On February 9th 2024, a huge dark cloud befell Nigeria, and indeed the African financial institution, and that was the sudden and unexpected death of Mr Herbert Wigwe, his wife, son, and former Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Mr. Abimbola Ogunbanjo, and two other crew members.
This article, is a tribute to Herbert Wigwe, and tries to capture his essence as was made available from all the eulogies about him, online and offline. He was born Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe CFR, on 15 August 1966, in Lagos Island Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. His father Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, was the Director General at the Nigerian Television Authority, popularly called NTA, and his mother was a nurse. Pa Wigwe and his wife raised Herbert and his siblings, typical of the drill and somewhat orderliness of old school military living. A healthy blend of discipline and love. These became the more reinforced by constant reminding of Christian beatitudes and spirituality, as Pa Wigwe and wife soon migrated from ‘orthodox’ Anglicanism, which his Isiokpo people were used to. He moved into pentecostalism, under the direct watchful eyes of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, of The Redeem Christian Church. Easily, Herbert and his wife, being young adults, followed suit. Unarguably, such transcended virtues and body of morality provided the compass for Herbert’s unbending engrossment with hard work, success, and a sentinel of works of charity. He learnt quietly, but voiced unavowedly that with God, there were no mountain peaks that could not be surmounted.
Post Nigeria Civil War (1967-1970), Pa Wigwe signed off from the Nigerian army, even though he fought on the Biafra side and returned to his professional delight, communication engineering and broadcasting. He rose step by step, and ultimately became Director General of the Niger Television Authority, raising it to become the largest of it kind on the continent.
The Pan Nigerian gusto, with which Herbert lived most of his life obfuscated his real identity. Wigwe was of Ikwerre ethnicity, a people populary called the Ikwerre or Iwhnuruọha people, who are ancient and distinct, and might. They have lived in the upper fringes of the Niger Delta, from the 12th century and are heavily concentrated in four of the twenty-three local government areas of Rivers State. They make up about half of the indigenous population of Port-Harcourt, the nations oil capital Ikwerre community produced the likes of Captain Elechi Amadi, Dr. Obi Wali, Prof Otonti Nduka, Prof Godwin Tasie, Okey Wali, OCJ Okocha, Chief Emmanuel Aguma, HRH King Frank Eke, Chief Nwaobidike Nwonodi, Monalisa Chinda, Tonto Dikeh, Austin Opara, Celestine Omeha, Chibuike Amaechi, Kingsley Chinda, Nyesom Wike,and His Royal Majesty Eze Sargent Awuse.
Isiokpo, is one of the 7 automous kingdoms, and is the second biggest human settlement after Okrika town, within Port Harcourt environs. So Herbert grew up in the complexities of delightful inter- ethnic mix, which gives Portharcourt its modernist cultural heritage. And Herbert represented subconsciously, such contemporaneity, including his adeptness in the peculiar Port-Harcourt pidgin English, which he spoke when in company of close friends.
Education
Herbert Wigwe, attended the Federal Government College, Warri, where he stood out, and then got a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1987, and in 1990, he received the British council scholarship to study at the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University), where he also earned a Master of Arts in banking and finance in 1991. He later earned an MSc in financial economics, from the University of London in 1996. Herbert Wigwe attended the Harvard Business School executive management program, and in 2018 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Career
Wigwe who was best described as a Nigerian banker and businessman, started his career at Coopers & Lybrand, as a management consultant in the late 1980s. He eventually became a chartered accountant in 1989, before he joined Guaranty Trust Bank, where he worked for over a decade and became executive director, around 1998. Wigwe then moved to Access Bank in 2002, as the deputy managing director and became the chief executive officer of the company, in January 2014. He died as the group managing director and CEO of Access Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s top five banking institutions, after succeeding his business partner, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. His death was as a result of a helicopter crash in the United States, on his way to attend the Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII championship, in Las Vegas.
Career At Access Bank
In 2002, Wigwe and his business partner Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, bought Access Bank. Their purchase was delayed, over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s concerns that the pair were too young to own a bank. Between 2002 and 2017, the bank grew to become the 4th largest bank in Nigeria. Between 2002 and 2014, he served as the company’s deputy managing director. Wigwe also served as the chairman of Access Bank Ghana Limited, in 2013. In 2018, Access Bank merged with their competitor Diamond Bank, and thus became the largest bank in Nigeria. There was also an ongoing plan by Wigwe, to expand Access bank into Asia in early 2024, but he died before the expansion officially launched.
The Access Conference
Before his death, Wigwe was involved in the creation of a leadership series, known as the Access Conference. The biennial event is Access Bank’s response to a global call for corporate involvement, in resolving the major challenges facing humanity. Since its inauguration in 2013, the Access Conference, had consistently engaged global leaders by provoking debates on issues of threats and opportunities, to the world. In the 2013 edition, themed “Sustainable Leadership”, Wigwe spoke alongside George W. Bush, Nicolas Sarkozy and John Kufuor, reaffirming the importance of leadership to national and corporate successes.
At the 2015 edition, Wigwe hosted global leaders, such as Steve Wozniak, N. R. Narayana Murthy, José María Figueres, Muhammad Yunus, to discuss the theme “Leading in a Transformational World – The Imperative of Innovation”.
Philanthropy
When it comes to philanthropy, Wigwe was not found wanting, as himself, Access Bank and UNICEF collaborated to offer support to vulnerable children, orphans, and internally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria. To raise awareness for this purpose, the bank organizes the annual high-profile Access Bank/UNICEF Charity Shield Polo tournament. And in 2016, Wigwe founded The HOW Foundation, a non-profit organization.
In February 2017, he was named co-chair of Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS, a private sector initiative to help eradicate HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, and support people living with the condition.
Wigwe University, a private university founded by Wigwe in his hometown Isiokpo, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, was set to open in September 2024.
Awards
Wigwe was named 2016 Banker of The Year, by The Sun and Vanguard, two of Nigeria’s largest newspapers. And this was in recognition of “his exemplary role in the society and contributions to youth development”. Also, the Boys’ Brigade, inaugurated Herbert Wigwe, as State Patron for Lagos State Council, in 2016.
In October 2022, Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, a Nigerian national honour, was conferred on him by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Personal life
Wigwe was married from 1994, to Doreen Chizoba Wigwe (née Nwuba), born 12 July 1967, and the couple had four children together.
Death
Wigwe was among six people who died on 9 February 2024. Also killed were his wife Doreen Chizoba Wigwe, his son Chizi Wigwe (born on January 1995), former Nigerian Exchange Group Plc Chairman Abimbola Ogunbanjo, and two crew members.
Eulogy
It would seem that more things about the life of late Herbert Wigwe was revealed after his death, his death was a shock to Nigerians, obviously, but more shocking were all the good things and great achievements Wigwe had managed to achieve, before turning 60. It would seem he had indeed seen the best of life, in achievements and accomplishments.
Perhaps, more than any other Nigerian in recent history, safe for late President Musa Yar’Adua, the surge of memorials, and eulogies, which poured in from across the world were unprecedented. For the country’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose knowledge and personal relationship with the Wigwes, and the Ogunbajo family is more than casual, having watched them attain their meteoric rise in the business world, under his erstwhile leadership in the affairs of Lagos, the country’s commercial hub. He lamented, the death as “an overwhelming tragedy that is shocking beyond comprehension”! Soon after, tributes and encomiums streamed rapidly from the world’s political and economic elite.
Notably, French President Manuel Macron, South Africa’s Cyril Ramophosa, Ghanaian leader, Nana Kufo-Ado, Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, former Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, WTO Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, amongst many others. Interestingly, these global leaders all added up on their personal relationship and friendship, with Herbert.
Wigwe had a name that commanded attention, both in the banking industry and beyond, indeed he was a colossus. One whose name would be unparalleled for a long time to come. His achievements, his dreams, his values, his business trajectory etc, were all brought to the fore at his death, by family, friends, business associates, mentors and mentees etc.
Besides being a banking Czar, his death revealed other business interests that Wigwe and his family were in, such as the thriving real estate sector, especially in the building and construction segments of that sector.
In terms of real estate assets, Access Bank, as a leading institution, has built and also acquired a great deal of office buildings, most of which are iconic in nature by virtue of their architectural designs and finishing. Across Nigeria and Africa, the bank has office buildings that come off easily as signatures, masterpieces and cynosures to behold.
Late 2023, Wigwe demonstrated an uncommon taste for luxury real estate with the opening of his iconic mansion, which has ‘wowed’ the great and mighty in Nigeria, including billionaires Femi Otedola, and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who were hosted in the mansion.
The Wigwe mansion, situated on Queens Drive in Ikoyi, the home of sizzling and breath-taking luxury real estate in Nigeria, has been the major discourse among real estate buffs since his death because of its opulence, size and cost that runs into billions of Naira.
This is a state-of-the-art, multi-billion Naira piece of infrastructure, that sits on 23,000 square metres, an equivalent of the size of land on which Ikeja City Mall is built. It is a fully automated residential building, with over 80 percent of materials imported.
According to reports, the mansion’s cost is being estimated variously at N10 billion and N30 billion, and it took almost 2 years to complete. Suraj Oyewole, a real estate expert, was quoted in Legit. ng as saying that “the design fees alone would be about $1.5 million. Start adding from there. About 80 percent of the building materials are imported. The land at least cost N5billion+.”
The Wigwe mansion, which sparked varied comments from Nigerians, who questioned why somebody would invest so much in residential real estate, but then that property is said to be one among other luxury properties that Wigwe has all over Lagos.
The big story there is that the Wigwe family, specifically his wife, Chizoba, has a construction firm known as Craneburg Construction Company, which was the contractor that handled the building of the Wigwe Queens Drive Ikoyi Mansion. Craneburg Construction, was also the contractor that handled the Lekki-Epe Expressway reconstruction, the highways, bridges and toll plaza from Lekki Phase 11, to Epe Town, and Ijebu Ode etc.
Craneburg, which could hardly be called an indigenous firm due to the quality of their work, also built roads and flyovers in Ondo, Imo, Adamawa, Ogun, Bauchi, Gombe and other states. It has undertaken airport construction projects, oil and gas, and marine projects. It is today one of Nigeria’s largest, diversified construction groups, employing about 7,000 people who are working across all major sectors of the economy.
So it was a double loss for the banking, and real estate and construction industries. In several tributes Herbert Wigwe, was called a very simple man, but a true visionary. Indeed Wigwe’s death is a loss that cannot be quantified, he walked the talk and made conquests wherever he finds himself. And as Omojuwa, tried to write a tribute to Wigwe, he called the trio death of the Wigwe family, as ‘the news that broke a nation’.
It is amazing to know that Herbert Wigwe was involved in so many chips, he even invested in different platforms owned by the newer generations. But the only one he chose to put his name on, was Wigwe University, it was as if he knew he needed to preserve his name for posterity.
“Herbert Wigwe spent his last days seeding The Wigwe University. He recruited the right people into the faculty, talked some exemplary Nigerians into its board of trustees and handed some of our country’s most trusted technocrats, a blueprint to build a sustainable system. He called the university by a name he was still using, “Wigwe University,” only, as we have now come to see, he was done using it. He was ready to hand it over to what he hoped and designed to be, “Africa’s №1 university.” He swore by that promise. When he was done, he committed the vision to the people. Wigwe put his name on this”.
Wigwe University, maybe the answer to Nigeria’s foreign education evolution, reason why the university listed its fees in dollars, you see he was already looking to solving the educational gap problem.
“Every idea, even if starts with one person needs believers to thrive. Wigwe’s commitment to nurturing fearless leaders and entrepreneurs, giving voice and power to innovators and creatives has since been set in motion. Like every form of progress in our country, its success will depend on our understanding of its essence and the often-negative moderating power of its supervisory government department. The Innovation Lab and Venture Capital System, is reminiscent of what Pittsburg University has done excellently well. Wigwe finished his work, put his name on it and then trusted us to take it forward. That design will produce the Herbert Wigwes, across various sectors of our economy for many years to come. That clearly was the plan. Wigwe put his name on it”.
An Unwanted End
The Nigerian nation, under under the hand of former President Muhammadu Buhari conferred on Herbert, the nations third highest honour, Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) amidst other accolades from far and wide.
But in the amount of impact created in the hearts of men, and in the world around. Herbert’s accomplishments in life and conquest over death, were both swift and irritractable. Of certainty, like Julius Ceaser in his letter to the Roman Senate in 47 BC, he can say Veni, vedi, vici – I came, I saw, I conquered!
An outing service was held for Herbert Wigwe, his wife, Chizoba, and son, Chizi, who were buried in the late businessman’s hometown in Rivers State. The service held at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lion of Judah Parish, in Isiokpo, a day after dignitaries gathered in the oil-rich state for the burial.
Personalities present were the Senate President Godswill Akpabio; FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike; business leader Aliko Dangote, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II, Gov. Alex Otti, Gov. Dapo Abiodun, former Senate President Bukola Saraki; Gov. Babajide Sawno- Olu, former Anambra State Gov. Peter Obi, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Rivers State Governor Sim Fubara and State Commissioner of Police Olatunji Disu, who was the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the burial ceremony.
Leading the tributes at an event in Lagos nefore the burial, a tearful Aliko Dangote described Wigwe as his brother and friend. “He was a pillar of support to me, and my family,” an emotional Dangote told the gathering in Lagos, in a speech in which he renamed the road leading to the Dangote Refinery after Wigwe. Representing President Bola Tinubu at the event, was Vice President Kashim Shettima. He described Wigwe as a beacon of hope that left at an odd time. “Herbert left us in winter before the season of bloom. Spring was just about to arrive at his last location, the United States when the Lord called for him,” Shettima said.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that Wigwe embodied the true spirit of Lagos State, saying the nation’s commercial nerve centre won’t forget him.
According to Sanwo-Olu, Wigwe was a “completely detribalised” person, whom ” Lagos will not forget”.
Eulogising her late father on the night of tributes, Tochi Wigwe, said he was committed and dotting.
“In this moment, for the first time, your words resonate deeply within me. No longer do I want to tilt my head and squint my eyes in confusion. You were simply extraordinary,” Tochi said.
“You urged me to reach new heights I never even imagined. Whenever doubt clouded my mind, you would chuckle knowingly and say, ‘You really just don’t know whose child you are, you’ll soon find out.’ And once again, you were right: I’ve come to find out.
“I could never fathom how you managed to do it all; it seemed inconceivable. Turning everything you touched to gold while remaining an unwavering anchor for your family and friends.”
A former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, was almost inconsolable as he mounted the podium to pay tribute to his “brother” Wigwe.
Sanusi could not hold his tears, as he narrated how late Wigwe helped him when he was dethroned as Emir. He regretted that Wigwe had to die before him, saying, “I was thinking I would die and leave Herbert. We have all heard about him, about his loyalty”.
Rest on Herbert, Chizoba, Chimzi, Abimbola!
