Eminent Nigerians yesterday mourned the death of Dr. Gamaliel O. Onosode, a boardroom czar, former presidential aspirant of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Nigeria’s first indigenous stockbroker who died yesterday at the age of 82.
His son, Ese, said the late Onosode, a former Presidential Adviser on Budget Affairs and Director of Budget to President Shehu Shagari in 1983, died at 8.15 a.m.
A Fellow of the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank and the Nigerian Institute of Management, which he led between 1979 and 1982, the late Onosode who hails from Ekuigbo-Ughelli, Delta State, was Chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc (1977–93), Dunlop Nigeria Plc (1984–2007), the Presidential Commission on Parastatals (1981), Nigeria LNG Working Committee and Nigeria LNG Limited (1985–90) and the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (since 1995).
Onosode was a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
In an Aso Rock statement on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari commiserated with the government and people of Delta State, and the Nigerian Baptist Convention on the passage of their illustrious son and evangelist, describing him as a colossus in Nigeria’s private sector, who excelled in public service on various occasions.
“President Buhari believes that Mr. Onosode will be long remembered as an exemplary citizen and leader who made very significant contributions to national development.”
The statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, urged all “Nigerians to honour Mr. Onosode’s memory by upholding the virtues of integrity, honesty and dedication to service, which he passionately promoted in his long and highly successful career in the private and public sectors.
Best Among The Decent
Also on Tuesday, former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, described Onosode’s death as an irremediable loss to the Nigerian business firmament, the Urhobo nation, Delta State and Nigeria as a whole. In a statement by his spokesman, Tony Eluemunor, Ibori described Onosode as an “authentic conscience of the nation”. He added that “although he was an extraordinary boardroom guru, he managed to remain Nigeria’s Mr. Clean. Though he once vied for the presidency on the platform of the defunct Nigerian Republican Convention (NRC), he was thoroughly above divisive politics as he remained a national figure.” He recalled that Onosode was not only all things to all people but was also the best among the decent, the upright, the virtuous, the worthy and the respectable. To the scholars, he was an incandescent brain, to the church, he was an uncommon preacher who not only built a church and ministered as a pastor, his greatest preaching is the exemplary way he led his entire life; for God and country.
“I will never forget the enthusiasm with which Onosode agreed to serve in a special Advisory Council I set up during my watch as Governor, or the passionate service Onosode rendered to his beloved state. At the same time he was extremely reluctant to seek personal glory or gain.
“Onosode was a teacher who taught more by example than by precepts. He was singular in his preeminence, loftiness of ideas, the broad expanse of avenues he had of meeting the challenge of the public good, the exciting lucidity of his conscience and the pinnacle of excellence on which he perched – like an eagle. He had no rivals. He had no equals. He was singular, so singular that his life was a veritable blessing to Nigeria.
“He will be sourly missed. May his great and gentle soul rest in perfect peace and May God grant his family the grace to bear this monumental loss,” Ibori said.
Also, Chief Executive of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema, while lamenting the demise of Onosode, Nigeria’s first indigenous stockbroker, described him as “a great loss to the Nigerian capital market. He was an exceptional, forthright and inspirational leader whose life exemplifies all the values dear to the NSE.
“He was a man of integrity and the best we could find as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the NSE’s Investors’ Protection Fund, when we decided to re-operationalise the Fund in 2012. We will solely miss him.
“However, we take solace in his laudable achievements which will remain indelible in the annals of Nigeria’s history. On behalf of the Council, Management and Members of the NSE, we offer our heartfelt condolence to the Onosode Family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this challenging time.”
According to Onyema, Onosode’s major contributions to the Nigerian capital market include establishing the first indigenous stockbroking firm, Nigeria Stockbrokers Limited, where he was Chairman until his demise, inaugural Chairman of the Investors’ Protection Fund, former Council Member, the NSE, council member, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) and chairman, board of fellows of the CIS.
Other Stakeholders
Also commenting on the demise of the boardroom giant, Alhaji Adetokunbo Gbadebo, a shareholder activist, said the country lost a corporate citizen and an upright man in Onosode, in whose honour he said, a book should be written.
“There should be a book on Onasode’s life that will influence others. I will recommended it to our youths. May his soul rest in peace,” Gbadebo said.
Immediate past President of the National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Alhaji Sakirudeen Labode, also recalled how Onosode made significant contributions to the development of work ethics for the country, describing him as “a boardroom warhorse who has contributed immensely to the development of ethics and governance in the corporate private sector.
“He contributed so much to corporate governance and some of us saw him as a role model in the private sector. The virtues he was noted for and left behind should not be allowed to filter away,” according to Labode, former President of the Ogun State Council of Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (OGUNCIMA).
For Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahman Bello, Onosode was a man of principles and values.
Bello, in a statement by the institution’s Deputy Registrar (Information), Goke Olagoke, said all through the four years late Onosode was Chairman of council at the university, he never took remuneration, requesting that all allowances due to him be used to develop the institution.
Also reacting to the sudden passage of the Urhobo-born politician and technocrat, Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, described the death of Onosode as a colossal loss to the Urhobo nation, saying: “Nigeria has lost a colossus.”
He urged all to emulate Onosode’s worthy and exemplary life style.
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