“They both have strikingly similar physical attributes and leadership qualities. They both studied accountancy in their first degree. They both are in constant pursuit of excellence in their public and private life.”
I wish to extend my heartfelt felicitations to my two good friends and benefactors, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, the Group Managing Director & Chief Executive of Access Bank Holding Company and Dr. Efiong Akwa, the Interim Administrator/Chief Executive of NDDC on their being awarded National Honour by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While Wigwe has CON (Commander of the Niger), one of the 67 persons honoured with it, Akwa has MFR (Member of the Federal Republic), one of the 75 Nigerians in that category.
Both men are distinguished professionals, accomplished leaders and respected citizens of this great country.
I first met Herbert Wigwe in March, 2008 when I appeared before him for an interview for a job in Access Bank where he was then the Group Deputy Managing Director and Chief Executive. I had probably before then seen him once or so from afar at public events, but that was my first contact with him. Two months after that, I joined the bank as a senior manager. In January 2014, Wigwe succeeded Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede as the bank’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive.
The two friends and business partners had bought the bank in March 2002 when it was just an obscure, down-the-table entity and grew it into one of the biggest lenders in the country. As the second in command, Wigwe provided a steady, stable and loyal support that contributed immensely to the sterling leadership of Aig-Imoukhuede and the meteoric rise of the institution.
Wigwe is a thoroughbred banker, visioner, team player, kind and generous friend to many, and a loving father and husband. Under his leadership in the last eight years, Access Bank has grown in leaps and bounds, winning laurels, growing shareholders’ value and contributing immensely to the community in which it does business. He is also an exemplary industry leader whose guidance, inputs and roles in the Bankers’ Committee, and other areas are extraordinary. But it is Wigwe’s wits, sense of humour, humility and politeness that make him a very admirable person. One of his friends and schoolmates, Arc Ezekiel Nya-Etok, a governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State recently told me, ‘’Herbert does not put on airs. He is still the same guy I knew in school decades ago’’.
A little over a year after I joined Access in Lagos, I was transferred to manage the business in Uyo. One of the first persons I met on arrival was Dr. Efiong Okon Akwa, the Chief Executive of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He was then the Managing Director of Akwa Savings & Loans Limited, a mortgage bank owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The company was one of my major customers, and it was my lot to nurture and grow the business relationship between our two institutions. Naturally, I soon got to know Akwa and he instantly took to me. It was also a pleasant surprise when I joined a parish of the RCCG and I met Akwa as one of the pastors there. We maintained a good relationship throughout my stay in Uyo. He moved from the mortgage bank into a few other areas and was in 2020 appointed Executive Director, Finance & Administration, at NDDC, and its chief executive in December 2020.
Akwa is one of the most intelligent, hardworking and dedicated public servants I have ever known. An accountant and a lawyer, he is well spoken (a skill so lacking in public service these days); meticulous, diligent and thorough in his approach to work. Under him, NDDC has been repositioned as a respected public institution that delivers value to the people of the Niger Delta region.
In March 2021, he completed and got the President to commission the agency’s head office building in Port Harcourt, a project that started 24 years earlier. Six months later, he completed and got the President to commission a modern police barracks and residential complex, also in Port Harcourt – a project that started 12 years earlier and last December, just a year after he became the chief executive of the commission, NDDC completed and again, got the President to commission a 1005-bed hostel built and donated by the commission to the University of Uyo, a project that had been abandoned for 15 years.
Before, in-between and after these three major projects, the commission has also done a lot under his leadership.
During the pandemic, the commission under his leadership provided a lot of medical supplies and palliatives to the people and governments in its catchment areas. But it is Akwa’s honesty, integrity and transparent work culture that have endeared the President to him, the reason Buhari has so much confidence and trust in him. It does not surprise me a bit that mild mannered and slightly built, Akwa walks with long strides and works with boundless energy. ‘’His dedication to duty and ability to pursue set goals are immeasurable’’, says Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, a director in the commission.
My relationship with these two national honorees has been enriching. They both have strikingly similar physical attributes and leadership qualities. They both studied accountancy in their first degree. They both are in constant pursuit of excellence in their public and private life. May God continue to bless them for being patriotic and good Nigerians. Congratulations, gentlemen!
*Etim writes from Abuja
Comments are closed.