Igiehon: Remembering entertainment, architecture icon

Arc. Harris Aibangbee Igiehon who passed on in May last year at the age of 72 years led a truly exceptional life. A gentle giant and sage, Aib, as fondly called by his friends, was in many ways a guiding light in his home, profession, businesses and, perhaps most prominently, in arts and culture where he pursued his passions in addition to architectural practice.

Arc. Igiehon embraced his family with boundless love and offered tireless support and unwavering belief in each member’s potential. He envisioned a family, nuclear and at large, united by an unbreakable bond of love which, to him, was an indomitable force against adversities. He ensured that his family would never know poverty and its corrosive effects on the human spirit. He believed that a sound education should be the birthright of children and their guidepost towards success in life.

Born on February 11, 1952, in Benin City, Nigeria, to the great Eruvbi-Igiehon Family of Benin Kingdom, Igiehon received a full scholarship to study architecture at the prestigious New York Institute of Technology, Long Island, and returned to Nigeria in 1982. He then began his career with his wife, true life/business partner of over four decades and managing director of his organisations, Tonia Deborah Igiehon (nee Wright), which made lasting impact across different sectors of the Nigerian society, largely through the instrumentality of Aibtonia Promotions, Advertising and Marketing. Both Aib and Tonia believed strongly that music’s transcendent beauty and unwavering structure could engender cultural revolution and create an atmosphere of prosperity.

Aibtonia went on to accomplish legacy programmes and projects. As a major producer of the defunct Mass Mobilization for Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER), it powered the musical campaigns which graced 110 towns and cities nationwide from 1987 to 1990 and, in the process, operationalised its own adaptation of the United States Civil Rights Movement concept of music as a tool for social mobilisation. That was when Aibtonia enabled Nigerian artistes to receive competitive fees for their performances for the first time. It also provided the platforms that vigorously mentored and promoted some of the continent’s most celebrated musicians like Majek Fashek, Sonny Okosun, Onyeka Onwenu, Ras Kimono, and others.

A pioneer in extensive live music concerts, Aibtonia brought reggae legends to Nigeria, revitalised the country’s cultural dynamics and revamped the Reggae Sun-splash. Thus, global stars like Marcia Griffiths, Steel Pulse and Mighty Sparrow were in Nigeria to add their flavours to the local music industry.
Aibtonia also founded the All Nigerian Food and Beverage Festival which served as a flagship to promote Nigerian food culture endeavors. Through conferences, seminars, thinktanks and exhibitions, relevant matters were brought to the fore. The Festival introduced Nigerians of different states and ethnicities to one another’s menus, and helped to integrate indigenous foods.

It worked with farmers’ cooperatives, domestic and international food research institutes like Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Projects Development Institute (PRODA), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to expand the frontiers of food production and utilisation.

As the official marketers of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Aibtonia Promotions raised funds, notably for the contingent that won the football (soccer) gold medal in Atlanta 1996. Also functioning in that capacity for the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA), it established the leagues that ran throughout the 36 national universities for several years, to combat campus cultism and encourage team spirit and egalitarianism among the students. The NUGA events were sponsored by Exxon Mobil, Amstel Malta (Nigerian Breweries), and PZ.

ARATASIN was founded by Aibtonia as a Pan-Nigerian cultural revue that produced several folk operas which performed at the Muson Centre, Lagos, Smithsonian Institution at Howard University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Andrews Airforce Base in Washington DC, Maryland and Virgina.

Arc Igiehon’s achievements in his own profession were also first class. With Harris Aib Associates and Archarris Engineering Construction, he produced unique corporate and residential designs which include the Nigerian Stock Exchange building in Nigeria’s oil and gas capital of Port Harcourt, and Chief Bayo Kuku’s estate in Ijebu-Ode, widely acknowledged as a “millennial design of the decade”.

Igiehon received awards for being among the best architects in West Africa. He designed the imminent Marina Quayside Strip Development Project (MQSDP), Lagos, Nigeria’s financial capital – a world class, infrastructure-rich, city center, which is to be situated adjacent the Marina. In 2017, the MQSDP was issued Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission’s Certificate of Compliance and awaits financing to ensure that Nigeria takes it proper place as a pre-eminent nation of global significance.

Epitomising what Lawrence of Arabia once said, Igiehon dreamed with open eyes, and they are not just personal dreams, but dreams for a nation. From architectural designs and building to music promotions, social change strategies and more, the late icon was many personalities in one body: Architect, Revolutionary, Catalytic Thinker and Creative Genius.

Igiehon is survived by his beloved wife, eight children and 10 grandchildren. Chairman, as he was often called, also left behind his thriving companies: Harris Aib Associates (Architects & Planners), Haasso Limited (Developers), Archarris Engineering Construction, and Aibtonia. The Aibtonia Tribute Memorial Concert in Lagos (February 2) and burial ceremonies in Benin City (February 6 to 9) promise to be a befitting curtain call for a man of his enduring stature.