Herbert Wigwe, who, at the time of his demise, was the Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, is reminiscent of how North Koreans openly wept when their leader Kim Jong-il passed away in 2011 Herbert Wigwe, who, at the time of his demise, was the Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, is reminiscent of how North Koreans openly wept when their leader Kim Jong-il passed away in 2011 and when his son, who took over from him as leader, Kim Jong Un, was ill, in 2020 having been infected by...
Who could have thought that the ‘Herbie Boy’ who later transformed into ‘Herbie Man’ but remained the self-effacing Herbert that we have always known could be the wind beneath the sail of such ‘A-list’ personages. Of course, Herbert Wigwe’s bosom friend, soul mate, and co-founder of the business empire known as Access Holdings, AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede, also cried while paying his tribute.
Given the quality of friendship shared between the late Herbert, Dangote, and Sanusi, like the Berlin Wall that had been brought down, the north-south divide in Nigeria, driven by those who have been fanning the embers of religion and tribal rivalry which have stymied national progress, should be eliminated by our generation and in our lifetime, because it has been proven that we all can be religion and tribe-neutral, as demonstrated and proven by the trio of Herbert, Dangote, and Sanusi.
My striking up a friendship with Herbert was easy, partly because his father, Pastor ShyngleWigwe, was the Director General of Nigerian Television , where I worked as a news correspondent. As Herbert rapidly climbed the ranks at GTBank, his vibrant but highly driven and competitive nature kept him busy. He relocated to a larger home in Victoria Island, Lagos, where other top executives of GTBank resided, and pursued further education in England.
After transforming Access Bank PLC into Access Holdings, as evidenced by his establishment of the bank’s branches not just all over Nigeria, and Africa, but all over the world including Europe, the Middle East, and Far East Asia, in the manner that Leonardo Da Vinci might have envisioned his painting canvas before he painted the iconic Mona Lisa piece of artwork; Herbert poured all his extraordinary energy into setting up Wigwe University in his village, Isiokpo, in Rivers State.
Additionally, Wigwe University is also not the first world-class university to be established in Nigeria with a similar vision to encourage our youths to pursue education domestically. Previously, there have been Bell University in Otta, Ogun State, owned by former President Obasanjo, and the American International University in Yola, founded by former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.