By Abdulkadir Sulaiman
The appointment of Abdulkadir Abdulsalam as the new accountant-general of Kano State has clearly shown that Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State has placed a square peg in a square hole.
Mr Abdulsalam is a chartered accountant, macro and development economist with over 20 years of work experience in public and private sector, spanning fiscal policy, risk management and controls, public financial management, international development and banking.
Until his appointment, the new accountant-general was the director of Internal Audit and Control at the Kano State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. Prior to that, he served as a director operation responsible for investment and revenue mobilization at Kano Investment Promotion Agency.
At Kano State Internal Revenue Service, he led various strategic portfolios as a director Government Business, director of tax audit and debt management, as well as director of non-tax revenue covering all MDAs.
Furthermore, Mr Abdulsalam served as a project cost analyst at offshore oil and gas project at Aberdeen, United Kingdom; project finance consultant, responsible managing the grant of European Development Fund project on Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform; as well as Senior Accountant and Treasury Manager at Kano State Water Board. He had also served as consultant for World Bank and Islamic Development Bank projects. In addition, he served in various operation functions at the Standard Trust Bank (now UBA).
Mr Abdulsalam was a state focal person for DFID-LINKS project; member Kano State high level committee on IGR; chairman of the committee responsible for the recovery of Federal Government MDA’s tax liabilities; member Kano-Lagos economic & investment summit; focal member Kano State committee on ease of doing business; member task force on Kano State land use charges; member Kano State public financial management (PFM) reform committee, member Kano State technical working group on implementation of World-Bank/EU SLOGOR project; and focal person Kano State DFID/GEMS3 implementation project.
The new accountant-general obtained an MSc in Project Management from Robert Gordon University, Scotland UK; MSc Economics from Bayero University Kano; Masters of Banking and Finance from Bayero University Kano; BSc Business Administration from Bayero University Kano; Certificate in Public Financial Management from Harvard University; Certificate in Public Policy Economics from Oxford University; Certificate in Global Sustainable Development from Colombia University of New York; and International Diploma in Computing from Informatics Academy of Singapore.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN; fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN; associate member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountant of United Kingdom, CIPFA; associate member of the Association of Project Management of United Kingdom; and a Certified Oracle Financial Management expert.
He attended numerous international and local trainings, focusing on public financial management reforms, tax administration, debt management, taxation, risk management, revenue assurance, ease of doing business, audit and assurance, internal controls and process improvement initiatives.
Mr Sulaiman writes from Lagos
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