60 Years After Louis Ojukwu’s Death, Family Revives Memorial Projects, Raises UNN Prizes

 Wale Igbintade 

Sixty years after the death of Sir Louis Philip Odumegwu Ojukwu, one of Nigeria’s pinoeering businessmen and philanthropists, his family is reviving and expanding some of the institutions and initiatives associated with his name, including educational prizes at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); scholarships; charitable projects and plans for a memorial hospital.

The renewed effort to preserve his legacy is part of a series of activities planned to mark the 60th anniversary of the death of the celebrated businessman, who died at Nkalagu located in the defunct Eastern Region, but in the present Ebonyi State, on September 13, 1966. 

The family has scheduled a Mass in his memory and other low-key commemorative activities, with Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL), the company he founded, also expected to play a role.

A Director of OTL and grandson of the deceased, Dr  Ike Ojukwu, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, said the commemoration would go beyond remembering the late businessman to preserving the values and institutions he held dear.

According to him, the family’s objective was to ensure that Sir Odumegwu’s commitment to education, integrity, enterprise and service continued to benefit future generations.

An upward revision of the annual Sir LP Odumegwu Ojukwu prizes for the best graduating students in the Faculty of Business Administration and the Department of Estate Management/Surveying at UNN has already been approved.

Current winners of the prizes have been urged to contact Ojukwu Transport Limited, while the university authorities have been notified of the development.

The Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu Hall at the university’s Enugu Campus will also form part of the family’s commemorative focus, while plans for a memorial hospital, scholarships and other charitable initiatives are being developed.

The renewed focus on UNN is particularly significant given Sir Odumegwu’s association with the institution and his contribution to its establishment.

Sir Odumegwu was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Nigeria in the early 1960s.

The university was a brainchild of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Owelle of Onitsha, who was a close friend of Sir Odumegwu. 

The defunt Eastern Regional Government provided the bulk of the funding for the establishment of the institution.

Sir Odumegwu, who served as Chairman or Director of several government agencies and was Chairman of the African Continental Bank, contributed significantly to the mobilisation of funds for the university.

For his family, however, his legacy transcended business, public service and philanthropy.

He was remembered as a proud and unapologetic Igbo man who was nevertheless “totally detribalised”, placing competence, loyalty and integrity above ethnic considerations.

The family cited the appointment of Nelson Oyesiku to the National Shipping Line in 1964 as one example of his willingness to recognise merit irrespective of ethnic background.

His friends, business partners and associates, it added, came from different parts of the country and from diverse walks of life.

Born in 1909 in Umudim, Nnewi, Sir Odumegwu was the sixth of the 10 sons of Ojukwu Eze Okigbo and the only son of his mother, Ukonwa, who had four children. The others were Mrs Nwosu, Mrs Okoli and Mrs Obi.

Known as “LP”, short for Louis Philip, in his earlier years, he chose, when he was knighted by the Queen in the early 1960s, to use his Igbo name, Odumegwu. 

The decision was partly to avoid a clash of names with his friend, the then Chief Justice, Sir Louis Mbanefo.

The family described him as an extremely family-oriented and down-to-earth man who maintained close relationships with his family, friends and associates.

Yet, there was also an unmistakable touch of elegance to his lifestyle. He favoured Savile Row suits and traditional attire, courtesy of the father of business magnate, Alhaji Razaq Okoya, and others.

At the time of his death, he lived at “Eastern House” on Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

His fleet included a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, registered “LA 1”, and a Cadillac, registered “LC 1”. Other vehicles included an Armstrong Siddeley, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Rover and Land Rover.

But despite his impressive fleet, the family recalled that Sir Odumegwu could be remarkably unassuming.