Comfort Eyitayo elected 57th ICAN president

Comfort Olu Eyitayo has been elected the 57^th president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

According to a release by Bunmi Owolabi, Principal Manager, Corporate Communications, ICAN, her investiture took place on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at the Institute’s secretariat in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Born on March 7, 1955 in Ijebu-Itele, Ogun State, the new ICAN president bagged a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting from the famous Hammersmith and West London College in 1980, same year she obtained an Advanced Diploma in Economics from the University of London School of Economics.

In 1982, she bagged a Polytechnic Associateship in Accountancy (PAA) – a Postgraduate Diploma- from Sheffield City Polytechnic (now, Sheffield University, UK).

She was at the London School of Accountancy to prepare for her ACCA professional qualifying examinations. Afterwards, she returned to Nigeria and subsequently registered, obtained the relevant exemptions and sat for the ICAN Final level examinations.

She qualified in 1988 and was admitted into the full membership of ICAN in 1989.

Eyitayo trained and worked with KPMG Nigeria between 1984 and March 1993 with responsibility for Auditing, Tax, Management, Computer Auditing Assignment and Computer Training.

She retired voluntarily from KPMG in 1993 to set up her own professional practice, Comfort Olu Eyitayo & Co. (Chartered Accountants), a firm of Financial/Management Accountants and Tax Practitioners where she serves as Senior Partner.

Besides being a distinguished fellow of ICAN,  Eyitayo is an Associate of the following professional bodies: Nigeria Institute of Management (Chartered); Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria(CITN); Computer Association of Nigeria (COAN); Computer Professionals (UK); and the Society of Company & Commercial Accountants (UK).

She was at the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru-Jos  in 2009.

Speaking at her investiture ceremony, the new ICAN president assured that under her leadership, the institute would work closely with governments at all levels on the challenge of setting a new agenda for national rebirth, which will include achieving sustainable development for this generation without impairing the capacity of future generations to enjoy nature’s abundant resources.

She noted that as professionals and expert risk managers, the Institute as a stakeholder is aware of the causal relationship between poverty, hunger and crimes which is manifesting in the country due to unemployment and poverty among Nigerians and as such will collaborate with the government to evolve better strategies that will address the underlying causes of poverty and insecurity in the country.