Wigwe, Access Holdings CEO, dies in chopper crash

Herbert Wigwe, the immediate past Managing Director of Access Bank and current Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, is dead. Wigwe was reportedly on board a chopper with his wife, son and three other passengers when the unfortunate incident happened at California. They were reportedly heading for Las Vegas to watch Super Bowl, the annual […]

Herbert Wigwe, the immediate past Managing Director of Access Bank and current Chief Executive Officer of Access Holdings, is dead.

Wigwe was reportedly on board a chopper with his wife, son and three other passengers when the unfortunate incident happened at California.

They were reportedly heading for Las Vegas to watch Super Bowl, the annual league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States.

The New York Times has confirmed the incident but kept the identities of the passengers.

• Chopper crash: 10 things to know about late Wigwe, Access Holdings CEO
• THE BEARING: AFCON Means A Lot More To Nigerians

However, sources in the banking industry confirmed to Daily Trust that the bank chief was on board the ill-fated aircraft.

“A helicopter carrying six people crashed on Friday night near the California-Nevada border, and no survivors have been located as of Saturday morning.”

“The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Eurocopter EC130 helicopter crashed at around 10 p.m. local time near Nipton, Calif., an unincorporated community about 60 miles south of Las Vegas in eastern San Bernardino County.

It was unclear on Saturday morning where the helicopter departed from and where it was headed. Officials at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were made aware of the downed aircraft at 10:12 p.m. local time, Mara Rodriguez, a public information officer with the department, said in a statement, adding that the scene of the crash was determined to be east of Interstate 15, near Halloran Springs Road,” New York Times said in its report.

Wigwe University

During his last days on earth, he invested massively in his university project, granting interviews and pushing out adverts.

Described as a $500 million eponymous university in his hometown in Rivers State, Wigwe had said the University would offer undergraduate courses in management, science and engineering, information technology, and creative arts.

He told BusinessDay in an interview that the project was very special to him.

“The Wigwe University project is special because it is an opportunity for me to give back to the society by providing world-class quality education that will foster the development of Nigeria and Africa. The project’s major focus is nurturing and building responsible and thoughtful leaders who have the capacity to ignite the potentials of the continent and take its rightful place as far as the global stage is concerned. We want to build people who will alter where Nigeria and Africa is going, and make sure that we remain a very competitive place.”

“One of the key drivers of the creation of Wigwe University is moulding innovative leaders that will effect positive change in our society. We are not just looking for people who will be job seekers, but people who are entrepreneurial and changemakers. We will place great emphasis on innovation so that we become less reliant on the rest of the world. The goal is to create an efficient ecosystem that produces fearlesss leaders who are passionate about preserving our cultural values. Wigwe University is poised at empowering individuals with the requisite knowledge to transform Nigeria and Africa and ensure that we get the respect that we deserve in the world,” he had said.