A’Ibom ex-gov, Emmanuel, wants Akintola Williams immortalised

Former Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has urged the Federal Government to immortalise the nation’s first chartered accountant, Chief Akintola Williams, for his decades of selfless service.

While mourning the centenarian in a statement yesterday, Emmanuel described the deceased as a “torchbearer, upright, disciplinarian, excellent mentor and a man of astonishing intelligence, who indelibly impacted the global accounting profession.”

He added: “Chief Williams was an exceptionally brilliant, versatile, insightful, incorruptible professional and an awe-inspiring personality, who gloriously bestrode his chosen path like a colossus and played very pivotal roles in building the Nigerian financial sector, as well as instilling the much-needed accounting precepts for the development of our dear nation.

“Over the years, as Nigeria’s first chartered accountant, the leading father of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the last surviving of the founding fathers of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), chairman of various key economic institutions, including the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank, Audit Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Income Tax Appeal Commissioners among many others, Chief Williams exhibited unmatched patriotism in setting highest ethical benchmarks for best practices in Nigeria.”