CHIEF INTERNAL AUDIT, RISK & TAXATION

About Our Client:

Our client is one of Nigeria's leading electricity distribution companies, responsible for the distribution and retail supply of electricity within its licensed territory. The company serves customers across the Southern zone, with a strong focus on delivering reliable, efficient, and customer-centric electricity services.

Job Objective:

To lead the organization's internal audit, enterprise risk management, and taxation functions by providing independent assurance, strengthening governance frameworks, ensuring regulatory and tax compliance, mitigating strategic and operational risks, and enhancing long-term organizational value and financial sustainability.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide independent and objective assurance to the Board and Executive Management on the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management, internal controls, and compliance frameworks across the organization.
• Develop and implement a risk-based annual audit strategy and plan that addresses key financial, operational, regulatory, information technology, and strategic risks.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of internal control systems and recommend improvements to safeguard assets, enhance operational efficiency, ensure data integrity, and strengthen organizational performance.
• Present audit findings, risk exposures, and control deficiencies to the Board Audit & Risk Committee and Executive Management, while monitoring the timely implementation of agreed corrective actions.
• Lead and maintain the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework, ensuring effective identification, assessment, mitigation, monitoring, and reporting of strategic, operational, financial, regulatory, and emerging risks.
• Oversee enterprise-wide risk assessments and risk profiling exercises, ensuring critical risks are appropriately escalated and integrated into strategic decision-making processes.
• Direct fraud risk management initiatives, including fraud prevention, investigation, whistleblowing administration, and the promotion of ethical conduct in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight for the organization's taxation function, ensuring compliance with all applicable tax laws, regulations, and statutory obligations.
• Drive tax planning and tax risk management strategies that optimize tax efficiency, support business objectives, and minimize exposure to financial and regulatory penalties.
• Oversee the timely preparation, review, and submission of statutory tax returns, remittances, and regulatory disclosures, ensuring full compliance with relevant tax authorities.
• Serve as the primary liaison with external auditors, regulatory agencies, tax authorities, and other assurance providers, ensuring effective coordination and resolution of audit, risk, and tax matters.
• Advise the Board and Executive Management on emerging risks, regulatory developments, governance trends, and assurance matters that may impact organizational performance and sustainability.
• Champion a strong culture of risk awareness, accountability, compliance, and internal control through organization-wide communication, education, and stakeholder engagement initiatives.
• Provide strategic leadership, mentorship, and capability development for the Internal Audit, Risk, and Taxation functions to ensure high performance, talent development, succession readiness, and continuous improvement.
• Prepare and present integrated assurance, risk, compliance, and taxation reports to the Board and Executive Management, providing insights that support informed decision-making, organizational resilience, and sustainable value creation.
• Promote and demonstrate leadership commitment to Health, Safety, Security, and Environmental (HSSE) standards by ensuring compliance with relevant policies, regulations, and safe work practices within areas of responsibility.

Educational Qualification:

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, Economics, Business Administration, Banking & Finance, or a related discipline from a recognized institution. A master's degree or MBA in a relevant field is required.
• A professional accounting qualification such as ACA (ICAN) or ACCA is mandatory. Additional certifications including CIA, CRMA, CISA, CFE, FRM, or CITN will be an added advantage.

• A minimum of 18 years of relevant post-qualification experience spanning internal audit, enterprise risk management, taxation, governance, and compliance, including at least 10 years in a senior leadership position responsible for enterprise-wide assurance, risk oversight, and strategic decision support.

Key Performance Metric:

• Annual Risk-Based Audit Plan Delivery: Achieve 100% execution of the Board-approved annual risk-based audit plan within the financial year, with all high-risk areas reviewed and reported.

• Audit Recommendation Implementation Rate: Ensure at least 90% implementation of agreed audit actions within approved timelines and achieve zero repeat high-risk audit findings.

• Enterprise Risk Management Effectiveness: Maintain 100% of critical enterprise risks with approved mitigation plans and ensure quarterly review and reporting of the enterprise risk register to Executive Management and the Board.

• Fraud and Control Loss Prevention: Achieve zero material financial losses resulting from control failures and ensure 100% of fraud cases are investigated and concluded within approved timelines.

• Tax Compliance and Optimization: Achieve 100% compliance with statutory tax filing and payment obligations, resulting in zero penalties, fines, or regulatory sanctions, while delivering approved tax optimization initiatives annually.

• Internal Control and Governance Assurance: Maintain zero material internal control weaknesses reported by external auditors, regulators, or assurance providers during the assessment period.

• Board and Executive Reporting Effectiveness: Submit 100% of quarterly audit, risk, and taxation reports to the Board Audit & Risk Committee and Executive Management within agreed reporting timelines.

• Leadership, Risk Culture and Succession Readiness: Conduct a minimum of two enterprise-wide risk and control awareness initiatives annually and maintain at least one ready-now or ready-soon successor for each critical role within the function.

Required Skills and Competencies:

• Demonstrates expertise in internal audit, assurance, and financial and operational audits, supported by strategic leadership and sound business management.
• Applies enterprise risk management, taxation, corporate governance, and regulatory knowledge to support informed decision-making.
• Combines fraud risk management and investigation skills with accountability, integrity, ethical judgement, professional skepticism, and attention to detail.
• Uses data analytics, technology audit, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills to identify risks and improve organisational performance.
• Demonstrates effective people and change leadership, stakeholder management, executive communication, negotiation, influencing, and conflict management skills.