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| Ebenezer Onyeagwu, John Momoh, Udom Emmanuel, Jim Ovia, Adaora Umeoji & Sola Ibidapo-Obe. |
The memory of Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, came alive as Zenith Bank Plc named the iconic building housing its Unilag Branch and the University of Lagos (Unilag) Alumni in his honour on Friday, November 25, 2022.
In his opening remarks at the commissioning ceremony,
the Group Managing Director/CEO of Zenith Bank Plc and Chairman of the Body of
Banks' CEOs in Nigeria, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, lauded the Founder and Chairman
of the bank, Jim Ovia, CFR, for being physically present at the commissioning
of the building to honour the memory of his late friend, Prof. Oyewusi
Ibidapo-Obe, who served on the board of Zenith Bank as a Non-Executive
Director, and for his passion for youth education and digital learning.
He noted the remarkable and continued commitment of
Jim Ovia, CFR, to education and youth development in Nigeria, especially
through the setting up of James Hope College, a co-educational institution
which offers a combination of British and Nigerian curricula, and the James
Hope University, which is billed to commence academic activities next year. He
also extolled his philanthropy through the setting up of the Jim Ovia
Foundation and Mankind United in Total Support for Education Initiative, which
has awarded scholarships and produced over 1500 graduates from among indigent
people who would not have had the benefit of having a university education.
Onyeagwu also recalled how the bank’s partnership with
the University of Lagos began in 2001 with the donation of the first ICT centre, when the Founder and Chairman was the Group Managing Director/ CEO of
the bank. According to him, "Today, Zenith Bank has built not less than 15
ICT centres in various tertiary institutions and cities all over the country.
And I just want to say that no single institution or individual has been able
to accomplish what we have done in that respect. And this is a demonstration of
the passion our Founder and Chairman has, not just for education, but also for
digital learning and computer literacy. This is in addition to several other
support to the university, including the institution 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
opportunity, and the donation of 3,500 tablets to enable indigent students of
the university to learn online effectively in 2020 during the Covid-19
pandemic”. Onyeagwu noted that the building is a strong statement of Zenith
Bank’s sustainability initiatives as a signatory to several global
sustainability frameworks including the United Nations Principles for
Responsible Banking, 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, Udom Emmanuel noted the
huge contributions of Zenith Bank and, in particular, Jim Ovia, CFR, a man he
described as a father, to the development of Nigeria. In his words,” when you
see things being done consistently in the right way, there is always a man
pointing in that direction. A lot of people ask me how come you are doing so
much in public service; I say I come from a background where my mentor told me
that you don't report efforts, you don't give excuses, but you report results.
So no matter the situation, even in the midst of an economic recession, in the
midst of Covid, you should not stop development and performance. As far as you
are from the Zenith family, you are expected to have that creativity and ideas
that can make you produce results. In Zenith, we say only the paranoid survive.
So I really want to appreciate what I am seeing here today”. Whilst thanking
the alumni association and the school authority for their collaborative efforts
towards achieving capacity development, which he described as the bane of
Nigerian society, he expressed his delight and honour to commission a building
named after the revered Late Prof. Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, who touched and
impacted so many people while he was alive.
In his address, the National President of Unilag
Alumni Association, Dr. John Momoh, thanked the Founder and Chairman of Zenith
Bank as well as the management of the bank 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. He encouraged
everyone to take good care of and maintain the building to serve the university
community for years to come.
In her remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University
of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, acknowledged the invaluable contributions of
Zenith Bank 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 students populace. She thanked the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank,
Jim Ovia, CFR, for donating 3,500 tablets to the university, which ensured that
students who could not afford laptops for e-learning during the covid-19
pandemic were not left behind.
In her remarks, the wife of the Late Prof. Oyewusi
Ibidapo-Obe, Mrs. Sola Ibidapo-Obe, thanked the Founder and Chairman of Zenith
Bank, Jim Ovia, CFR, for immortalising her late husband with such a great
edifice named after him. Recalling how close he was to her late husband, Mrs
Ibidapo-Obe said: “You are my husband’s friend. Dr. Jim Ovia has demonstrated
the love that does not die in his friendship with my beloved husband. When he
fell ill, Dr. Jim Ovia was there from day one till the last moment. I could
feel the way he felt. From then, I knew that he was a genuine friend. He tried
his best to ensure my husband survived, but he did not”.
The iconic building, which sits on a total site area of 950m2, was constructed by a team of world-class builders who had the mandate
of delivering the best quality possible. The iconic
structure is a smart building that incorporates many of the elements that make a
facility environmentally friendly and sustainable, including a grid-tie solar system that sustains power load on solar and
not on a generator or national grid, an inverter-driven VRF air conditioning
system and motion sensor lighting to enhance energy efficiency, perforated aluminium composite panels for natural lighting and
ventilation, free Wi-Fi system to provide internet access for students, fire
management systems, including fire hydrant, smoke detector, and fire alarm system,
and a LED screen installed on the building for the dissemination of
information. The iconic building will house the Unilag Branch of Zenith Bank
Plc and the operations of Unilag Alumni. Of
the total 1,665m2 of floor area designated for office use in the
four-storey building, 585m2 will be used by Unilag Alumni.
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