Foremost technocrat and boardroom Czar and an Ancient Mariner, Deacon Gamaliel Onosode, 82, is dead.
It was learnt Mr. Onosode died
Tuesday morning at Gold Cross Hospital, Ikoyi Lagos at about 8:15am after a
protracted illness.
Onosode was flown home yesterday from
London.
According to Wikipedia:
Gamaliel Offoritsenere Onosode (born
22 May 1933) (Died 29 September 2015) is a Nigerian technocrat, administrator
and a former presidential candidate of the All Nigeria People’s Party of
Nigeria. Educated at the Government College, Ughelli and the University of
Ibadan, he emerged in the 1970s, as one of Nigeria’s leading educated chief
executives, when he was at the helm of NAL merchant bank of Nigeria. Over the
years, he has risen to become a leading boardroom player in Nigeria’s corporate
environment. He was also a former presidential adviser to President Shagari and
a former president of the Nigerian Institute of Management.
Life and career
An Urhobo man, born and raised in
Sapele , a suburban city in the current Delta State by a disciplined father, he
sometimes credited the strict family background and practice as being a
complementary factor in his success as a disciplined civil servant and
corporate administrator.
Throughout his career, Dr. Gamaliel
Onosode has chaired several private and public sector businesses and
initiatives. He was the Chairman of Dunlop Nigeria Plc (1984–2007), a former
chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc (1977–93), the Presidential Commission on
Parastatals (1981), Nigeria LNG Working Committee and Nigeria LNG Limited
(1985–90) and the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (since 1995). He is also the
Chairman of Zain Nigeria, a GSM telecommunications company, the oldestGSM
operator in Nigeria.
Mr. Gamaliel Onosode was
Presidential Adviser on Budget Affairs and Director of Budget (1983). He is a
Fellow of the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank, the Nigerian
Institute of Management, of which he was President (1979–82). He is also a
Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, having been elected to
membership of its Board of Fellows in 1998.
In addition, Mr. Onosode is immediate
past and inaugural President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers,
immediate past Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the
University of Uyo and immediate past and inaugural President & Chairman of
Council of the Association of Pension Funds of Nigeria. He is an Honorary
Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and holds Honorary D.Sc. degrees of
Obafemi Awolowo University (1990), the University of Benin (1995), and
theRivers State University of Science and Technology (2003) as well as Honorary
D.D. degree of The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso (2002).
In 1995, he became the Chairman of
the Niger Delta Environmental Survey, a non-governmental organisation
that conducted scientific studies on environmental and social
impact assessment of oil exploration in the Niger
delta. The survey was partly financed by Shell.
The survey reports which apportioned responsibilities and blame for much of the environmental
degradation in the region on oil operators, the
federal government and communities has not been made public.
Deacon Onosode is an alumnus of
the University of Ibadan, and has
contributed immense time to see through philanthropic and governing matters
concerning the university. He is the former Pro-Chancellor of the University
and Chairman of its Governing Council.
He is also a devout Christian and started Good News
Baptist Church in his Sitting Room on 1 Feb.1984. Good News Baptist Church is
now a large church of over 2000 people and has become a force to reckon with in
the Nigerian Baptist Convention in terms of missions and evangelism. Mr.
Gamaliel Onosode was the inaugural Chairman of the Global Missions Board of the
Nigerian Baptist Convention.
In addition, Onosode is Chairman of the Governing Council
of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria’s oldest degree
awarding theological institution, which in 2008 marked 110 years of its
existence while the University of Ibadan was 60 years old.
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