Wigwe: What’s in a name?
This is not a tribute to Herbert Wigwe. I didn’t know him personally, otherwise I’d have loved to bring his essence home. Even if I did, one couldn’t write a better one than Mr Suleiman Abubakar, MD/CEO of Sterling. Whilst appearing to put it in a simple way, he effectively captured the simplicity of the late Herbert, an interpretation of how he lived, “a true visionary”. As far as tributes go, Feyi Fawehinmi (@DoupleEph on X) wrote an excellent one. He captured the layers of the man the best way someone who didn’t know him personally could, devoid of the biases that accompany such proximity.
Another in-depth piece, written by Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, “Telling Chizoba’s Story,” published by THISDAY, elegantly captures Mrs Chizoba Wigwe’s person in a way it hasn’t been told since the tragedy.
This is not a tribute to Herbert Wigwe. A time will come, when the tributes will stop and public tears on account of this tragedy will cease. It will not be because people no longer care about those we lost. It will be what it has always been; life is what it is and people move on.
When that time comes, the ones who loved them, the ones they loved, will be left alone to mourn. To know the tugging hurt of being alone even in the presence of many. To live through the reality of a life that no longer gives breath to the ones they cherished the most. In the loud quiet of those moments, the quiet memories of what was and the echoes of what could have been meet at the point of what is; life will never be the same again.
This is not a tribute to Herbert Wigwe. The man’s life was a tribute to a lot more than the celebration of what was. A fearless visionary, he sought to and did change every industry he played in. We were introduced to him through the hallowed heights of the conquests he reached in the financial sector, walking side by side with his chosen brother, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. Success with money often does not require much talking, self-explanatory, because money does speak for itself. It is as objective as the problems it fixes. In that world, Herbert ruled supreme, yet he only centered his people and the objectives of his platforms.
In construction, Chizoba Wigwe via Craneburg showed that excellence isn’t the preserve of foreign entities. That Nigerians can build with precision, worthy of global attention, in Nigeria. She gave us concrete proof of that. In the art, Herbert’s abstract reverence for its place and utility in society and the commitment to collect the ones he chose to, portrayed him as a human Pyramid of Egypt, matchless. He was a quiet venture capitalist and helped to support and invest in platforms that were led by a new generation. These he mostly did as a show of commitment to the future.
Amidst those giant strides touching people, across many places and platforms, known and unknown, the only thing he ever put his name on was Wigwe University.
This is not a tribute to Herbert Wigwe. There will be many of those, deep and personal, intricate, and plain. And they’d mostly be true. Until we all move on.
Before then, I want to share a Dave Chappelle story. Chappelle is the Lionel Messi of his craft. There will be comparisons, but like Messi, it’d mostly be for its sake. Chappelle’s alma mater, The Duke Ellington School of the Arts was going to bestow an honour upon him that many are known to pay for. Peggy Cooper Cafritz, co-founder of the school, informed Chappelle of her intention to name a newly renovated theatre after him. It was to be called, “The Dave Chappelle Theatre”. Despite his commitment to and love for the school and his appreciation of the gesture, Chappelle thought otherwise. He said he felt like he was still young and more crucially, he didn’t want his name on the theatre because according to him, he was still using the name. The American context is deep.
Chappelle chose to defer the honour until a time in the future and instead helped to unveil the theatre as the Theatre for Artistic Freedom & Expression. He scored a noteworthy decision, even though that was probably assisted by the noise of his detractors. “What’s in a name?” you could ask.
Herbert Wigwe spent his last days seeding The Wigwe University. He recruited the right people into the faculty, talked some exemplary Nigerians into its board of trustees and handed some of our country’s most trusted technocrats a blueprint to build a sustainable system. He called the university by a name he was still using, “Wigwe University,” only, as we have now come to see, he was done using it. He was ready to hand it over to what he hoped and designed to be, “Africa’s №1 university.” He swore by that promise. When he was done, he committed the vision to the people. Wigwe put his name on this.
Nigeria’s Central Bank Chief, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, further emphasised the obvious. That a substantial amount of Nigeria’s foreign exchange challenges was due to pressure from Medical and Education tourism. He said the number was more than the country’s reserves. Casual as it sounded, that’s mindboggling, especially when you consider that those are only two inputs out of many. The Governor then spoke about things we could do differently. Wigwe was an answer to that.
Wigwe is an answer to that. It was shocking to hear some Nigerians complain that the university had listed its fees in US dollars. One of the contradictions of our country is that people cry about a problem, then because they don’t know what the solution looks like, they cry about the solution too.
How do you look to attract International Students to an institution in Nigeria, whilst listing to that audience in Naira? Vladimir Putin can choose to speak to the world in his local language and trust that people will care enough to translate him. He has earned that notoriety. If you want to sell to the world, you speak to that world in the language it understands, the United States Dollars! We need to build institutions — especially hospitals and schools — that are intended to attract foreigners, even as they address local gaps. It does not mean locals will pay in the same currency as foreigners. Wigwe put his name on this.
Every idea, even if starts with one person needs believers to thrive. Wigwe’s commitment to nurturing fearless leaders and entrepreneurs, giving voice and power to innovators and creatives has since been set in motion. Like every form of progress in our country, its success will depend on our understanding of its essence and the often-negative moderating power of its supervisory government department. The Innovation Lab and Venture Capital System is reminiscent of what Pittsburg University has done excellently well. Wigwe finished his work, put his name on it and then trusted us to take it forward. That design will produce the Herbert Wigwes across various sectors of our economy for many years to come. That clearly was the plan. Wigwe put his name on it.
At the presentation of Olumide Soyombo’s book, Vantage, in Lagos on 12 September 2023, Wigwe quoted Shakespeare in Julius Caesar.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”
Before we all move on, and we understandably will, this is the current. That day, he spoke about “sustainability and succession” and how “we can create great institutions”. When people die, we hurt, and we cry. Pain and tears have their utility, fickle and transient, but they have their value in the moment. We must allow ourselves to feel what we feel because there is time for everything.
When Herbert Wigwe’s death was announced, a broke nation became a broken one. The one we mourn has built a redemption from that poverty. It is in the various institutions he helped to nurture, more so, in the one he put his name. Ideas like his need believers and supporters. And they need replication. By people, above and beyond millionaires and politicians who just want to gather wealth for its sake, the ones who’d see that in the end, it is all in the name. Rest In Peace Chizoba, Chizi and Herbert Wigwe, and Abimbola Ogunbanjo. Here is to the fearless ones, like Wigwe.
A version of this piece was published in the THISDAY newspaper on Friday 16 February 2024
