Dr. Goodluck Chinonyerem Obi, FCA: A portrait of professionalism, integrity, innovativeness and value creation in Nigeria

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness” – Napoleon Hill

The above quoted statement vividly describes the impact and innovative leadership of one of the brightest accountants in Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Chinonyerem Obi, the Partner and Head, Audit Services, KPMG Professional Services.

Over the years, Dr. Goodluck Obi has distinguished himself not only as a seasoned accountant, an articulated auditor, an accomplished business administrator and financial expert but also as a reputable professional and technocrat that has demonstrated high degree of integrity and professionalism in all his dealings in the consulting and professional service sector of the Nigerian economy and beyond. Indeed, he has carved a niche for himself through impactful leadership and academic excellence.

Born over fifty-three years ago, in Imo State, Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Obi attended Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State after his secondary education at St. Augustine Grammar school Nkwerre, Imo State, Nigeria, from 1988 to 1994. As one of the brilliant and focused professionals whose aim is to get to the top of his professional career, Dr. Goodluck Obi attended Lagos Business School (Pan African University) in 2005. He also attended Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, UK where he obtained his MSc degree in 2010 and his doctorate degree in 2017.

Specifically, Dr. Goodluck Obi started his professional career in 1995, when he joined Arthur Andersen, Lagos, Nigeria, as an Analyst and rose to the position of a Manager in September 2001.

In May 2002, following the transition of Andersen to KPMG, he continued his career with KPMG, one of the big four accounting firms in Nigeria as an experienced Manager; and rose to the position of a Senior Manager in October 2004 in the same organization. He was admitted to the partnership of the firm in October 2008.

As a business technocrat with the capability to translate vision into reality backed up with his career objective: “To work in a highly professional, merit-driven and result oriented organization with strong culture and social values and at the same time providing opportunities for career and personal development, and to be given the opportunity in an organization to contribute positively towards the growth and expansion of the organization in its entire ramification.”

This career objective has catapulted Dr. Goodluck Obi to the top of his professional career as Partner and Head, Audit Services in one of the leading accounting firms in Nigeria.

Contributions to Financial and Economic Development of Nigeria:

As a seasoned Accountant and Financial technocrat, Dr. Goodluck Obi has permeated various sectors of the Nigerian economy and has helped to transform many businesses in the country and African continent. For instance, Dr. Goodluck Obi has been the engagement partner on the audit of several companies in the Consumer and Industrial Markets as well as the retail sector covering both small and medium size and large organizations. His clients include several listed companies in the Nigerian Stock Exchange as well as subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Nigeria and in the Africa region.

At different times, he led various teams of four and five in conducting a due diligence review on a Fertilizer Company for an international investor and also the due diligence review of a local sugar company for a domestic core investor under BPE privatisation programme in 2002 and 2003. He has also worked in a team of five to develop training materials on Finance Function Training for Plant Finance Managers, Plant accountants, and Head office accountants one of the leading Bottling companies in Nigeria. He acted as the Financial Controller of a leading cement bagging company in Nigeria, where he was engaged in cleaning up of the accounting records, strengthening procedures and policies and implementing an accounting software.

Furthermore, in the energy and natural resources (Oil and Gas) Dr. Goodluck Obi has contributed immensely to the growth of the Nigeria Oil and Gas sector. He has been the engagement partner on the audit of several companies operating in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy including the power sector.

These include the Exploratory and Production companies, downstream marketing companies, various oil servicing as well as companies in the power sector. Indeed, he has led various teams to perform financial statement assurance, proactively offering various business improvement opportunities, to key players in the oil and gas industry both in the downstream and upstream which transformed these businesses positively. In the area of telecommunications, his enormous contribution also cut across the industry.

He was responsible for the audit of the companies in this sector including call, data services providers, Tower infrastructure and support to the Telcos. In addition, he was also responsible for the KPMG Global Grants Programme (GGP) activities in Nigeria. Under this programme, he supervised and performed where necessary, the monitoring of Donor funded activities in Nigeria on behalf of the donors to ensure they are done in line with the grant agreements and expenditure are properly accounted for, just to mention but a few.

With over thirty (30) years quality experience as a trusted business advisor, Dr. Obi has contributed immensely to the growth of businesses in Nigeria. He has assisted many companies across the various sectors of the Nigerian economy. He is well known for delivering quality and exceptional audit, assurance and accounting services to his clients with leading industry practices.

Undoubtedly, Dr. Goodluck Obi, a result-oriented professional is synonymous with value creation and innovativeness. He is not one of those who got to where they are by whom they knew but his journey to the top of his professional career has been a product of his determination, commitment, hardwork, honesty, accountability, transparency and tenacity.

Infact, he is a man of integrity, a catalyst of economic development, a visionary leader and an agent of positive change. His pragmatic and exemplary leadership qualities, mentorship and insightful solutions to the business and financial sectors of the Nigerian economy continue to stand him out among his peers.

Recognitions, Professional Memberships and Philanthropic Gestures:

In recognition and appreciation of his commitment to the development and advancement of accounting profession and enormous contributions to the socio-economic development of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Obi has been honoured by many organizations and institutions within and outside Nigeria and these include: Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN); Member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN); Member, Chartered Management Institute (CMI) of the United Kingdom; Member, Institute of Directors (MIoD); Diploma in Consulting from the United Kingdom Institute of Consulting; Dean’s Award for the Best Graduating student in the School of Sciences, FUTO (April, 1994); Best Graduating Industrial Microbiology student; Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Scholarship Award for the Best Student in Industrial Microbiology. Arthur Andersen Award for an Outstanding Facilitator/ Instructor at the 2000 Audit and Business Advisory (ABA), Business Audit Immerson (BAI) Training in Veldhoven, Netherlands; Arthur Andersen Award for the Most Admired Senior, an award given by the Manufacturing unit of ABA division of Andersen just to mention but a few.

As a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Dr. Goodluck Obi has served the Institute at various capacities including effective involvement and participation at the Institutes numerous committees and faculties including: Professional Practice Committee (PPC), Membership Committee, ad hoc Presidential Committee on Small and Medium Practitioners (SMPs), Syllabus Review Committee, Exam Committee among others. He is currently the Chairman of Audit, Investigations and Forensic Accounting Faculty and a member of the Faculty Management Committee (FMC) of the Institute.

He has attended various international leadership and development programmes at the Gordon Institute of Business (GIBS) South Africa, Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and other similar international development programme and workshops in Europe and America.

As a seasoned financial expert and a man of academic excellence, Dr. Obi has presented several papers and speeches at various seminars, workshops to different organizations in the areas of governance, regulations, leadership, accounting and auditing.

It is worth to state that Dr. Goodluck Obi’s philanthropic gestures are highly recognized. He is very much involved in community service and has been on the leadership council of several social and community-based organizations. He is a Peace Ambassador, an Award given to him by Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and a member of the Board of Trustees of Society for Family Health (SFH) and SFOH Access Limited/GTE, the Young Professionals Impact (YPI) and Corporate Football Club (CFC).

He is an Honourary Officer, Boys Brigade Nigeria (BBN), Surulere-Lagos and a Patron of the Boys Brigade Nigeria, Imo State Council. He is a founding member of the Pacesetters Club of Okohia, an organization whose objective is to see to educational development of the youths of his town, Okohia. He is an astute community leader and has led his village, town and state associations at various times.

In 2022, Dr. Obi was honoured and recognized with a chieftaincy title of “Ugo Chi Mere Eze” by his community, Osu-Owerre ancient kingdom in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, for various contributions to the development of the community. Recently, he was given an award as the ‘Pillar of Education” by same community. He was also honoured as the “Ike Ndigbo” Lagos by the Ezesinachi I Eze Ndigbo Igbogbo Baiyeku Kingdom of Ikorodu, Lagos.

Conclusively, the above stated achievements, legacies, and enormous contributions of Dr. Goodluck Obi to the advancement of accounting in Nigeria, has made him a worthy ambassador of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). Therefore, as ICAN celebrates her Diamond Year Anniversary, The Guardian has recognized Dr. Obi as a Distinguished and Impactful Member contributing to national development.