Access Holdings names Bolaji Agbede as acting CEO after Wigwe’s passing

Access Holdings Plc announced on Monday evening the appointment of Ms. Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Ghief Executive Officer.

This followed the death of its former Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Dr. Herbert Wigwe.

Wigwe tragically died in a helicopter crash alongside his wife, son, and a former chairman of the Nigeria Exchange Group, Abimbola Ogunbanjo, on Friday. 

A statement made by the company’s Board of Directors and dated February 12, 2024, stated that the appointment was subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria. 

“Further to its announcement dated February 11, 2024, the Board of Directors of Access Holdings Plc (‘the Company’) has today announced the appointment of Ms. Bolaji Agbede as the Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company following the unfortunate demise of its former Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Herbert Wigwe, on February 9, 2024″, the statement said.

“The appointment is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria,” it added.

Agbede has about thirty years of expertise in the banking and business consulting industries. He started with Access Bank in 2003 as an Assistant General.

Prior to being designated the company’s founding Executive Director, Business Support, in 2022, she held a number of positions at the bank, including Head, Group Human Resources, from 2010 to 2022.

She graduated from the University of Lagos with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics and from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom in 2002 with a master’s degree in business administration.

In addition, she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Management UK.

Meanwhile, tributes from across the world have begun pouring in for the former Group CEO of the bank.