Obiora Agbasimalo: A Quintessential Humanitarian And An Advocate Of A Cleaner City

Obiora Agbasimalo, who will be 40 years old in October 2021 was born the first of four children to an engineer father, Mr Emmanuel Agbasimalo and a retired civil servant mother, Mrs Ada Agbasimalo, who is also an author.

His primary education in Lagos was at Chrisland Nursery and Primary School, his secondary education at the International School University of Lagos and his university degree from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, where he obtained BSc Management Accounting, graduating with a Second Class Upper Division.

Two months after his National Youth Service in Yobe State in 2005, during which he had a brief stint as a teacher in a primary school, he was employed by Zenith Bank and over the past 15 years built a successful career as a high-flying banker, becoming a charter accountant after obtaining his ACCA certification and also MSc from his alma mater in 2015.

Agbasimalo, who is married to Eucharia with whom he has two children, both boys, in keeping with his Anglican background, remains active in evangelism, preaching the word of God at every opportunity.

He is an active member of the Good Samaritan Society in his church, a group renowned for humanitarian activities towards indigent patients who are unable to pay their medical bills in government hospitals, namely Gbagada Federal Hospital, Federal Medical Centre Agege and LASUTH.

In addition, Obiora Agbasimalo is also an active volunteer and donor of cash, clothes and kind to charity organizations. He is Financial Manager and brain behind the strategies for all Projects in Oga Ndi Oga Foundation, (ONOF), a non-religious, non-political, non-profit charity and private foundation that is active in Anambra State and renowned for its far-reaching programmes in the areas of healthcare and poverty alleviation, women and youth empowerment, back-to-school campaign and scholarships.

His 15-year banking career is built on a track record, starting from his first year when he was an outstanding team member of the marketing unit till presently that he is the bank’s highest earner of income in its zone, managing a portfolio of about N4billion and close to 20 million dollars in customers fund, aside from fixed deposit.

With such an impressive CV, Agbasimalo is a prime candidate, and target of headhunters for high profile positions in the financial sector. However, he has set his mind on moving on to a sector where he can make maximum impact.

And of this, he has hinted at a future preoccupation: Youth development and social regeneration.

“I feel it is time for someone with fresh idea to come on board and make an impact especially in the area of youth development, waste management and control and most importantly structural development,” he said.

An avid student of political geography, a stickler for training and a lover of movies, his future ambitions include doing “some humanitarian work towards helping the young Nigerian youth.”

Agbasimalo is also an advocate of a cleaner city. “I detest seeing dirty gutters and environment, especially on the streets. These wastes can be recycled and converted to useful materials as is already being practised in Europe with the use of some technology that converts plastic bottles and some waste to useful building materials,” he articulated.

Driven by altruism, Obiora Agbasimalo has silently built a reputation that endears him to the public as a man of action, a man of his words, a man of good deeds.