Christopher Ebhodaghe Abebe (1919 – 22 March 2018)

OFR The Office of Financial Research (OFR) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, whose passage in 2010 was a legislative ...

, KSM, KSS, known as "Pa Abebe", was a Nigerian

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

executive and later managing director of the United Africa Company (UAC) in Nigeria.

Early life and family

Christopher Abebe was born in 1919.Unilever Archives & Records Management. (c. 2004) ''United Africa Company: A Brief Guide''. Unilever: Wirral. p. 40. His eldest daughter,

Stella Obasanjo Stella Obasanjo (14 November 1945 – 23 October 2005) was the First Lady of Nigeria from 1999 until her death. She was the wife of former President of Nigeria, president Olusegun Obasanjo, although she was not the First Lady in 1976, when Obasa ...

, was the wife of the former president of Nigeria,

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pres ...

Career

Abebe spent his whole career at the United Africa Company, beginning as an accounts clerk at Uromi in 1935. In 1951 he became the labour manager at

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial c ...

, the first indigenous African in the UAC to be appointed to that position. In 1958 he was appointed manager for African staff development and training for Nigeria and the following year became the first indigenous African to be appointed to the board of directors of UAC Nigeria. He became deputy chairman in 1972 and chairman and managing director in 1975. He retired in 1980 and was appointed an officer of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1981.

Other activities

He was Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of three Nigerian universities (

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

, Nsukka and Calabar).Buhari mourns Christopher Abebe, ex-MD of UAC.
''Vanguard'', 23 March 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2019.

Death

Abebe died on 22 March 2018.PRESS RELEASE: ENCOMIUMS AS CORPORATE NIGERIA HONOURS ABEBE.
NECA News Magazine, 27 May 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abebe, Christopher 1919 births 2018 deaths Human resource management people Nigerian businesspeople Nigerian Roman Catholics United Africa Company