Tragedy reportedly struck at St. Paul Anglican Church, Breadfruit, Lagos on Sunday when the first female chartered accountant in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, Chief Mrs. Olutoyin Olusola Olakunrin slumped and died.
She celebrated her 80th birthday last November.
She was from Gbagura, Abeokuta, Ogun State and married to Elder Simeon Olakunri, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
She was said to have slumped in the course of the church service and pronounced BID (Brought In Dead) at the hospital she was rushed to.
She was the mother-in-law to Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, who is married to Derin (née Olakunrin).
During the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Olakunrin served as the chairman of the Education Trust Fund.
She was also a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Born on November 4, 1937, she attended primary school in Nigeria, and completed her secondary and tertiary education in the United Kingdom.
In February 1963, she qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales; and became a Foundation Member the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria [ICAN] in 1965.
She was also the second female President of ICAN.
In 1978, Olakunri was the Chief Promoter of the Society of Women Accountants in Nigeria [SWAN], which she served as Chairman for over a decade and the first female President of the Institute of Directors [Nigeria], former member of the National Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Policy Commission, Vision 20:2020 Committee, and Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
She was also a nominated member of the Constituent Assembly that generated the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also on the Finance Committee of Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).
Olakunrin was also on the Board of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited.
She served on the Council of Federal University of Ado-Ekiti, Redeemer’s University and Bells University of Technology, & Achievers’ University before her death.
She was bestowed with the national award of the Officer of the Federal Republic [OFR] by the federal government as well as chieftaincy titles from Owo, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta and Ijero-Ekiti.
