Foremost technocrat and boardroom Czar, Deacon
Gamaliel Onosode, 82, is dead.
Vanguard 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.