ICAN President Elected ABWA Chief

The 46th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), who is also the 16th President of Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA), Major General Sebastian Achulike Owuama (retd), has emerged the pioneer President of the newly inaugurated Pan-African Federation of Accountants (PAFA)/Fédération Panafricaine des Experts-Comptables (FEPEC).

He was elected the President of the new body at the just concluded PAFA Launch conference held at the Le Meridien President Hotel, Dakar, Senegal from May 4 to 6.

Present at the ceremony were the President of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Goran Tidstrom; President of Order National des Experts Comptables et Comptables Agrees du Senegal (ONECCA Senegal), Mamour Fall; Director, Core Operational Services, Africa Region of World Bank, Edward Olowo-Okere; and other seasoned professionals from not less than thirty seven professional accountancy institutes from 35 countries across Africa.

Just before leaving the country, Owuama had disclosed during his welcome address at the Annual Dinner and Awards of ICAN on Friday, 29th May 2011, that he, in his capacity as the President of ABWA, would lead some key members of ICAN to Dakar, Senegal in the first week of May, for the inauguration of PAFA.

The formation of PAFA had been inspired by the encouragement of IFAC, the global organization for the accountancy profession with members and associates in 125 countries, and World Bank both of which were in favour of sub-regional accountancy bodies on the African continent coming together under as a united Pan-African Federation of Accountants for the purpose of speaking with one voice on accountancy issues.

This led to a series of interactions between stakeholders, during which a draft Constitution and Bye-Laws were prepared by a Steering Committee set up by the regional groupings.

The effort came to fruition on May 6 in Dakar where Owuama was picked as the pioneer leader of the continental body. IFAC has described the PAFA launch as “a historical event for the accountancy profession and the African continent”.

Said Goran Tidstrom in an IFAC release: “The formation of PAFA demonstrates the commitment of the African accountancy profession, acting in the public interest, to strengthen its means of collaboration and to further develop the profession to support the emerging economies on the continent,”

As the PAFA President, Owuama pledged that the Board of PAFA would give purposeful leadership which would engender the realisation of the objectives for which the body was formed, prominent among which is the development of Accountancy in Africa.

He also stated: “As the economies of African countries continue to grow, the contribution of the accountancy profession to sound corporate and public sector financial reporting and good governance is now more important than ever. PAFA will accelerate the development of the profession and strengthen the voice of the profession within Africa and worldwide.”