COMRADE LUKMAN O. AHMED CELEBRATES AN OUTSTANDING MANAGER AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES, MALLAM ISIAKA ABDULRAZAQ @ 58

COMRADE LUKMAN O. AHMED CELEBRATES AN OUTSTANDING MANAGER AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES, MALLAM ISIAKA ABDULRAZAQ @ 58

Birthdays are glorious moments to count and relish individual blessings as free gifted by the Omnipotent God; it is also special moments, exceptional personae are celebrated and it is on that premise that, the Freedom Network Group ,under the leadership of National Coordinator, Comrade Lukman Olukayode Ahmed, felicitates with the Son of the soil, a financial guru , Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq, as he add a glittering feather today, 1st , July ,2021.

Without mincing words, the celebrants have proven to be a Quintessential Boss, Rare Manager of Financial Resources.

Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq is a fantastic role model for all those seeking to understand how to make an impact with their life.

The National Coordinator of Freedom Network Group, Comrade Lukman Olukayode Ahmed celebrates a man of Vigor, great intellect and substance , Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq as he clock 58 years on Earth.

Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq, an outstanding Mathematician, foremost Chartered Accountant, remarkable Lawyer, outstanding technocrat and accomplished patriot ,was born in the historic city of Zaria, Kaduna State, where his illustrious father held the honourary chieftaincy title of Tafidan Zazzau, on July 1,1963. He hails from Yerinsa Compound, Idigba Quarters, Pakata area, Ilorin. 

His father was the celebrated first Northern Nigerian lawyer and the Mutawali of Ilorin, the late Alhaji Abdulganiyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, SAN, OFR (1927-2020), while his mother is Alhaja Raliat AbdulRazaq (b.1930),a frontliine woman and community leader.

In 1968 and following the appointment of his father as a Commissioner and Member of the Kwara State Executive Council during the incipient administration of Major (later Brigadier-General) David Lasisi Bamigboye, CON, which "compelled" the family to return to Ilorin, Mallam AbdulRazaq was enrolled as a pupil of the popular Christian Mission School, Bishop Smith Primary School, Ilorin. 

He finished from the school in 1973 at the end of which he earned his First School Leaving Certificate.

Mallam AbdulRazaq proceeded to the famous Barewa College, Zaria, where he pursued his West African School Certificate (WASC) between 1973 and 1978. He was also educated at the University of Ilorin from 1979 to 1983. At the better by far University, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.

Mallam AbdulRazaq was also attended the Gwent College of Higher Education, Newport, Gwent, United Kingdom. It was at that College that he was trained and consequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1985.

Coming from a family, which is peopled by lawyers and headed by a father, who was not only the first lawyer in Northern Nigeria but also the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Kwara State, this great patriot went back to school to read law. He attended the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from where he received his Bachelor's degree (LL B) in Law in 1994. 

He was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar after a year training at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, in 1995.

This illustrious son of Ilorin Emirate started his exciting working career as an Audit Assistant with Coopers and Lybrand, a Lagos-based firm of Chartered Accountants. It was at that firm where he was given an early opportunity to be exposed to the rudiments of accounting and audit as well as dealing with big corporate organizations that he offered his mandatory national youth service as a Member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1983 and 1984.

A dutiful and patriotic public servant, Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq subsequently joined the services of the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), Kaduna. He served the Company, which was the largest indigenous holding Company in Nigeria, as Financial Controller from 1986 to 1987.

In August,1992, he was employed as a high-ranking management staff of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). He served the establishment as General Manager (Investment and Treasury) till 1996. Between 1996 and 1999.

 Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq was the Authority's General Manager in-charge of Finance and Accounts. He left NEPA as the Executive Director, Finance and Accounts in June,1999.

Sequel to his disengagement from the services of NEPA, Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq became a Principal Consultant with Al-Dahab Consulting. The firm is a Management and Financial Consulting outfit, which was involved as Advisors to various companies especially on the privatization process.

In March, 2000, Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq served as the Director (Special Projects) at Debt Management Office in the Presidency. He held the office for four years before moving on in March, 2004.

He subsequently joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as General Manager (Finance) at the Corporate Headquarters. He held the position between April, 2004 and March, 2005. From April, 2005 to December, 2006, Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq served as Group General Manager (Finance) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In July, 2008, this outstanding technocrat was seconded from the NNPC to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), his erstwhile employer, by the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to,again, serve as the Executive Director (Finance and Administration). His second coming to the power industry lasted till March, 2009 during which he worked with others to prepare the nation's power industry for the eventual privatization.

He subsequently returned to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and was made the Group General Manager, NNPC Capital, a position he held between July, 2008 and March, 2009.

Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq was subsequently appointed as the Group Executive Director (Finance & Services) by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari in August, 2015.

From March, 2016 to July, 2019, he was the Group Executive Director (Finance and Services) of the NNPC. He subsequently became the Chief Financial Officer(CFO)/Group Executive Director of the same establishment. While at NNPC, he established a fascinating reputation as a great technocrat who championed the publication of NNPC's Monthly Financial and Operations Report in all major Newspapers and NNPC Website for the purpose of integrity and transparency.

As a well-trained professional, Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), United Kingdom since 1994.

He is also a Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), which he bagged in 2000 and 2005, respectively. He is also a Member of The Chartered Institution of Stock Brokers and Dealing Member of The Nigeria Stock Exchange. He is also a Member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq has offered so many services to and sacrifices for Ilorin Emirate that nothing can equate his contributions because he offered those interventions at a time when no one expected such and without the expectation of any reward".

Mallam Isiaka AbdulRazaq, a younger brother to the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, is happily married to Hajiya Amsa AbdulRazaq

As you celebrate this landmarks anniversary, it is my prayer that Almighty Allah will continue to bless you with long life, good health, peace of mind and greater prosperity.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MANY HAPPY RETURNS! 

COMRADE LUKMAN OLUKAYODE AHMED

NATIONAL COORDINATOR

FREEDOM NETWORK GROUP

1ST JULY, 2021.