Abel Onyeke, has been suspended by the Financial Reporting Council, the engagement partner at audit firm, Nexia Agbo Abel & Co.
Onyeke’s suspension was declared in a circular signed by the management of FRC on Monday.
The council, which claimed that Onyeke failed to exercise adequate professional skepticism and due diligence, suspended him for an initial period of three months starting June 1.
“The council, after the review of one of the Public Interest Entity clients of Nexia Agbo Abel & Co., hereby suspends Mr. Abel A. Onyeke, the Engagement Partner of the reporting entity for an initial period of three months effective from 1st of June 2024.
“Mr. Abel Onyeke was found, among others, not to have exercised adequate professional skepticism and due diligence during this engagement as required by auditing standards and he did not obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence in accordance with relevant standards,” part of the notice read.
With his suspension, Onyeke is not permitted to undertake any audit function/engagement pending the time a full practice review of the firm shall be conducted.
Although the Public Interest Entity client wasn’t mentioned, the move coincided with the revocation of the licence of Heritage Bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the appointment of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation as its liquidator.
Meanwhile, Nexia Agbo Abel & Co acts as the external auditors of Julius Berger, a position it has held continuously for the last 10 years.
According to the notice of the Annual General Meeting that Julius Berger filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the audit firm would be retiring as the company’s auditors from June 20, when shareholders would decide on the appointment of PriceWaterHouseCoopers as a replacement.
