Biography
Idahosa “Hosa” Wells Okunbo was a Nigerian business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and trained commercial pilot. He served as chairman and director on numerous company boards in Nigeria, spanning multiple business sectors such as the agro-allied, petroleum, telecommunications, power, real estate, and banking industries.
Wife and children
Okunbo was married and had 11 children. He died of cancer on 8 August 2021, at a hospital in London. He was aged 63.
Early Life
Captain Okunbo is a trained commercial pilot who owned chains of businesses in agro-allied, petroleum, telecommunications, power, real estate, and banking industries, amongst others.
At age 21, Idahosa Wells Okunbo became a pilot, and it was widely reported that at 30, he had logged 7,500 hours of flying time as a commercial jet plane pilot.
Many years later, Okunbo ventured into agriculture with the ownership of the company Well Farm Limited, where he invested millions of dollars in greenhouse farming and agro-allied business for Edo.
Idahosa Wells Okunbo had over fifty sea vessels for security and crude oil movements.
Captain Hosa Okunbo companies, Ocean Marine Ltd and OMS Tankers Ltd, bailed out NNPC when the NNPC was challenged to move crude in marine vessels to the refineries.
His company supplies Warri and Port Harcourt refineries with crude oil.
His company, OMS Tankers Ltd, don dey support raising di level of oil production in Nigeria.
Okunbo is also di father-in-law of the coronated 21st Olu of Warri, Prince Tsola Emiko.
Age
7 January 1958 – 8 August 2021
Education
Okunbo had his primary education at Government Primary school in Benin City, old Bendel State, now Edo State. He proceeded to Federal Government College, Warri, in 1971, where he sat for West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Okunbo was a native speaker of the Edo language, and a fluent speaker of English.
Okunbo pursued a desire to become a pilot by studying at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre, Zaria, Kaduna State, and became a professional commercial pilot at the age of 21. He also attended ACME School of Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas in 1983, where he obtained an Airline Transport Pilot License.
Career
Upon graduation, Okunbo became a professional commercial pilot, and was made a captain in 1983 at the age of 25. He was a flight captain with Intercontinental Airlines for about two years, then was employed by Okada Airlines for three years. In 1988, he retired from piloting at the age of 30, having logged over 7,000 hours of flight time, and ventured into private business.
Okunbo established Hoslyn Ventures Nigeria Ltd., a company that was involved with procurement in the Nigerian petroleum sector.
Okunbo was the founder and chairman of the following Nigerian companies:
- CMES-OMS Petroleum Development Company (CPDC), which, in September 2019, signed “$875.75m alternative financing deal for the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) operated OML 65”.[3][4]
- The Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments, Abuja
- Wells San-Carlos Agro Farms Ltd., which, in March 2016, unveiled a $750 million, 9,000-hectare (22,000-acre) farm intended to “create 85,000 jobs in Edo State”.
- Ocean Marine Security Ltd., an offshore asset-protection company, rendering services to major oil companies in Nigeria, including NNPC. The company recently completed the building of the 46-kilometre (29 mi) Escravos–Warri Crude Pipeline, which was inaugurated by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.[11][12]
- Westminster Security Solutions Nigeria Ltd, a franchise of Westminster Group Plc UK, of which he was major shareholder.
- Wells Group of companies, which include Wells Dredging Ltd., Wells Property Development Company Ltd., and Wells Entertainments Ltd. – through which Okunbo financed the movie Black November.[14][15]
- Ocean Marine Solutions Tankers Ltd., which owns Nigeria’s first marine tankers.
- Hoslyn Habitat Ltd., which is a design, construction and landscaping company.
- Gyro Air Ltd., operators of charter flight operations.
Okunbo was a director in the following companies:
- Joint Marine Environ Guard Ltd. (JMEG)
- Secure Anchorage Area Ltd. (SAA)
- Digisteel Integrated Services Ltd.
- Phil Nugent Nigeria Ltd.
- Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Ltd. (IEDM), which is a core investor in Ibadan and Yola Electricity Distribution Companies.
Okunbo was member of the Board of Directors of NatCom Development and Investment Ltd., which is the holding company of Nigerian telecommunications giant NTEL.
Net Worth
Hosa Okunbo was a top business mogul with an estimated net worth of $80 million.
Disclaimer
The information in this article was curated from online sources. NewsWireNGR or its editorial team cannot independently verify all details.
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