Joseph Ogbonnaya Irukwu
20TH JULY 1933 – 7TH JULY 2023
Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance at Jesus House for all Nations, London
Sunday 7th July 2024
4.00 p.m.
Order of Service
1. Call to Worship
2. Welcome
3. Opening Prayer
4. Songs in Praise
5. First Bible Reading: Psalm 100 NKJV
6. Hymn 1: Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven
7. His Legacy Lives On… In People
8. Special Song: My Redeemer Lives
9. His Legacy Lives On… In Institutions
10. Second Bible Reading: Psalm 139:1-18 NKJV
11. His Legacy Lives On… In Books
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12. Special Song: God
13. His Legacy Lives On… In Family
14. Special Song: Imela
15. His Legacy Lives On… The Legacy of Christ
16. Hymn 2: In Christ Alone
17. Prayers for the family
18. Vote of thanks
19. Hymn 3: Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer
20. Closing Prayer
BIOGRAPHY OF
PROFESSOR JOSEPH OGBONNAYA IRUKWU SAN
Joseph
Ogbonnaya Irukwu was born on 20th July 1933 in Item, to Sophine Nneke Irukwu (née Ekechukwu) of Okoko Item and Josiah Ekerearua Irukwu Ogbummam from Ndiawele, Amabaukwu, Amaokwe Item in Bende Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State, Southeastern Nigeria. He was the first of ten children. His father was an affluent businessman and haulage contractor who was engaged in produce trade with European merchants. As his business expanded, the senior Irukwu moved the family away from Item to Zonkwa, Zangon Kataf LGA of Kaduna State, in Northern Nigeria when Ogbonnaya was about 5 years old. There he imbibed the northern culture so well that the only languages that he could speak as a young boy were Hausa and a broken and simplified version of English adopted as a means of communication between people of different cultures and languages.
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Ogbonnaya’s childhood course was charted by movements from location to location, guided by the quest for academic success. He had his early education in Northern Nigeria (Kaduna and Plateau States), in Otukpo, Benue State; and Abia State (Item, Umuahia and Aba) in the East. These frequent moves instilled in him a love for different cultures, expressed in a deep appreciation of the rich diversity of the nation. He settled on law as a career choice quite early and focused his attention on how to realise this desire. The few universities in West Africa in the early 1950s did not offer law as a course and so he set his sights on the United Kingdom in pursuit of his dream to become a lawyer. Upon arrival, he enrolled at Holborn College, London and the Council of Legal Education, Lincoln’s Inn. As he approached the end of his legal studies, he discovered an interest in insurance and registered with the Chartered Institute of Insurance. He was subsequently called to the English Bar in 1962 and enrolled as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the same year. In 1964 he achieved the qualifications of the Chartered Institute of Insurance.
Soon after returning to Nigeria in 1962, he was introduced to Enoh Maria Etuk, an up-and-coming broadcast executive at the state-owned broadcast station, Radio Nigeria, who was the third child of Mrs Grace and Chief Sampson Udo Etuk of Etinan, in the present Akwa Ibom
State. Her father was an educator and the first national President of the Ibibio Union. They got married the following year and had five children: Agu, Ikechi, Chizor, Chioma and Ola. In 1997 Tochi was added to the family.
His first employment in Nigeria was with the West African Provincial Insurance Company, which was a branch of the British Provincial Insurance Company in London. Initially appointed to the position of legal adviser, he rose within the ranks to the position of Deputy General Manager in 1965. Notwithstanding the disruption caused by the civil war (between May 1967 and January 1970), his future was unfurling at what seemed to be an accelerated pace with a series of appointments in various organisations. In 1970 he was headhunted by the Swiss Directors of Unity Life and Fire Insurance Company to come on board as Chief Executive Officer. This was followed two years later with a government appointment to oversee the Nigerian Students Loans Board, with a remit to provide loans to Nigerian students to enable them study at undergraduate or post graduate level in Nigeria or abroad.
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In 1977, he became the pioneer chief executive of the Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation, a government owned business established to increase the local share of reinsurance premium income. By 1985 it was universally recognised as the most successful Federal government agency in financial and economic terms. After a decade in the post, he recognised that it was time to move towards his dream to establish a model private insurance company of his own. On 29th April 1989, the African Development Insurance Company was incorporated. In its first 10 years, and notwithstanding challenging times, the company was established as a leading voice in the insurance industry.
Throughout a career which spanned several decades, Professor Irukwu held top positions in both the private and public sector of the Nigerian economy. Instrumental to the establishment of the insurance industry in Nigeria, his influence in his chosen field extended to the African continent and globally. He authored several landmark books on insurance and commentaries on Nigeria, including Insurance Law and Practice In Nigeria,1967; Accident and Motor Insurance in West Africa: Law and Practice, 1974; Reinsurance In the Third World,1980; Insurance Law In Africa: Cases, Statutes and Principles, 1987; Nigeria at the Crossroads: A nation in transition. London: Witherby, 1983; Nigeria – The Case for a Better Society, 1989; Insurance Law and Practice in Nigeria,1991; Nation building and
Ethnic Organisations: The Case for Ohaneze in Nigeria, 2007; Nigeria at 100: What Next? 2014.
He was Nigeria’s first Professor of Insurance and Insurance Law and a leading African authority on Corporate Governance, Insurance and Risk Management. His appointments, too many to mention, included the following: He was a past president of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA), founding president of the Professional Reinsurers’ Association, past president of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, past Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association, 1981 to 1983, former Chairman, African Continental Bank Plc and former Chairman Co-operative and Commerce Bank Plc, President of the Nigerian Insurance Law Association, Chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Review of Insurance Laws in Nigeria, 2009 and chair of the Cargo Defence Fund of the Nigerian Shippers Council. He was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and holder of the National Productivity Order of Merit and Officer of the Order of the Niger. He was the first African to receive the John S. Bickley Gold Medal for Excellence, which is the highest award for an individual in the world of Insurance and Risk Management.
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Professor Irukwu enjoyed a well-established, multi-pronged career as a lawyer, educator, author, chartered insurer, and philanthropist. He was a former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the sociocultural organisation representing the interests of the Igbos, and as an elder statesman, his was a unifying voice and a stabilising influence in his local community and nationally. He was conferred with the title of Omezioha of Item in recognition of his contributions to the development of the nation in the areas of business, finance, insurance and education.
As we reflect on a life hallmarked by duty and service, it is worthy of note that Professor Irukwu always acknowledged His merciful Heavenly Father Who gave him the grace to serve in such an exemplary manner. Often speaking of the Invisible Hand that guided the course of His life, he attributed his success in its entirety to our Lord, God Almighty.
After all is said and done, and in the reality of the fading music of life, he came to realise that what is truly of worth is one’s relationship with their Creator and the family that He gave you. And so, with this awareness, he sought to make his peace with his Lord and Master.
Call to Worship
Welcome Opening Prayer Songs in Praise
First Bible Reading
Psalm 100 (New King James Version)
A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
100 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.
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3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
Hymn 1
Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven
(Author: Henry Francis Lyte (1834); Tune: LAUDA ANIMA (Goss))
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; to his feet your tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, evermore his praises sing. Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!
Praise him for his grace and favour to his people in distress. Praise him, still the same as ever, slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia, alleluia! Glorious in his faithfulness!
Fatherlike he tends and spares us; well our feeble frame he knows. In his hand he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet his mercy flows! Angels, help us to adore him; you behold him face to face. Sun and moon, bow down before him, dwellers all in time and space. Alleluia, alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace!
His
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Legacy
Lives On… In People
Special
Song
My Redeemer Lives (Nicole C. Mullen - 2006 Word Records)
His Legacy Lives On… In Institutions
Second Bible Reading
Psalm 139:1-18 (New King James Version)
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
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12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
His Legacy Lives On…
In Books Special Song
God
(Donald Lawrence and Tri-City Singers, 2008)
His Legacy Lives On…
In Family Special Song Imela (‘Thank You’)
(Nathaniel Bassey, featuring Enitan Adaba, 2012)
His Legacy Lives On…
The Legacy of Christ
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Hymn 2
In Christ Alone
Stuart Townend & Keith Getty, 2001 Thankyou Music
In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song; This Cornerstone, this solid Ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when strivings cease! My Comforter, my All in All, Here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone! – who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save: Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain: Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again! And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me, For I am His and He is mine –Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is the power of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand: Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
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Prayers for the family
Vote of thanks Hymn 3
Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer
(Author: William Williams, 1762, translated by Peter Williams; Music: John Hughes)
Guide me, O thou great Redeemer, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty; Hold me with thy powerful hand: Bread of heaven, bread of heaven
Feed me till I want no more. Feed me till I want no more.
Open thou the crystal fountain Whence the healing stream shall flow;
Let the fiery, cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey through: Strong deliverer, strong deliverer Be thou still my strength and shield. Be thou still my strength and shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Death of death, and hell’s destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side: Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to thee. I will ever give to thee.
Closing Prayer
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