Qudirat Hakeem-Apanpa spoke with the National President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Hajia Mariam Ladi Ibrahim, on the challenges facing her leadership as president of a very large, male- dominated association and many other issues affecting women. Excerpt:

WHAT challenges are you facing as a woman leading an association as large as ANAN?
As a woman working in a male-dominated profession like accounting, I have a lot of challenges, but because I have undergone series of professional trainings which prepared me for the tasks, I only utilise the capability, effectiveness and efficiency I have had in management to manage all the positions I find myself.

How did you find yourself at the top?
My being at the top did not start in a day I grew from being an ordinary member of the association to a committee member and later contested the post of the president. It has been very challenging both at home, office and in the society.

When did you cut your teeth in the accounting profession?
It all started in 1973 when I gained admission to study for a Diploma  in Accounting at the Kaduna State Polytechnic and my dad asked if I understood the meaning of Accounting and I answered in the affirmative based on the upbringing he gave us. He made us accountable as children and he always wanted us to practise what he taught us  I grew up in a family that exposed us to meeting and accounting for many people, because he wanted us to be entrusted with other people’s funds and be responsible. So he encouraged me and  gave his blessing to study accounting.

How do you combine your job with marriage?
It was very challenging when I first got married, but interesting at the same time, because I was trained to bring out the best in whatever I embarked on I did not see the challenges as anything, but part of life. Also, from the family background I have, I know I am made to excel, because I was trained not to be in the background and I tried in my own way to excel and to God be the glory, I made it. My husband has been very supportive because he understands my kind of job as a career woman. Though career women always face a lot of challenges, but if they could manage it well, they will surely overcome and make a fortune out of their efforts and yet be in control of their homes.

Why is ANAN not known like the Institute of Chartered Accountants  of Nigeria (ICAN)?
I will not accept the fact that ANAN is not well known, rather I will say it is not well recognised in the South-West like ICAN because the founding fathers of the accounting profession in Nigeria started the course in the South-West after undergoing their overseas training. Like Medicine and Law professions, Accounting started in the South-West, that is why ICAN is highly recognised there. One cannot compare the two organs because ICAN started in 1965, while ANAN started in 1979 and became chartered in 1993. Definitely, it is older and well recognised where it started from. It is a known fact that ANAN needs a lot of awareness drive to make people in the South-West to recognise it the  more.

What was your movement to the top like as a professional accountant?
It is quite interesting. I feel God has helped me due to the dedication and passion I have for the profession. These have helped me to make it to the top. I believe in doing the right thing at the right time.

The ethics of the profession has also guided me in everything I do. I started my career in the university. Specifically, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. I later went to the Women Commission of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, where I helped set up the account department. From there, I got an appointment in Kogi State as the Auditor-General, where I happened to be the first woman to attain such in the country. While serving as the AG, the Kogi State government appointed me as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in 1993 before the military struck and I was deployed to the office of the state AG. I retired in 1999 to set up my own business to face the challenges of the private sector.

How has it been in the private sector when compared with  public  service?
It is really good to be in the private sector, though it only takes a lot of discipline to be there and remain. To me, I believe what both sectors need is good leadership, people with transparent, accountable qualities and ethical values. Both sectors work hand in hand to achieve success, they cannot do without each other, that is why both sectors partner with each other, whatever the vices in the public sector, it is higher in the private sector, but with good ethical values and disciplined individuals, it will make the practitioner fair to all.

Is any of your children willing to take after you?
Yes, I have three professional accountants, a medical doctor and  computer engineer.

Is your spouse an accountant too, or how does he feel seeing most of your children taking to your  profession?
He was an administrator; he does not feel bad that my children chose what they loved to do. We encourage them to choose their profession. To my amazement, they are better, faster and more skilled in the profession than us, because of the various innovation occasioned by the ICT. At present, we have two of them who are qualified system auditor and professional accountants rolled into one.

How do you combine the home front with your career without  clashing?
Combining the home and the career needs adequate planning and if well handled, it will be very easy to manage, but because we lack management, we believe so much in African time. But I have respect for time,  that is why it is easy for me to combine many things without having any problem, I always set goals for myself and work towards achieving them.

What are your likes and dislikes?
I like honesty and hard work. I also like having many people around me, especially the under privileged. That was what motivated me to have a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)  which has to do with empowering rural women, putting smiles on the faces of the under privileged and encouraging the youth to be self-employed.

The group, Rural Women Empowerment and Youth Development Foundation (RWEYDF), was officially launched in 2002 in Okene, Kogi State, by the then wife of the Vice President, Hajia Titi Atiku Abubakar.

Some of the issues being addressed include education, healthcare delivery system and other health related issues like polio, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, river blindness, among others. I hate to see children roam the streets, so I encourage parents to register them and pay some of the expenses for sending them to school. I also pay for indigent students, while also encouraging the under privileged to go to school. We go to schools to create awareness for the youth on how to make it to the top in their chosen career and  give micro-credit to some women to help them set up small  businesses to cater for their families.

As a retiree, how do you fund  your NGO’s activities?
As a matter of principle, I donate 50 per cent of my pension to fund and donations, though I have realised that Nigerians are not willing to help the under privileged.

So, how do you feel doing this kind of things?
Very well, I feel not just good but fulfilled because it is what I have passion for. Sometime,  the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) crew came looking for what I was doing, I felt honoured though embarrassed because I did not know how the information filtered out to them, because I never wanted to publicise it that much, but because they felt we were doing something good for the people, they came and covered the events and gave it prominence in their broadcast.

What is your advice for Nigerian Youths?
I think I will first advise parents to take adequate care of their children by giving them sound education so that they will turn out to be good people and love others around them. With this, they will be able to behave well, have the love of their country at heart and be good citizens. Children are God’s gift who deserved to be treated with care and love so that they will turn out to respect their parents’ opinion and see them as role models.

Nigerian youths  should  face their studies and shun crime or anything that will give their parents negative names instead of  the good names they have built for several years.