Chief Akintola Williams was a Nigerian accountant and one of the founders of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, which he co-founded with Dr Oni Akerele as President and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Secretary, in London. He born on 9 August 1919 and died on 11 September 2023. He became the first chartered accountant in Nigeria.
Early in the 1930s, Williams started attending Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole Street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, Lagos; this was the same primary school his late younger brother Chief Rotimi Williams attended.
His company, which was established in 1952, expanded organically and through mergers to become Nigeria’s biggest professional services firm by 2004.
Williams took part in the establishment of both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He was honored numerous times over the course of a long career. He turned 100 in August 2019 and passed away at home in Lagos on September 11, 2023, when he was 104.
Education and birth
Williams was born on August 9th, 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 opened a law office in Lagos after receiving legal training in London, England.
He was the senior sibling of the late Rev. Frederick Rotimi Williams and Frederick Rotimi Williams, who later rose to prominence as an attorney. Early in the 1930s, he received his primary education at Lagos’ Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School. Williams subsequently went to CMS Grammar School in Lagos.
In the future, he attended Yaba Higher College on a UAC scholarship and graduated with a diploma in commerce. He moved to England to attend the University of London in 1944.
He received a Bachelor of Commerce in 1946 after studying banking and finance. He continued his education, becoming a chartered accountant in England in 1949. The Oloye Williams, a Yoruba with a chiefly heritage, was one of the society’s founders when it was established in London under the leadership of Dr. Oni Akerele and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
Accounting career
Williams worked as an assessment officer for the Inland Revenue in Nigeria after his return in 1950. He left the civil service in March 1952 and started Akintola Williams and Co. in Lagos. The business was Africa’s first native chartered accounting firm. At the time, five sizable foreign firms dominated the accounting industry. Despite the small number of local firms, they were certified rather than chartered accountants.
Williams benefited from business with local firms like West African Pilot, K., founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe. O. Ojukwu Transport, Fawehinmi Furniture, and Mbadiwe’s African Insurance Company. Additionally, he rendered services to the newly formed state-owned businesses, such as the Nigerian Electricity Corporation, the Western and Eastern Development Corporations, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Charles S. Sankey, the company’s first partner, joined in 1957. Mr. Njoh Litumbe, a Cameroonian, then took his place. Litumbe initiated international expansion after opening branch offices in Port Harcourt and Enugu.
A branch was established in the Cameroons in 1964, and then branches were established in Swaziland and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as affiliates in Ghana, Egypt, and Kenya. The business employed 535 people as of March 1992, including 19 partners.
The Companies Act of 1968, which mandated that businesses doing business in Nigeria establish locally incorporated subsidiaries and release audited annual accounts, increased demand. Demand was also raised by the initiative to promote indigenous business ownership in the early 1970s. A management consulting firm led by Chief Arthur Mbanefo was spun off as AW Consultant Ltd. in 1973. In addition to acquiring a secretarial and computer service business, the company also entered into a profit-sharing contract with Touche Ross International in 1977. Additionally, Williams served on the boards of several other businesses and was a significant shareholder. In 1983, he announced his retirement.
Akintola Williams & Co. was in business between April 1999 and May 2004. the largest professional services company in Nigeria with more than 600 employees, merged with two other accounting firms to form Akintola Williams Deloitte (now known as Deloitte & Touche).
Roles and Accolades in Public Life
Williams was a key figure in the 1960 establishment of Nigeria’s Association of Accountants, which served the purpose of training accountants. He served as the association’s inaugural President. He served as the first president and founding member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
He was also a part of the founding of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Even in his advanced age, he continued to take an active role in these organizations. He urged operators to safeguard the market and make sure there was no scandal at a stock exchange ceremony in May 2011. He advised market participants to seek his counsel whenever necessary for help resolving any issues.
He has held a number of public sector positions, including Chairman of the Federal Income Tax Appeal Commissioners (1958–68), Member of the Coker Commission of Inquiry into the Statutory Corporations of the Former Western Region of Nigeria (1962), Member of the Board of Trustees of the Commonwealth Foundation (1966–1975), Chairman of the Lagos State Government Revenue Collection Panel (1973), and Chairman of the Public Service Review Panel to Correct the Anomalies in the Udoji Salary Re.
Other positions held by the individual include those of President of the Metropolitan Club in Victoria Island, Lagos, Founder and Council Member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Musical Society of Nigeria.
Williams received the O in 1982 from the Nigerian government. F. Williams devoted himself to a project to build a music center and concert hall for the Music Society of Nigeria after he retired in 1983. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire made Williams a Commander in April 1997. for contributions to the accounting industry as well as for work with the Musical Society of Nigeria in promoting the arts, culture, and music.
In his honor, the Akintola Williams Arboretum is located at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation’s head office in Lagos. In recognition of their contributions to democracy and development in Africa, John Kufuor, a former president of Ghana, and Akintola Williams received awards from the Nigeria-Britain Association on May 8, 2011.
Death
He died on the 11 of September even though then cause of his death is still unknown to the public, but many believed he lived a well fulfilled life and died a peaceful death.
