Words By- Josephine Agbonkhese

For a genius who broke an age-long jinx by becoming the first woman to occupy the office of the Accountant General of the Federation in Nigeria, Dr. Oluwatoyin Shakirat Madein will be remembered as the woman who dared to challenge the status quo and prove her capacity to thrive in an unofficial boys’ club.

Having started her career as a middle-level officer 35 years ago— a period in which she served in various capacities and ministries, Madein rose to become Director of Finance and Accounts at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. In May 2023, after a fiercely contested screening examination in which she emerged overall best, she was appointed by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, as Accountant General of the Federation. The alumna of Walden University, Minnesota, United States, where she bagged a doctorate degree in Management Finance holds a Postgraduate and Master’s in Business Administration from the Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University), Ago Iwoye. Prior to that, she had obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accountancy from the former Ogun State Polytechnic, (now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta), in 1988. As Madein warms up to bow out of civil service on March 7, 2025, same day she turns 60, in this conversation with Allure, she reminisces on her tenure as the first female Accountant General of the Federation, gives valuable insights into how the Nigerian budgeting system can be improved, as well as reveals plans for post-retirement.

Your tenure as Accountant General is about to expire; what has life been like in the civil service?

Life in the civil service has been very rewarding. I had the opportunity of advancing in my academics and undergoing many professional courses and programs; which I’m grateful for.

What major changes have occurred from when you joined till this time?

The major change is the digitalisation of the financial services. When we joined, it was basically an entirely manual process. But today, most of the processes are now digitalised and that makes the system more efficient. It has reduced on errors heavily and increased productivity.

As the Accountant General of the Federation, you manage a very sensitive office; how have you ensured transparency and accountability in your operations?

A lot of Nigerians know that the office of the Accountant General suffered some image issues with what happened to the previous Accountant General. So, the expectation was quite high for me as the first female.One thing I know, I believed in and carried along with me though, was obedience to guiding principles and rules.The system has rules of operation. In fact, it is that office that ensures and monitors compliance. So, when I came in, my focus was on ensuring that the rules are complied with and that the digital financial system is operational. We have a system that publishes transactions as they occur. That’s the Open Treasury Portal and Nigerians visit the portal regularly. That’s to show there’s transparency in the system. I also ensured we don’t encourage that spirit of god-fatherism when it comes to posting of staff. I made sure I tackled that issue very well. Everyone was posted based competence and that reduced the tendency of any individual coming to make claims. Then, personally, I ensured my personal interest doesn’t override public interest. Also, anytime anyone requires any information about the office, they get it easily because I run the office in a manner that no information starts and end on my table.

Did your job put you under any undue pressure dealing with money and records?

Maybe the pressure may be having to fund expenditures. For instance, the Appropriation Act that spells out the expenditures and the revenue always ends with budget deficit. What that means is that funding that budget will involve going for loan or to stop funding the expenditure budget. But we are in a country where everybody desires increase in expenditure and none wants to take responsibility for increase in revenue. So, that now leads to having a funding gap which is the source of pressure because all the areas of the budget wants to be executed one hundred percent. Even the revenue budget yet doesn’t have one hundred percent performance. So that’s the real area pressure comes from because everybody and the different sectors lay claims to how their budget must be fully funded in order for them to be able to deliver on their promise.This makes managing the fund the biggest pressure but with good knowledge of public finance management approach, we are able to sort that out as they occur by knowing the priority of government which is, ensuring the salaries of workers are paid, before we go onto others.

In which area would you like to see improvements?

Budgeting. Our budgeting needs to be efficiently done so it doesn’t go above revenue. We have to slow down on this ambitious economy thing and face developmental activities more as a nation. If these areas are focused on with appropriate funding, they will definitely bring so much positive result in terms of improving the economy of the nation. The security situation too is also a major challenge; funding it is taking a serious toll on the nation’s economy. If we had less problem in that area, there will be more money to move into other sectors of the economy. By and large, every sector must see that the revenue they are bringing in matches expectations.

You just hit your diamond Jubilee; how do you feel and what are you most grateful for?

I’m so delighted that I’m looking forward to turning sixty on March 7th. At same time, this year too, I also achieved 35 years of being in the civil service. I’m so glad I got to this age and God has been very wonderful in my journey. I want to thank God that everything is working fine; no challenge or setback whatsoever; he has been very faithful.

If you could turn the hands of time, what would you do differently?

No other thing but to work harder and continue to believe in God. I don’t think anyone can do anything without the hand of God. While in the service, I saw that God’s hand was upon me all the way. He saw me through. We are usually faced with so many challenges as civil servants but God was merciful.I’m really glad that I was able to get to the pinnacle of my career by the time I’m turning 60. Rising to become the first female Accountant General was something I didn’t believe will happen to me.

What is the biggest lesson life has taught you?To be yourself and know yourself. And to do what you think is best for yourself, the people around you and for your nation.

What plans do you have for retirement?

I will keep on doing what I know how best to do. I’m used to active life and I will not do anything otherwise. Maybe after few weeks of my retirement, I might take some time to reinvigorate in some areas. But I have to bounce back into my emotional life and also any opportunity that God brings my way. I also plan to serve God the more and to give back to the family that allowed me to do all that I have done. Since my appointment, I hardly have time for the family but they have been quite understanding with the little I could do in the home front.

What things would you like to do now that work-life didn’t allow you do?

The area I know I would have loved to do more is serving God— which I didn’t have the opportunity to do because I barely even have time to sleep on most days until 5am.

So, how do you get the time to be part of any activity in church?

I hope to have enough time for that now, and also for humanity.

At 60, what occupies your thoughts now?

It’s how I am going to adjust to life after the office? When will I be waking up and sleeping? I practically haven’t been sleeping for some time. Some people might be leaving my office at 4am and will still be telling me to take time to rest (laughs). How will I rest when you’re just leaving my office by 4am? What time do I have left to sleep?

Any regrets?

No regrets at all. I don’t dwell on bad experiences but move forward immediately after anything happens. I see such as a waste of time. So, I don’t really have any serious count of unpleasant experiences.

Let’s take you back to your childhood; what was growing up like and in what city did you grow up?

I was born and bred in Iperu Remo in Ogun State. Growing up, my mother was a trader and also engaged in production of gari and fufu. She also traded in groceries and clothing materials. I was engaged in any of the trading activities she was doing at every point. That was how I got exposed to entrepreneurship early in life. I also suggested and started new business ideas such as frying of fish at different points. Eventually, we were frying cartons of fishes daily. I advocate parents let their children be introduced to whatever business they are engaged in early enough. It can help them gain exposure to entrepreneurship, calculation of profits, etc. It’s an exposure that prepares them for the future whether they choose to continue in that line or not.

Who has been the biggest influence on your life?

My parents. My dad, for instance, though not literate, knew so much about what literacy can do to people. So, any opportunity he was able to get then for us to advance in our academics, he pushed for it. He had good dreams for us and was always following up. He encouraged us to focus on completing our studies instead of taking up jobs after school Certificate exams because he felt we could become distracted by money-making as young people and not want to go ahead with academics.

The dream of every professional is to attain the peak of their career growth? What traits can hinder career growth?

So many traits; especially in a career such as Accounting. The job is very prone to temptation because you’re saddled with managing finances. Especially at the early stage where we would go to bank and collect cash, bring the cash to the office and be disbursing to individual employees that got approval to do one thing or the other. We have many people that will secretly start pilfering and manipulating the books or cash. That temptation was quite high among many. Even the senior officers could be the one luring younger officers but if you do their bidding rather than say no, the law will come after you and you will be denied by those who lured you. These and many more are hindrances one must avoid to go far in any profession.

How did you deal with career and family life?

It is appropriate to organise yourself as a woman. Managing family and work life is not as easy as that but as a young woman, one must be very careful about the kind of partners and friends she keeps. In fact, I remember I didn’t even have friends while coming up as a young married woman. Apart from my husband and colleagues, I didn’t have the problem of friends calling and taking you here and there. I didn’t have such distraction because I understood I didn’t need friends that will be engaging me unnecessarily. In fact, my Maid of Honour and I didn’t see after my wedding until it was time for her own wedding. So, keeping away from unnecessary distractions helped me cope with work and family life.

What do you look forward to?

I look forward to a peaceful life, a more robust family life, as well as a more robust social life. I also look forward to engaging in sporting activities to keep me rejuvenated.