By Kamil Opeyemi
Nigeria’s first indigenous chartered account, Chief Akintola Williams, has reportedly died on Monday. Williams, who recently marked his 104th birthday in Lagos was the founder of the Akintola Williams Deloitte Firms of Accountants. He is reputed to have played a critical role in the development of the country’s financial system. Though the NPO Reports could not directly confirm his death from a direct family member as at press time, a family friend of the Williams who did not want his name mentioned said the doyen of accountancy died at about 9am on Monday.
Born in 1919, Williams began his education at 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. He was instrumental to the formation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).