Herbert Wigwe, the co-founder of Access Bank and the founder, Wigwe University, and five others have reportedly died in a helicopter crash in California, United States.
Wigwe was also the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Access Holdings, the parent company of Access Bank.
It was gathered that the chopper was headed to Las Vegas when it crashed near a border city between Nevada and California on Friday night.
Wigwe, his wife, Choba and son were in the helicopter when it crashed in California near the Nevada border, as well as Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the group chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group Plc (NGX Group).
The US government confirmed all on board dead as no survivors have been located as of Saturday morning.
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The helicopter ferried six people when it crashed on Friday night near the California-Nevada border.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration said that the Eurocopter EC130 helicopter crashed around 10:00 p.m. local time, near Nipton, California, an unincorporated community about 60 miles south of Las Vegas in eastern San Bernardino County.
According to Mara Rodriguez, a public information officer with the department, officials at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department were made aware of the downed aircraft at 10:12 pm, local time.
She added that the scene of the crash was determined to be east of Interstate 15, near Halloran Springs Road.
The New York Times has confirmed the incident but did not name the passengers.
No official statement has been issued on the incident.
Profile of Wigwe
Herbert Onyewumbu Wigwe, a luminary in the Nigerian banking sector, was born on August 15, 1966 in Isiokpo, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He had a degree in accountancy from the University of Nigeria, an MA in Banking and Finance from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor), an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London, and was an alumnus of the Harvard Business School Executive Management Program.
He built a $500 million eponymous university in his hometown in Rivers State. The University will offer undergraduate courses in management, science and engineering, information technology, and creative arts.
The university founder previously told BusinessDay that the university has built a power plant to supply electricity to the university and will use holograms and artificial intelligence to ensure a hybrid system for students.
Wigwe and his close friend, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede were presented with a business deal of acquiring a small-scale commercial bank – Access Bank in 2002.
He helped to develop some of Africa’s biggest companies in the construction, telecommunications, energy, oil and gas sectors through Access Bank.
