1. Sam Abu (PwC Nigeria)
Sam Abu has built more than 23 years at PwC into a career spanning multiple African markets. He held several leadership posts before his current role, including West Market Area Assurance Leader and Financial Services Leader for Nigeria. Both roles gave him oversight of audit and advisory work across the financial sector.
He also spent six years on the PwC Africa Governance Board, where he helped shape policy and strategic direction across the firm’s African network. PwC named him Country Senior Partner for Nigeria and Regional Senior Partner for the West Market Area in July 2023. The combined role puts him in charge of strategy, operations, talent development, governance and client service across several markets, not just Nigeria.
2. Anthony Oputa (EY West Africa)
Anthony Oputa studied Accounting at the University of Jos and started his career at PwC in 1998. He worked as a senior associate on audit and advisory assignments for financial institutions.
In 2002, he left professional services to join Access Bank as Head of Corporate Finance. There, he handled loan syndications, project financing and advisory transactions, gaining a client-side view of decisions audit firms usually only advise on from the outside.
He returned to professional services at EY and became West Africa Financial Services Leader in 2015. He rose to Chief Operating Officer for EY West Africa in 2018, then Regional Managing Partner for West Africa and Chief Executive Officer of EY West Africa in 2020. He still holds direct responsibility for capital markets and accounting advisory work across the region alongside his executive duties.
3. Yomi Olugbenro (Deloitte & Touche)
Yomi Olugbenro built his career around tax policy and fiscal strategy rather than traditional audit work. As Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte West Africa, he oversees the firm’s operations across several countries and service lines.
An alumnus of the University of Manchester, he holds fellowships with both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. He has spent decades advising corporations, investors and policymakers on fiscal and regulatory questions.
Olugbenro chaired ICAN’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Faculty and previously led CITN’s Indirect Tax Faculty. He remains a regular speaker at taxation and fiscal reform conferences, reflecting a career built around public policy engagement as much as client work.
4. Tola Adeyemi (KPMG Professional Services)
Tola Adeyemi joined KPMG early in his career after graduating with a first-class degree in Accounting from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. KPMG admitted him as partner in 2000, marking his shift from technical specialist to firm leader.
Before taking on his current roles as Senior Partner of KPMG Nigeria and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG West Africa, he led the firm’s Audit and Assurance Services division. In that role, he advised clients across financial services, energy, consumer markets, industrial sectors, telecommunications and the public sector.
He sits on both the KPMG West Africa Board and the KPMG Africa Board. He has also attended executive programmes at Lagos Business School, Harvard Business School, Wharton and INSEAD.
5. Tajudeen A. Akande (PKF Professional Services)
Tajudeen Akande began his career in 1988 at Akintola Williams & Co., the firm that later became part of Deloitte. There, he received early training in audit methodology and financial reporting.
He joined PKF Nigeria in 1993, a move that shaped the rest of his career. He holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Benin and a Master’s in Finance from the University of Leicester, and has attended executive programmes at Lagos Business School and Harvard Business School.
Akande holds fellowships with ICAN and the Institute of Directors, plus an associateship with CITN. He has become one of the more visible advocates for indigenous Nigerian professional services firms competing directly against the Big Four.
ALSO READ: Nigeria Tax Act Gives Zero Tax to Small Businesses
6. Olugbemiga Akibayo (BDO Professional Services)
Olugbemiga Akibayo joined Coopers & Lybrand, the firm that eventually became BDO Oyediran Faleye Oke & Co., in 1985. He had just graduated in Economics from the University of Lagos.
More than 37 years later, he remains one of the senior figures in Nigeria’s audit profession. He has worked through the evolution of the country’s corporate reporting environment since the mid-1980s.
Akibayo holds an associateship with the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and membership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. His career stands out for institutional continuity within one organisation across four decades, rather than movement between firms.
7. Oluwole Ogundeji (Baker Tilly Nigeria)
Oluwole Ogundeji began his career in 1991 with the dissolved firm of Z.O. Ososanya. When the practice restructured, he stayed on through the transition, and the firm admitted him into the partnership in 2004.
As Senior Partner and National Business Leader for Audit and Assurance at Baker Tilly Nigeria, he now oversees engagements across manufacturing, oil and gas, banking, finance, stockbroking and services.
Ogundeji holds a fellowship with ICAN and an associate membership with the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria. These credentials reflect both technical audit competence and expertise in business recovery work.
8. Orji Okpechi (Grant Thornton Nigeria)
Orji Okpechi took a less conventional route into audit leadership. He started in accounting and finance roles in Owerri, including positions with the Smallholders Oil Palm Project and Lemmy Akakem Construction Company, before joining Spiropoulos, Adiele, Okpara & Co., where he rose from Audit Semi Senior to Partner.
He then moved into corporate leadership at ABC Transport, serving as Chief Accountant, Assistant General Manager and Deputy General Manager for Accounts. The role gave him direct operational finance experience alongside his audit background.
Okpechi returned to professional practice at Grant Thornton Nigeria, rising to Senior Partner in 2013 and Principal Partner in 2020. He has since led assignments for the World Bank, USAID, and federal and state governments in Nigeria. He holds certifications as an Insolvency Practitioner and Forensic Accountant, and has served as an expert witness before judicial panels.
9. Abiodun Ariyibi (SIAO Partners)
Abiodun Ariyibi started his career at Olusola Faleye & Co. before joining PKF Nigeria, where he rose to partner and gained exposure to large audit engagements across multiple sectors.
He joined SIAO Partners in 2009 as Partner and Head of Audit and Assurance, taking responsibility for engagements in banking, manufacturing and public sector institutions. SIAO Partners named him Managing Partner in 2022.
Beyond audit work, Ariyibi serves as an Asset Management Partner with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria. He also holds status as a Sponsored Individual of the Securities and Exchange Commission, reflecting a level of trust within Nigeria’s financial regulatory system beyond his firm’s client roster.
10. Uhabia Ojike (Forvis Mazars Nigeria)
Uhabia Ojike began his career as an audit intern at KPMG Nigeria during his National Youth Service year. He then joined Deloitte, where he progressed from Audit Associate to Senior Manager.
Rather than pursue partnership within a global firm, Ojike founded Ojike & Partners and ran it as Managing Partner for more than seven years. The experience gave him direct exposure to business development and firm leadership.
He became Managing Partner of Mazars in Nigeria in 2019, and took on leadership of the Nigerian practice under the Forvis Mazars name after the firms’ global combination in 2024. He holds a B.Sc. in Banking and Finance from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, an MBA from the University of Manchester, and certification as an Information Systems Auditor.
