The Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) in conjunction with Management Accounting Research and Curricula, London, United Kingdom have proposed the endowment of a Professorial Chair in Accounting for Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. This was made known to the Management of the University during the visit of the Executive Vice President, Management Accounting Research and Curricula, United Kingdom, Mr. Noel Tagoe who was accompanied by Professor Rufus Ishola Akintoye of Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo and two representatives of CIMA, Nigeria Office, Ijeoma Anadozie, an Associate Director and Abiola Okai Okolo, a Customer Service Advisor, on Wednesday, 7th November, 2018.
Speaking during the courtesy visit, Professor Rufus Ishola Akintoye posited that there were a lot of local and international opportunities that could be explored to support and raise the status of academic programmes in the University especially, in the Accounting programme. According to him, CIMA as well as ICAN were collaborating with other international Accounting bodies like the Management Accounting Research and Curricula, London, United Kingdom to facilitate robust research and enhance manpower development. Professor Akintoye asserted that he encouraged the International Accounting body, represented by Mr. Noel Tagoe, as well as CIMA, to consider Olabisi Onabanjo University for the Professorial Chair, because of his conviction in the intellectual capacity of the lecturers in the Department of Accounting OOU, as well as the lofty height that the Accounting programme in the University has attained, having been producing excellent Accountants for the past 32 years. He added that as a former lecturer in the Department of Accounting, OOU, Ago-Iwoye, he was aware that the Department was running both full-time and part-time programmes, with over 5,000 Accounting graduates produced to date. Professor Akintoye posited that as a result of the long years of existence of Accounting Programme in Olabisi Onabanjo University and the composite curriculum that had helped in producing many Chartered Accountants at the level of CIMA and ICAN, situating the Professorial Chair in OOU, Ago-Iwoye was a fair and just decision.
In his own remarks, Mr. Noel Tagoe submitted that the International Accounting body which he represented, was prepared to facilitate more research efforts and increase its presence across Africa, stressing that his role as a person, was to collaborate with other Accounting bodies such as CIMA, ICAN and others to support the production of sound Accountants worldwide. He noted that over the past five years, the programme had been moved to other continents and that it was time for Africa to enjoy the opportunities inherent in collaborative research for manpower development and professional excellence. He informed the gathering that in 2019, his Institute will be celebrating the centenary, with proposal underway for a centenary endowment in four parts of the world for its commemoration and this included Africa, China, India and United Kingdom. He disclosed that Nigeria had been chosen in Africa for a Professorial Chair in one of the Universities, with Olabisi Onabanjo University having the rare opportunity of being the beneficiary of the Professorial Chair in Accounting of the International Institute. He concluded by appreciating his Professional colleagues, urging them to key into the partnership and collaborative efforts to promote the Accounting Profession in the world.
While responding, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde thanked all the distinguished Accountants for their visit and for their lofty views and plans for academic development of the University especially in the Accounting programme, urging them to support the proposed Professorial Chair that will be endowed. He extolled the efforts of Mr. Noel Tagoe, the Executive Vice-President of Management Accounting Research and Curricula, as well as that of Professor Rufus Akintoye and other officers of CIMA. He gave a brief history of the University, noting that the University has grown to become one of the best Universities in Nigeria, with over 95% of the programmes having full accreditation status by the assessment of the National Universities Commission (NUC). He informed the visitors that the University has virile postgraduate programmes that are rated very high by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Accounting programme has been one of the programmes that are well rated in the University. He urged the visitors to bring to the University, a Centre of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) for the benefit of the students
At the event with the Vice-Chancellor were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics), Professor A.O.J Agboola, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor (Mrs.) EbunOduwole, Registrar, Mr. Femi Ogunwomoju, University Librarian, Dr. AdebamboOduwole, Bursar, Mr. SemiuMakinde, Head, Department of Accounting, Dr. KehindeSoyemi and other University functionaries.
