial service who set up a legal practice in Lagos after training in London, England.
He was the older brother of Frederick Rotimi Williams, who later became a distinguished lawyer, and the late Rev. James Kehinde Williams, a Christian minister.
He attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Lagos in the early 1930s, CMS Grammar School, Lagos. He also attended Yaba Higher College on a UAC scholarship and obtained a diploma in commerce.
In 1944, he travelled to England where he studied banking and finance at the University of London and graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Commerce.
He continued his studies and qualified as a chartered accountant in England in 1949.
After returning to Nigeria in 1950, Williams served with the Inland Revenue as an assessment officer until March 1952, when he left the civil service and founded Akintola Williams & Co. in Lagos.
The company was the first indigenous chartered accounting firm in Africa.
He gained business from indigenous companies including Nnamdi Azikiwe’s West African Pilot, K. O. Mbadiwe’s African Insurance Company, Fawehinmi Furniture and Ojukwu Transport.
He also provided services to the new state-owned corporations including the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, the Western Nigeria Development Corporation, the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
The deceased played a leading role in the development of the accountancy profession in the country by facilitating the establishment of the Association of Accountants in Nigeria, which metamorphosed into the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
He was the first president of the association and was also involved in establishing the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
In 1982, Williams was honoured with the OFR and following his retirement in 1983, he threw himself into a project to establish a music centre and concert hall for the Music Society of Nigeria.
In April 1997, Williams was appointed a commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to the accountancy profession and for promotion of arts, culture and music through the Musical Society of Nigeria.
[8] The Akintola Williams Arboretum at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation headquarters in Lagos is named in his honour.
On 8 May 2011, the Nigeria-Britain Association presented awards to John Kufuor, past President of Ghana, and to Akintola Williams, for their contributions to democracy and development in Africa.
With Wikipedia report
