By Owolola Adebola
The Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu has been honoured with the prestigious Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, ICAN’s 2020 Merit Award.
The award was presented to him by ICAN President, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuadigbo on Saturday, May 16, 2020, virtually through an ICAN Webinar.
The award presentation through electronic video conferencing system, the first of its kind in the history of ICAN, featured nine awardees and lasted one hour, thirty minutes.
Okwuadigbo, while justifying the conferment of the Award on Magu, said that the EFCC’s Chairman is an icon ‘’who has been religiously leading the crusade against corruption through the EFCC’’. Explaining further, he said that Magu is a ‘’worthy ambassador’’ whose award was approved after painstaking scrutiny of his contributions to the Accounting profession and the country as a whole.
Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, Otunba Olutola Senbore described Magu as a steadfast and disciplined head of Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency. “He deserves the award more than anyone else’’, he said.
Other awardees include, former ICAN President, Mr. C.O.O Oyediran; former ICAN Registrar, Mr. G.M. Okufi; managing partner, KaluKalu&Co, Elder Mr. Kalu. I. Kalu; Professor of Accounting at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Taiwo Asaolu, Country Senior Partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers( PwC), Mr. Uyi Akpata and Chairman, Megastar Construction Company, Architect Harcourt Adukeh. Two corporate organisations, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the University of Calabar were also honoured with an award each.
The Award was earlier scheduled to hold in April 25, 2020 but was postponed due to the ravaging Covid-19 scourge across the world.
In his acceptance speech, Magu expressed delight at his choice for the Award and described it as a personification of ICAN’s support for the anti-corruption fight. He dedicated the Award to all Accountants in Nigeria , stressing that the Coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the course of the world “ and as Accountants, we have a duty to do and a role to play in the new world order’’.