Late Oando Legal Officer, Ngozi Okonkwo Finally Laid to rest

Its exactly five weeks after her painful exit from mother earth on Thursday, June 4, Ngozi Janice Okonkwo, the highly cerebral Chief Legal Officer of Oando Plc, was finally laid to rest, today, Saturday July 11 at a private cemetery located in the highbrow area of Ikoyi, Lagos.

The entire funeral programme was a strictly private affair with only immediate family members and very few close friends and associates in attendance in compliance with the current guidelines occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before she finally gave up to cancer at age 45, Ngozi was said to have recovered and resumed at her duty post until she suffered a relapse during the COVID-19 lockdown and could not travel out of the country to see her doctors. According to a source, “The best available health facilities in Nigeria couldn’t help her; in the process, she lost the battle.”

Oil tycoon and Group Chief Executive Officer, Oando Plc, Adewale Tinubu, described the deceased as a wonderful soul who was ready for every goal-oriented endeavour.

“Oando has lost a true leader– kind, passionate, driven, focused and diligent goal-getter. She was an exemplary professional astute lawyer, who commanded respect from all sundry. She was knowledgeable, efficient, competent and diligent. She was what we all hope for in a team member. She was an embodiment of empathy, loyalty, support and trust. She was someone you wanted by your side when winning was the goal. She was focus, audacious.”

Before joining Oando PLC, Ngozi had worked as Junior Counsel with F.O. Akinrele & Co and also with KPMG Professional Services (previously known as Arthur Andersen) as Manager in the Tax, Regulatory and People Services Unit and Head of Indirect Tax Services.

She obtained LLB (Hons) from University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1997 and BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1999.
She was a member of the Nigerian Bar Association; honorary fellow of the Association of Fellows and Legal Scholars of the Centre for International Legal Studies, Austria; Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom and Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Nigeria.

Ngozi was survived by her husband, Chukwunenye Okonkwo, and their four children.