The shocking exit of one of the most illustrious players of the Nigerian banking sector, Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, along with six others, is tragic in all sense. The immediate family, friends, associates, and multitude of well-wishers of the departed, at home and abroad, can take solace in his short but purposeful life. To the late Wigwe belongs the high-water mark of the modern banking revolution in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.

On February 9, 2024, in California, United States, Wigwe, 57, died in an Airbus Helicopter crash. He was on board the ill-fated aircraft with his wife, Doreen; son, Chizi; his bosom friend, Abimbola Ogunbanjo; and two others. Wigwe’s wife was the Managing Director of Craneburg Construction Company. Ogunbanjo was the former Group Chairman of the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc and son of iconic lawyer and businessman, the late Chief Chris Ogunbanjo. In a preliminary report, eyewitnesses to the incident reported seeing a “fireball’ following “adverse weather conditions characterised by rain and a mix of snow”. It was a national tragedy indeed.

Wigwe was a phenomenon in the Nigerian banking industry. In truth, his exploits were often controversial, but he made good and lasting impressions. In banking, he was a goal-getter and a warrior of uncommon prowess. He became prominent in the heydays of mergers and acquisitions of banks.

He was born in 1966 in Lagos and attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, graduating with a degree in accountancy in 1987 and becoming a chartered accountant in 1989. He worked for two years with Coopers and Lybrand before he got employed with Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), coming under the leadership of iconic banker, Fola Adeola.

It was at GTB that he hit the limelight. He was young, relentless, brilliant, daring, and tireless. By 1998, he was already a management staff of the bank and yet wanted more. His impressive partnership with Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, both joint-at-the-hip friends and professional colleagues at GTB, compressed into an irresistible force in the contemporary banking sector. They couldn’t phantom the banking industry in a democratic dispensation without themselves as owners.

In 2002, the two-of-a-kind mavericks from the corridors of GTB acquired Access Bank – a 1988 product of recurring rebirths in the banking industry. Together, they nurtured the bank with Wigwe as the deputy to Aig-Imoukhuede. Not done, they acquired the Intercontinental Bank, in a never-to-end controversial case of an alleged small fry capturing a whale! In 2014, it was the turn of Wigwe to lead the bank. Records have it that from N1.8 trillion assets and about the sixth largest in the country, the bank went on a meteoric rise to the peak. In about a decade, it has amassed N23 trillion in assets and is comfortably Nigeria’s largest bank. In between was the acquisition of Diamond Bank – to explain the diamond logo in every Access Bank signage today and the making of Africa’s largest bank by retail customers.

On the flip side, the Nigerian banking sector that Wigwe is part of is seldom a feel-good story. The cult-like industry is laced with all manner of economic abuses, alleged manipulations, exploitations, inefficiencies, rots, and sleaze, from the apex bank and downwards. Very little interesting is going on in the grandiose empire. The players have perfected the art of making a fortune in ‘trading’ and foreign exchange games without any real banking. It partly explains why the owners get a lot richer than the shareholders on whose behalf they presumably run it. And the worse the austerity in the economy, the wider the profit margins of the banks.

Nevertheless, Wigwe was the epitome of both the strengths and weaknesses of the industry, and a signpost of more reforms necessary. Pleasingly, his exceptional mien and friendship within and outside the banking world stands out for Wigwe. He towers high as one of the most influential and unprecedented breakthroughs in the global capitalist system. He had the foresight of an international bank with aggressive expansion across African countries like South Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was therefore no surprise that Presidents of Ghana, South Africa, and France mourned his demise.

At the ‘Dr. Herbert Wigwe Celebrating Profession Excellence,’ event which took place in Lagos on Monday, most of those who spoke about their interactions with Late Wigwe described him as a fearless and courageous man. This is even as both the Lagos state government and the Dangote group of Companies promised to immortalise him. On his part, the founder of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote announced that the 20 kilometres refinery and petrochemical 20-kilometre road, will be named after Herbert Wigwe who, he said, was pivotal to the success of the Dangote group. Reflecting on Herbert’s legacy, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina of the AfDB highlighted the visionary partnership between Wigwe and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede in shaping Access Bank into a global financial powerhouse. Herbert was fearless, he was determined to succeed, he said.

His closest friend, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said: “People who did not know him before now learnt about his philanthropy and learnt that Africa is still capable of producing outstanding individuals. Herbert was committed to building an African continent. Herbert was very concerned about the state of the nation, and he knows time was not on the side of Nigeria and Africa. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.”

His philanthropic spirit is legendary, and almost akin to a man in a hurry. There are numerous investments in Nigerian startups that he facilitated. As a commentator puts it, investments worth millions of dollars were made following conversations with him. Besides, at a time when it is fashionable for rich Nigerians to export their vanities to neighbouring countries and tax havens overseas, Wigwe proved to be exceptional in his love for the country. He went to his hometown to give a world-class gift that will last several generations unborn, in the model of Wigwe University, Isiokpo, Rivers State. It belongs to the class of Harvard, the oldest university in the United States, named after John Harvard; Yale University, named after Elihu Yale; and OAU in Ife, christened after Obafemi Awolowo, among others. With the benefit of hindsight, this apotheosis has immortalised himself in the Wigwe University.

Herbert Wigwe lived a remarkable and impactful life. He was not designed for perfection, but he was great. His footprints in the financial sector and the things he completed are great. Even greater is the mass of unfinished businesses he left behind. He would be greatly missed. Fare thee well, Wigwe and his co-travellers on that February 9 journey of no return.