Nigeria’s first Chartered Accountant, Akintola Williamns is dead, aged 104

By Bayo Olowo

Nigeria’s first Chartered Accountant and First President of Institute of Chattered Accountants of Nigeria,(ICAN) Pa Akintola Williams is dead.

He died on Monday morning in his sleep. He was aged 104

Akintola Williams was the senior brother of the late Rotimi Williams who distinguished as a lawyer.

Williams had a glowing career in the Accounting world emerging as one of the most successful accountants in Africa.

He attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Bankole street, Apongbon, Lagos Island, Lagos, in the early 1930s; the same primary school his late junior brother Chief Rotimi Williams attended. His youngest brother Rev James Kehinde Williams was a pastor in the same church. Olowogbowo Methodist Church.

His firm founded in 1952, later grew organically and through mergers to become the largest professional services firm in Nigeria by 2004. Williams participated in founding the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. During a long career, he has received many honours. He turned 100 in August 2019

Akintola Williams was born in 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.

For his primary education in the early 1930s, he attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Lagos. Williams then attended the CMS Grammar School, Lagos.

He went on to Yaba Higher College on a UAC scholarship, obtaining a diploma in commerce. In 1944, he travelled to England where he studied at the University of London. Studying Banking and Finance, he graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Commerce. He continued his studies and qualified as a chartered accountant in England in 1949.

A Yoruba of chiefly background, the Oloye Williams was one of the founders of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa society while in London, with Dr. Oni Akerele as president and Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Secretary.

With reports from Wikipedia