NDI
OKEREKE-ONYIUKE:
Amazon in the saddle
When
the young and ebullient Dr. (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke Onyiuke assumed
duty as the Manager and Head of Research and Information Services
Department (now Research and Infotech Department) of the Nigerian
Stock Exchange in January 1983, little did she realise that come
January 2000 (seven years after), she would be at the apex of the
Corporate Ladder as the Director-General and Chief Executive
Officer.
Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke’s
journey in the corporate world began at the New York Stock
Exchange where she rose to managerial cadre before she answered
the clarion call to come and develop her fatherland (
Nigeria
).
She
is a study in all round development.
Top on her sterling qualities is the divine gift of
intellectual prowess. Her fertile imagination became noticeable
right from her early education when she emerged as the best among
her equals. The records are quite revealing:
At Queen’s School,
Enugu
,
Nigeria
,
She passed out with Grade 1 in her West African School Certificate
Examination in 1965. This
was capped with a distinguished performance at Higher School
Certificate Examination in same school in 1967.
The intellectual strength manifested in her graduation with
First Class Honours (Magna Cum Laude) in Business Administration,
Computer Sciences and Economics at the prestigious Baruch College
of the City University of New York in 1975.
Still
in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece, she obtained her Master
of Business Administration, (MBA) specialising in Finance and
Computer Science at City University of New York,
Graduate
School
in 1977. By 1980, Dr.
Okereke-Onyiuke had comfortably completed her Doctor of
Philosophy/Doctor of Administration in Finance and Securities
Market at City University Post Graduate centre,
New
York
.
Her exceptional
brilliance earned her chains of awards off-shore:
She has won the following awards:-
·
The Foreign Student Academic
Excellence Tuition Waiver, 1972 - 1976.
·
Cuny award for summer Study at
Universite Parix-ix
,
France
, 1980
·
Beta Gamma Sigma Award for Summer
Study at
Cambridge
University
, 1977.
·
The Goldman Sacks Awards for Best
Thesis; Academic Dean’s List, 1972 - 1976.
·
Nominated and listed in “Who is
Who in
America
” 1981.
·
She won $20,000.00 Cuny Post
Graduate Research Award/Teaching Fellowship as Adjunct Professor,
1978.
·
Nominated and Selected for
President Carter’s Executive Exchange programme, 1980, The White
House Washington DC.
·
Awarded Order of the
Niger
(OON) by the Federal Government of
Nigeria
in 2001.
Armed
with her impeccable academic honours, Ndi was fully prepared to be
a colossus in the emerging international financial district.
Besides, she is eminently positioned as a great
intellectual lieutenant to the immediate past Director General,
Apostle Hayford Alile.
On
assuming duty in 1983, she dazzled the Council and Management of
The Nigerian Stock Exchange by strengthening the organisation’s
research base. She was
highly instrumental to the computerization of the Exchange in
1985, a development which included the creation of “The Nigerian
Stock Exchange” All Shares Index - a barometer that gauges the
mood of economy. In
the same year, She spearheaded the training of potential
Stockbrokers by starting off The Stock Exchange’s Authorised
Clerkship Examination. Today, the examination is midwifed by the
Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS).
The credit goes to her that
Nigeria
’s
Stockbrokers have a pride of place in the international stock
markets.
She
brought her technical know-how to bear on the Exchange at the
inception of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Programme of
the Federal Government. As
the head of the Exchange’s Quotations Department, she was the
Chairman for the Technical Committee on Privatisation and
Commercialisation (TCPC) now Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE).
Her laudable contributions to the committee’s
achievements earned her special commendation from The Exchange and
Federal Government of Nigeria.
In
April, 1997, her efforts as the Project Director of the Central
Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Limited was crowned with success
with the commencement of automated delivery that is Central
Depository, Clearing and Settlement System.
Her concerted efforts with Rasak Oladejo, the Project
Director of Automated Trading System (ATS) culminated in the
success story of the new trading regime in April, 1999 (T+5) and
on March 1st, 2000 (T+3) in line with developments in
advanced markets. As
an accomplished securities strategist, she emerged as the Chairman
of the African Stock Exchange’s Association (ASEA) listing
Committee whose mandate is to produce a standardized Minimum
Listing Requirements for ASEA Members to facilitate cross border
listing in
Africa
.
She has always served on the ASEA Committee on
harmonisation of qualifying examination for stockbrokers in
Africa
.
Apart
from her continued contributions to the growth and development of
The Nigerian Stock Exchange, she is ever ready for any national
assignment that can uplift Nigerians living standard.
She has served as a Director of the National Directorate of
Employment in addition to distinguishing herself on the Boards of
major companies and two banks operating in
Nigeria
.
In
the field of sports, she is a national figure.
She is the current Chairman of the Nigerian handball
Federation and Vice-President of the Nigerian Baseball and
Softball Federation as well as the International Vice-President of
Baseball Worldwide.
She
maintained an enviable balancing of her administrative callings
with social activities. This probably explains the perception of
some of her admirers who insist that “Doctor” has three Voices
- Administrative Voice, Intellectual Voice, and Social Voice.
Her administrative voice is believed to be “bulish”, an
observation which earned her the nick-name - “Margaret
Thatcher”, a euphemism for “Iron Lady”. She is a goal-getter
and a perfectionist. Her
intellectual voice is noticeable whenever she emphasizes her
special interest in capacity building while the social voice is
full of didactic jokes.
When
the history of the African Capital Market is chronicled, Ndi
Okekere-Onyiuke’s name shall be engraved as the first woman in
Africa
to head a stock market, as well as one of the first two women in
the world to head a stock market.
By any yardstick, the two, are personalities for the famous
Guinness Book of World Record.
Newswatch Special Feature, Friday, 15 November 2002
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