Arthur Mbanefo offered immeasurable service and brought his vast experience to bear

The deceased former diplomatic and corporate titan, Arthur Christopher Izuegbunam Mbanefo, has been described as a leader who offered immeasurable service and brought his vast experience to bear. A former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who announced the passing on his X handle, stated that the erstwhile Odu of Onitsha and great Nigerian patriot died at […]

The deceased former diplomatic and corporate titan, Arthur Christopher Izuegbunam Mbanefo, has been described as a leader who offered immeasurable service and brought his vast experience to bear.

A former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who announced the passing on his X handle, stated that the erstwhile Odu of Onitsha and great Nigerian patriot died at the age of 95 after he “rendered enviable service to Nigeria in both the private and public sectors.”

He continued, “He was an accomplished and renowned accounting professional. He also served in the education sector as a benefactor and pro-chancellor of several tertiary institutions. Later in life, he served as Nigeria’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations.

“For his selfless service to Nigeria, he was rewarded with two national high honours: Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).  He was also a recipient of the Commander of the Order of Merit, Republic of Italy and Grand Officer, National Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil.

“Until his demise, Chief Mbanefo was an eminent Nigerian in good standing, and had friends, allies, corporate and personal friends across the national ethnicities. To many Nigerians who respected and trusted him, he was a much sought-after life-coach, counsellor, adviser, mentor and teacher.”

Another presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, described Mbanefo as “one of the very last of the true titans in Nigeria, men and women of breeding, honour and integrity who were genuine role models.”

Mbanefo was born in Onitsha into the famous Mbanefo family. His father, Isaac Anieka Mbanefo, was a successful manager in the United Africa Company (UAC) Ltd who held the title of Odu II (later inherited by his son, Arthur as Odu III) and wrote an autobiography titled, “A Friend of the Gods” at the age of 92. Arthur’s uncle, the illustrious Sir Louis Mbanefo, was the first Igbo lawyer who qualified at the University of London in 1935, took another degree in humanities at the University of Cambridge in 1937 and later became a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Chief Justice of Eastern Nigeria and Judge Ad Hoc of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The iconic architect, Frank Mbanefo, now deceased, was Arthur’s elder brother.

Arthur Mbanefo thus hails from a distinguished family. He married Jackie (nee Egbuna), the daughter of the late Justice Egbuna, in 1965. They have one son, Arthur Mbanefo Jr, a former investment banker with Barclays International, as well as grandchildren.

A young Arthur Mbanefo qualified as a chartered accountant in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s and worked in respected accounting firms in Brighton and London before returning to Nigeria after independence in 1960, joining the firm of Akintola Williams & Co as a partner.

Requiring due care, diligence and fidelity to the values of integrity, accountancy was a profession that suited Mbanefo’s personality. He went on to become a senior partner in Akintola Williams before resigning from the firm in 1986, setting up his own management consulting firm, Arthur Mbanefo and Associates.

Mbanefo, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, was president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and played a key international leadership role in the establishment of accounting standards across Africa.

According to Moghalu, he was a renowned corporate boardroom guru and stickler for sound corporate governance, he served on the boards of directors of numerous blue-chip companies, including the UAC of Nigeria Ltd., Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Reckitt & Coleman, Standard Flour Mills Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd.

Alongside his leadership role in the private sector, Mbanefo played key and decisive roles in Nigerian public life. He was a member of the Justice Irikefe Panel — the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s Crude Oil Sales, popularly known as the N2.8 billion Loss Inquiry, in 1980. He made important contributions to the education sector as pro-chancellor and chairman of the Council of University of Lagos (1984-86), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (1986-1990) and Ahmadu Bello University (1990-93). Several years ago, he established the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Resource Centre at the University of Lagos as a philanthropic gesture.

Arthur Mbanefo was a key player in the Gen Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu-led government of the short-lived Republic of Biafra. He was Ojukwu’s envoy for the procurement of arms and fundraising in Europe and other parts of the world during the Nigerian civil war, events he recounts with detail in his excellent biography, “Arthur Mbanefo: A Fulfilled Life of Service” published (I am glad to say on my recommendation) by Bookcraft Africa Ltd in Ibadan.

Arguably, the most important contribution Mbanefo has made to Nigeria’s public life was his chairmanship of the Committee on State Creation appointed by the late military head of state, Gen Sani Abacha in 1996.

To say that this was a challenging and complex assignment in a country fraught with ethnic agitations would be an understatement. That committee, in the days in which military dictators created and reordered states and local government areas in an officially “Federal Republic of Nigeria, received 72 requests for new states and more than 2000 for new local governments. It undertook an extensive nationwide tour of Nigeria and met and interviewed citizens and stakeholders across the country.

Based on the recommendations of the Mbanefo Committee, General Abacha announced the creation of six new states in Nigeria in his October 1, 1996 broadcast to the country, as well as delineations that established 181 new local government areas. The six new states, one from each of the six geopolitical zones proposed by late Vice President Alex Ekwueme and adopted in the 1995 draft constitution, were Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nasarawa and Zamfara.