Amongst the
numerous politicians jostling to become the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State few weeks back was a trained
accountant, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.
The rest is now
history as Ambode was elected by the delegates of the party as he got over 65%
of the vote at the primary election, which held at Onikan Stadium in the state to
vie for the governorship seat of the state under the APC in the February, 2014
elections.
Akinwunmi Ambode
was born on June 14, 1963 at Epe General Hospital Lagos State. He had his
primary school at St. Jude’s Primary School, Ebute Meta, Lagos, and passed the National Common Entrance in Primary 5 and
gained admission into Federal Government College, Warri. As a brilliant
student, he recorded the second best result in the entire West Africa in the
Higher School Certificate Examinations in 1981.
He graduated
with honours in Accounting from the University of Lagos at 21, and started his
public service career at Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (now LAWMA) as
Accountant Grade II in November 1985.
At 24, he qualified as a Chartered
Accountant and completed his Masters Degree programme in Accounting from
University of Lagos, specializing in Financial Management.
He was appointed acting
Auditor-General for Local Government in 2000 and became the youngest ever
Auditor-General for Local Government in Lagos State.
He was appointed Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Finance in January 2005 and in February, 2006, was given
the additional responsibility of Accountant-General of Lagos State.
The astute politician was the
youngest Permanent Secretary in service and only the second person to hold both
positions of Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General at the same time.
Under his watch, the state treasury
office revolutionized the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted,
managed and planned, resulting in the state’s budget performing at an average
of 85 percent annually.
He ensured payment of civil service
staff salaries before the end of the month, payment of running cost by 1st week
of each month and introduced end of the year package and special/specific
welfare for staff.
He launched the e-payment platform
for the monthly staff salaries.
He renovated the state treasury
office, created a conducive working environment, introduced a corporate dress
code and provided laptops for all directors. He introduced prompt payment of
gratuity and pension arrears of the State Universal Basic Education Board and
local government pensioners.
He co-organised the first ever
National Tax Retreat in association with the Joint Tax Board/Federal Inland
Revenue Service in 2005, and chaired the Technical Committee that produced the
Lagos State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (SEEDS) document.
In addition, he led the audit teams
as the Auditor-General in the office of Auditor-General for Local Government to
clear and publish the arrears of statutory audits of 1995 to 2004 within
12months.
He is a Fellow
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a Member of the
Nigerian Institute of Management. He is the founder of La Roche Leadership
Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on developing the next generation
of leaders.
He is married to
Bolanle Patience Ambode (nee Odukomaiya) and they are blessed with children.
When Ambode left the service, he
went to Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, where
he studied one or two things about governance in his preparation for the
greater responsibility.
While abroad studying, his wife of
18 years gave birth to a set of twins, a boy and a girl for the first time in
their marriage.
He designed the strategy to shore up
the revenue of the state when former president Olusegun Obasanjo seized Lagos
LG funds as Accountant General of the State.
With all these intimidating
achievements, many residents of Lagos State believe that Akinwunmi Ambode has
all it takes to assume duty as the Governor of Lagos State if he wins the governorship
election that is slated for February 28, 2015.
0 comments:
Post a Comment