MEET THE FIRST NIGERIAN TO HOLD A GUINNESS WORLD RECORD 

Did you know that the first Nigerian to have his name in the Guinness World Records is a Deltan who achieved that feat in 1999 with the highest numbers of chartered accountants in a family?

While Nigeria's Hilda Effiong Bassey, popularly known as Hilda Baci, undertook a feat in an attempt to add her names to the Guinness World Records (GWR) by breaking an existing record for the “longest cooking marathon by an individual” on Monday, 15 May 2023, however, she is not the first Nigerian to hold the GWR.

The Guinness World Records, which is the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, with the book co-founded by twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter in Fleet Street, London, in August 1955, was formerly known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records. It is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. 

The first Nigerian to have his name in the GWR was David Omueya Dafinone OFR, who hails from Sapele in Delta State. He broke into the GWR in 1999 as the man to have the highest numbers of chartered accountants in a family. His five children (three sons and two daughters) are all members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in The United Kingdom between 1986 to 1999, a feat that stands his family out.

Dafinone who was born on March 12, 1927, was a Nigerian accountant and politician, and was a senator for Bendel South during the Nigerian Second Republic. He was a member of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He worked on various fact finding committees during the military administration of Yakubu Gowon.

Dafinone attended Government School, Benin, from 1934 to 1938 and Edo College, Benin, from 1939 to 1942. Between 1943 and 1945, the young Dafinone moved to Abeokuta Grammar school where he remained until he completed his secondary education and emerged as the overall best candidate in Mathematics in the Cambridge School Certificate Examination in West Africa for that year. This feat automatically won him a scholarship from the then Governor of Northern Nigeria, L. H. Gobble, to further his studies overseas.

He later became an employee of the colonial service working at the Northern Secretariat in Kaduna State. He worked in Records and Registration Department and when his immediate superior was promoted, he was appointed administrative officer in an acting capacity of the finance department. At the finance department, his function was to make treasury estimates of the funding needs of the native authorities within the Northern region.

Dafinone worked as a manager for Delloittes, Lagos, from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, he founded D.O. Dafinone & Co (now Howarth Dafinone), a chartered accounting firm. In 1997 he became a consultant to the firm. He also served as an arbitrator for the government under the Ports Amendment Decree of 1969 which paved the way for the acquisition and compensation of port facilities owned by United Africa Company in Warri and Calabar. A year later he was in another committee, a tribunal constituted to probe the affairs of the Apapa road project.

Dafinone's other high-profile public job was his appointment in 1971 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to investigate the corrupt practices at Niger Pools officially known as the Nigerian Pools Company, a Federal Government owned company. Initially he was appointed Sole Administrator. His report, later uncovered unethical charges such as forging of winning coupons after results had been announced. The investigation led to the closing of the firm and the imprisonment of some employees.

In 2003, the Nigerian Federal Government conferred on him one of its highest honours, that of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). He was re-elected for another 4-year term, which was cut short by the fall of the Second Republic, and the advent of military rule, on December 31, 1993, only 3 months into the term.

He died on September 30, 2018 at the age of 91 years.

Sources:

https://urhobotoday.com/throwback-on-dafinone-the-first-nigerian-to-ever-hold-a-guinness-world-record/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dafinone

https://guardian.ng/features/a-chartered-accountant-par-excellence/