The President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Samuel Agbeluyi Esq. tells BLESSING ENENAITE about his career, achievements and other issues
How would you describe your experience as the Vice-President of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and what were your achievements in this position?
I would describe my experience as rewarding, exciting and very educating. It was exciting because it was an opportunity and a big privilege to serve an institute like CITN. It was an opportunity to be a leader in an environment with very competent people by every standard. That helped me in doing what I have done in the past few years. I became the VP of CITN two years ago. Precisely June 1, 2021.
I need to expatiate on how the institute runs. One can bring one’s initiative and commitment to the office but it is not a singular role set up. I have been working under a president who is also a leader of about 28,000 members. It is not like there are no specific achievements for individuals. We have the president and others who have served. Whoever that is the VP is always the head of the committee which we call the Finance and General Purpose Committee. The essence of the committee is to look at the financial aspect of the institution, the risk associated with our (the institute) existence, and the likes. We are always keeping our eyes on the budget, revenue and to make sure the internal control system is working. There is harmony in the system and the VP is like the minister of internal affairs. We must stablise the system in a way that the president, who is like the minster of external affairs, is not disturbed so that he can concentrate on his activities as it has to do with stakeholders.
With my other members on that committee, we were able to move the institute from one level to the other. I don’t want to ascribe any achievement to myself but to the committee.
What were the lessons you learnt in that position that you would be adopting as the president of CITN?
In any human endeavour where we have various people from various backgrounds, one would be required to succeed. One must be a team player and do lots of listening. I got a lot of information and people give out information based on interest. One must be able to discern. That is key, otherwise one would make the wrong decision on a wrong premise that one would not know until it is late. One must be slow in action without necessarily rocking the boat. Also, I learnt that one cannot lord over anyone in an institute like this when everybody is enlightened. One is just fortunate to be the head at a particular level. If one is in such a position, one must be sensitive to one’s colleagues while one keeps one’s eyes on the overall goals. We know why we are here and we know what our founding fathers have done. So, there is a template. There are things to look at for that will be a guide.
Source: The Punch
