By Abdulkadir Sulaiman
The Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has selected Abdulkadir Abdulsalam as the new Accountant-General of the state. It is clear that the governor has made a wise decision by appointing Abdulsalam, who is an experienced development economist, taxman, and risk manager.
Mr. Abdulsalam is a certified chartered accountant with over 20 years of work experience in both public and private sectors. His experience spans fiscal policy, risk management and controls, public financial management, international development, and banking.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Abdulsalam worked as the Director of Internal Audit and Control at the Kano State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. Before that, he served as a Director of Operations responsible for investment and revenue mobilization at the Kano Investment Promotion Agency.
During his time at Kano State Internal Revenue Service, he held several strategic positions, such as Director of Government Business, Director of Tax Audit and Debt Management, and Director of Non-Tax Revenue covering all MDAs.
Furthermore, Mr. Abdulsalam’s work experience includes serving as a project cost analyst at an offshore oil and gas project in Aberdeen, United Kingdom; project finance consultant, responsible for managing the grant of European Development Fund project on Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform; Senior Accountant and Treasury Manager at Kano State Water Board; and consultant for various World Bank and Islamic Development Bank projects. He also held various operational functions at Standard Trust Bank (now known as UBA).
Mr. Abdulsalam has been a state focal person for DFID-LINKS project, a member of Kano State high level committee on IGR, the chairman of the committee responsible for the recovery of Federal Government MDA’s tax liabilities, a member of Kano-Lagos economic and investment summit, a focal member of Kano State committee on ease of doing business, a member of the task force on Kano State land use charges, member of Kano State Public Financial Management (PFM) reform committee, member of Kano State Technical Working Group on the implementation of World-Bank/EU SLOGOR project, and a focal person for Kano State DFID/GEMS3 implementation project.
The newly appointed accountant-general holds a Master of Science degree 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, a Certificate in Public Financial Management from Harvard University, a Certificate in Public Policy Economics from Oxford University, a Certificate in Global Sustainable Development from Columbia University of New York, and an International Diploma in Computing from Informatics Academy of Singapore.
He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountant of the United Kingdom (CIPFA), associate member of the Association of Project Management of United Kingdom, and a Certified Oracle Financial Management expert.
Abdulsalam has attended numerous international and local training programs, 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.
