The Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA), will tomorrow, inaugurate Chief Sir Kevin Uwanuakwa Obieri, a chartered accountant, as the fourteenth President of the Chamber.
Sir Kevin attended St. Gabriel’s and St. Barnabas’ Primary Schools, Akokwa, and National High School, Aba, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1979. On account of his academic excellence, he won a 4-year scholarship of the Federal Government with which he studied Geography and Regional Planning at the University of Calabar, graduating in 1983.
Chief Obieri, however, changed career path when he took up employment at Peat, Marwick, Ani, Ogunde & Co., an international Chartered Audit and Accountancy firm. There, he trained as a chartered accountant. He further went to the University of Benin, where, in 1998, he gained the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and later, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka where he earned the M.Sc. degree in Accounting and Auditing, in 2014.
Chief Sir Obieri is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Nigeria since 2002; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Taxation since 2005; Member, Nigerian Institute of Management since 2001; and Member, Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria since 1998, among others.
Chief Sir Kevin Obieri set up his professional practice at Onitsha in 1993 under the name, Ich-Dien Consultants. Today, the firm has grown into a group, comprising not less than 3 firms.
As a prelude to his ascendency to the top most leadership position of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Sir Obieri served as Vice-President in charge of Finance and Administration and later as Deputy President in charge of Conferences, training and civil society engagement. At his election as President of the Chamber by the 33rd Annual General Meeting of ONICCIMA, Chief Obieri was the 1st Deputy President of the Chamber.
No doubt, there is need for a firm and speedy consolidation by the chamber on the milestones achieved by the Pharmacist Ukachukwu presidency as well as those earned by the immediate past president, Don Ebubeogu, who led the chamber before Pharmacist Ukachukwu.
For instance, under Pharmacist Ukachukwu, ONICCIMA secured approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to run an Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI). This is imbued with the opportunities which ONICCIMA needs to explore, deepen and exploit for the benefit of our teeming young and upcoming entrepreneurs.
Again, under Sir Ukachukwu’s watch, ONICCIMA became one of the only 3 city chambers nationwide that attracted the German Government’s TVET programme, a technical vocation training programme, structured to offer competency based training. Accordingly, the Chamber has begun the process of registration cum accreditation of the programme with the National Board for Technical Education to enable ONICCIMA award nationally and internationally recognized certificate to its would be graduates. The opportunities and benefits inherent in this programme for the state’s economy is enormous, only that it will take some hardwork, which the Obieri regime should diligently but vigorously supply.
Understandably, many people in the state, including those in business, manufacturing and agriculture have limited knowledge of the workings, functions and benefits inherent in the chamber movement. This partly explains why some government and donor-agency economic intervention programmes often do not receive enthusiastic patronage from those targeted. ONICCIMA, as a first rate advocacy organization, needs to rise up to this challenge.
In its entire 67-year history, ONICCIMA, a non-profit organization, has been able to hold its head high on account of its remaining significant to the business needs of Onitsha community, the major commercial hub of the East.
As we congratulate Chief Sir Kevin Obieri on his election as the President of ONICCIMA, we solicit the support and encouragement of the entire business community of Anambra State for him and his team to succeed.
WRITTEN BY OKECHUKWU ANENE
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