*Pix above: Herbert Wigwe and the tragic helicopter
PLEASE SHARE
The CEO of Access Holdings, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, and son are feared dead among the six passengers in a helicopter that crashed in the US early Saturday, Nigerian time (late Friday local time).
The New York Times reports that a total of six people were in the helicopter that crashed near the California-Nevada border.
No survivors have been located as of the time of this report.
Access Holdings, owners of Access Bank, have yet to confirm Mr Wigwe’s death as of the time of this report.
However, people close to the banker said he and his wife and son were among the passengers in the helicopter.
The Eurocopter EC130 helicopter crashed around 10 p.m local time near Nipton, Calif, an unincorporated community approximately 60 miles south of Las Vegas in eastern San Bernardino County, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officials from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were notified of the downed aircraft at 10:12 p.m. local time, according to Mara Rodriguez, a public information officer with the department. She added that the crash site was located east of Interstate 15, near Halloran Springs Road.
It was learnt that the ill-fated Flight N130CZ, operated by Orbic Air LLC, took off from Palm Springs, California, at 8:45 pm but was last seen near Fort Irwin/Barstow, California, at 21:49 pm, Friday.
What exactly led to the crash of the Airbus Helicopters EC-130 remains unclear.
The National Transportation Safety Board (N.T.S.B.) and Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) are investigating the crash. Representatives from the N.T.S.B. are expected to arrive at the scene on Saturday.(agency)
What to know about his banking career
Wigwe started his professional career with Coopers & Lybrand Associates, an international firm of chartered accountants, before spending a decade at Guaranty Trust Bank. In 2004 he co-engineered the acquisition of local lender Access Bank where he assumed the post of deputy managing director and eventually became chief executive officer in January 2014.
He was building a new $500 million university outside the southern city of Port Harcourt to help students hone skills needed for the finance and technology industries in Africa’s most-populous nation, he told Bloomberg in an interview in November.
Wigwe planned to teach and mentor students and also engage some of the country’s biggest entrepreneurs including billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, to teach at the university.
“To get the next set of leaders in banking, you need to create the right education for them,” Wigwe told Bloomberg from his office in the 14-story Access Bank headquarters overlooking a part of the Lagos lagoon./PLEASE SHARE
*Tag: Herbert Wigwe, his wife, and son, Access Holdings
–The ill-fated chopper
*Tags: Herbert Wigwe, his wife, and son, Access Holdings
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
**The State Online.com.ng; Nigeria’s foremost Daily Newsmagazine…Every story, a sumptuous meal courteously served…Bon Apeti!!!**
