Professor OyewusiIbidapo-Obe, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, was remembered on Friday, November 25, 2022, when Zenith Bank Plc named the iconic building housing its Unilag Branch and the University of Lagos (Unilag) Alumni in his honour.
In his opening remarks at the commissioning ceremony, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc and Chairman of the Body of Banks’ CEOs in Nigeria, praised the bank’s Founder and Chairman, Jim Ovia, CFR, for being physically present at the commissioning of the building to honour the memory of his late friend, Prof. OyewusiIbidapo-Obe, who served on Zenith Bank’s board as
He praised Jim Ovia, CFR, for his extraordinary and ongoing commitment to education and youth development in Nigeria, particularly through the establishment of James Hope College. This co-educational institution offers a blend of British and Nigerian curricula, as does James Hope University, which is set to begin academic activities next year. He also praised his philanthropy by establishing the Jim Ovia Foundation and Mankind United in Total Support for Education Initiative, which has awarded scholarships and produced over 1500 graduates from impoverished people who would not have been able to afford a university education.
L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu; President, Unilag Alumni Association, Dr. John Momoh; Executive Governor, Akwa Ibom State, Elder Udom Emmanuel; Founder and Chairman, Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, CFR; Deputy Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc (2nd Right – 2nd Row), Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji, OON; Wife of Late Prof. Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, Mrs. Sola Ibidapo-Obe; and Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola during the Commissioning of the Iconic Building (Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe House) housing Zenith Bank Unilag Branch and Unilag Alumni, on Friday, November 25, 2022.
Onyeagwu also recalled how the bank’s collaboration with the University of Lagos began in 2001 with donating the first ICT centre, back when the Founder and Chairman was the bank’s Group Managing Director/CEO. “Today, Zenith Bank has built not less than 15 ICT centres in various tertiary institutions and cities across the country,” he says. And I’d like to point out that no single institution or individual has been able to achieve what we have in that regard. And this demonstrates our Founder and Chairman’s enthusiasm for education, digital learning, and computer literacy.
This is in addition to other university support, such as the establishment of Academic Excellence Awards in 2001, where the best graduating students from selected departments – Banking & Finance, Business Administration, Economics, and Accounting – receive awards with financial rewards (currently NGN500,000) and employment opportunities.
The donation of 3,500 tablets to enable indigent university students to learn online effectively in 2020 during t As a signatory to several global sustainability frameworks, including the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking, Onyeagwu noted that the building is a strong statement of Zenith Bank’s sustainability initiatives, as it incorporates many of the elements that make a facility environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Speaking at the commissioning of the iconic building, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, UdomEmmanuel, lauded Zenith Bank and, in particular, Jim Ovia, CFR, whom he described as a father to Nigeria’s development. “When you see things done consistently in the right way, there is always a man pointing in that direction,” he says. Many people have asked me how I can devote so much time to public service; I respond that I come from a background where my mentor taught me that you don’t report efforts, you don’t make excuses, but you report results. So, regardless of the circumstances, even amid an economic downturn or Covid, you should not halt development and performance. As a member of the Zenith family, you are expected to be creative and innovative to produce results.
Only the paranoid survive, according to Zenith. So I’d like to take a moment to appreciate what I’m seeing here today.” While thanking the alumni association and the school authority for their collaborative efforts toward achieving capacity development, which he described as the bane of Nigerian society, he expressed his delight and honour at commissioning a building named after the revered Late Prof. OyewusiIbidapo-Obe, who touched and impacted so many people during his lifetime.
Dr. John Momoh, National President of the Unilag Alumni Association, thanked the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, as well as the bank’s management, for the magnificent building and Mrs. Sola Ibidapo-Obe for accepting the association’s request to name the building after her husband as a lasting legacy in his honour, in his address. He urged everyone to take good care of and maintain the building so that it can continue to serve the university community for many years to come.
In her remarks, Prof. FolasadeOgunsola, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, acknowledged Zenith Bank’s invaluable contributions to the development of the school, promising to work with the Alumni Association to ensure that the facility serves not only the Alumni but also the entire student population. She thanked Jim Ovia, CFR, Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, for donating 3,500 tablets to the university, ensuring that students who could not afford laptops for e-learning during the covid-19 pandemic were not left behind.
Mrs. Sola Ibidapo-Obe, the late Prof. OyewusiIbidapo-wife, Obe’s thanked the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia, CFR, for honouring her late husband with such a magnificent structure named after him. Mrs. Ibidapo-Obe recalled how close he was to her late husband, saying, “You are my husband’s friend.” Dr. Jim Ovia’s friendship with my beloved husband exemplifies love that never dies. Dr. Jim Ovia was there from the beginning to the end when he became ill. I could sense how he felt. I knew then that he was a genuine friend. He did everything he could to ensure my husband’s survival, but he did not.”
The iconic structure, which sits on a total site area of 950m2, was built by a team of world-class builders who were tasked with delivering the highest quality possible. The iconic structure is a smart building that incorporates many of the elements that make a facility environmentally friendly and sustainable, such as a grid-tie solar system that sustains power load on solar rather than a generator or national grid, an inverter-driven VRF air conditioning system and motion sensor lighting to improve energy efficiency, perforated aluminium composite panels for natural lighting and ventilation, free Wi-Fi system to provide internet access, and perforated aluminium composite panels for natural lighting and ventilation. The iconic structure will house the Unilag Branch of Zenith Bank Plc and Unilag Alumni operations. Unilag Alumni will occupy 585m2 of the total 1,665m2 of floor area designated for office use in the four-story building.
