Anya Ndi-Igbo mourns Arthur Mbanefo, says “a confident, competent, dedicated and honest” patriot has fallen

Anya Ndi-Igbo, a peace-building Igbo group, which is also focused on Igbo national interests and development, has paid a glowing tribute to the late Chief Arthur Christopher Izuegbunam Mbanefo, Odu Onitsha III, who died on the 23rd of last month (December 2025) aged 95, saying Chief Mbanefo’s passing “has robbed Nigeria and the world of a confident, competent, dedicated and very honest honest personality.”

In a statement signed by the group’s National Chairman, Engr. Chris Okoye, Anya Ndi-Igbo described Mbanefo as “a giant and well-built man of order, who must be aggrieved, even in death, at the manifestly disorderly world in which we currently live, especially Nigeria, his home-front, which he had earlier assessed and declared failed.”

The statement recalled that as Chairman at an award ceremony hosted by Vanguard Media Ltd. in January 2019, Mbanefo had decried the poor management of Nigeria’s political economy, describing it “as hardly working” even as “our education system is obviously not meeting its objectives.” .

Anya Ndi-Igbo further quoted the late Mbanefo (1930-2025) as lamenting the rot in the nation’s healthcare delivery system, which the late famous chartered accountant called “deplorable”; the neglect of water and food security, which “threaten our future as a people”; the collapse of physical infrastructure and the seemingly collective lack of imagination, especially on the part of leadership.

“In short Nigeria is not working,” the late Mbanefo, MFR, CON was quoted as concluding in his remarks at the Vanguard Media event.

According to Anya Ndi-Igbo, Mabanefo’s “damning conclusion” came from his experience over a 75- year period – as a secondary school tutor, distinguished accountant, investment analyst, diplomat, educational administrator and elder statesman.

“While waiting for his father’s sponsorship of his further studies in England, the young Arthur was a tutor at Christ the King College (CKC) Onitsha, where he became so good as a teacher and mentor that he easily recognised students with good potential and his assessments proved correct. Professor Francis Edozien (Physician) and Emmanuel Edozien (Economist) were among his CKC students that he spotted and who went on to become shinning stars in their chosen fields,” the group recalled.

“After training and qualifying in accounting in the mid-1950s in England, and working there for a few years, Mbanefo joined Akintola Williams & Company in Nigeria as a Partner in1961, and served until 1986, when he retired as a Senior Partner.

“As President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in 1978/79, Mbanefo saw to the completion of the ICAN Secretariat, which was subsequently declared open on April 21, 1979.”

Anya Ndi-Igbo further recalled that the late Mbanefo, who held the prestigious title of Odu of Onitsha III, also represented the Institute on the Governing Boards of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC).

Mbanefo was widely recognised as one of the early thorough-bred accountants who shaped the accounting profession in Nigeria and had many awards to show for it.

Awarded Fellowship of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mbanefo, after leaving Akintola Williams & Company, was to set up a Management Consultancy firm, which provided financial and corporate advice to government, business, and international institutions.

He held the office of Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of three of Nigeria’s prestigious universities, namely, the University of Lagos (1984–1986), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife(1986–1990),and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1990–1993).

According to Anya Ndi-Igbo, Mbanefo, as Chairman of Council, made it a point not to approve in writing any proposal or memorandum he had not thoroughly read – that a matter was presented to him as urgent was not an excuse to make him deviate from that principle.

“Accordingly, he required every procurement proposal to be presented to Council in great detail and discussed fully before the university would enter into any and every contract,” Anya Ndi-Igbo disclosed.

“During the Nigeria-Biafra War, Arthur was a dedicated diplomat for the Biafran side,” Anya Ndi-Igbo further recalled in the statement issued by Okoye. “He was Biafra’s Shuttle Diplomat and Odumegwu Ojukwu’s Special Envoy. He was quite disheartened by the failure of the Biafran endeavour of which his uncle, Honourable Justice Louis Mbanefo, was Chief Justice. At the collapse of the project, he was  part of the Biafran surrender party, which was led by the late General Philip Effiong from the present day Akwa Ibom State.

“On the Nigerian side, in1999, Mbanefo entered the arena of international diplomacy when President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he engaged global leaders and advocated for cooperation on issues ranging from peace and security to development and human rights. His tenure from1999 and 2003 enhanced Nigeria’s diplomatic visibility and strengthened ties with other member States.

“As a partner in Akintola Williams & Company, Chief Mbanefo, examined the conflict between the Niger Dam Authority and the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, two government entities in the electric power sector, and recommended the establishment of 15 independent operators in the sector for efficiency. The government, instead, merged the two bodies, to form the monopoly National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), in 1972. It took more than 40 years for the government to come to where Mbanefo was, by unbundling the Power Holding Company (PHCN) privatising the resultant entities, safe the Transmission company of Nigeria (TCN).”

Listing several other roles the late Mbanefo played in Nigeria’s political and economic governance processes, Anya Ndi-Igbo also recalled that the departed chartered accountant served on the Justice Ayo Irikefe Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s finances, following an allegation that $2.8b of the Corporation’s finances was missing.

The group praised Mbanefo for his “analytical rigour” which, the peace-building stressed, “helped to bring clarity to complex financial issues, in the Joint Venture between NNPC and International Oil Companies (IOCs).”

“He chaired the Committee on the creation of new States and local government areas and boundary adjustments in 1995, (which recommended the creation) of six out of the 72 requests: Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nasarawa and Zamfara, one from each of the six geo-political zones,” Anya Ndi-Igbo shared in the statement by Engr. Okoye.

“For his services to Nigeria and the world, Odu Onitsha III was a recipient of Nigerian national honours of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON); Commander of the Order of Merit, Republic of Italy and a Grand Officer, National Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil.

“Chief Mbanefo was nobleman and philanthropist. On the occasion of his 90th birthdayin 2020, he donated the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre to the University of Lagos (UNILAG).It was a testament to his belief in education as a catalyst for social transformation and empowerment of future generations. He was such an exceptional talent that he applied himself in various walks of life and disciplines without loss of concentration.

“His autobiography, Arthur Mbanefo: A Fulfilled Life Of Service, shows him to be a man of noble birth, who grew up in different parts of Nigeria, worked amicably with people of different nationalities and faith, and lived a life of purpose.”

The statement expressed the Igbo group’s “deep condolences” to his immediate family, the Obi and people of Onitsha Ado N’Idu, the government and people of Anambra State, and Nigeria in general, over the loss of “this illustrious son of the land.

“Anya-Ndi-Igbo salutes his memory and recommends him as a good example of a man of noble character, rare to find, that should serve as a role model. Arthur Christopher Izuegbunam Mbanefo lived a well-fulfilled life in which honest and diligent people found fulfillment,” the Igbo peace-building group surmised.