Hayford Alile: Pioneer Director General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange dies

Hayford Ikponmwosa Alile (Dr), the pioneer Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) who also chaired the board of numerous blue-chip companies is dead. He died on September 4 at the age of 87.
“We have lost a rare gem in the transition of Pa Alile as a state and nation, but we are consoled by the Godly life he led and the indelible marks he left in the minds and hearts of millions of people”, said Godwin Obaseki, Governor, Edo State, in a condolence message released yesterday.
In his life time Alile was a role model for many Nigerians who admired how he succeeded in striking a balance between Christian ministry, work and family. Alile was seen as courageous and incorruptible professional who championed the global outlook for the Nigerian Stock Exchange through several reforms and pioneered the revolutionary ideas which positioned the Exchange for international recognition.
While celebrating his 80 th birthday, Alile gave some insight on his days at the helm of the Exchange and how he managed to stay away from corrupt practices.
“Well, you know that people would always want you to do the wrong thing but from the very beginning I read out all the rules and regulations of the institution and spent much time educating them that the good that they would derive from corrupt doings will not be as big as the loss that society will gain from it. To a certain extent, I believe God was always speaking through me and guided me to pay deaf ears to corrupt discussions”.

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Alile also contributed significantly to the take-off and growth of the country’s organised private sector, through his visionary leadership on the boards of several leading companies across the country and left a good legacy everywhere he worked.
Born into Alile family of Benin over 87 years ago (1938), Alile attended briefly the University of Ibadan as a State Scholar in Physics and thereafter proceeded to Howard University, Washington D.C. where he earned his B.A. degree in Economics and Mathematics. He later attended Rutgers Graduate School of Management, New Jersey, USA for his MBA and the Harvard Business School for AMP.
Alile’s rich working history began as an economic and financial Consultant to Louis Berger Inc, East Orange, New Jersey, USA in 1968. Between 1969 and 1972, he served as Assistant Director, Rutgers University Entrepreneurial Development Center, New Jersey and Rutgers Minority Investment Co Inc. He worked as an Investment Adviser/Broker with Investors Diversified Services Inc, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 1972-1973.
In 1973, Alile returned to Nigeria to head the Management Consulting Department of the Centre for Management Development, Lagos where he was responsible for the establishment of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMCON) and the Nigerian Association of Management Consultants (NAMCON).
Thereafter, he was appointed in 1976 as the Executive Director/CEO of the then Lagos Stock Exchange (LSE). He became the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of The Nigeria Stock Exchange in 1979 from where he retired in 1999.
He was a leading investment analyst who in the last three decades made valuable contribution to national economic growth and public policy formulation.
Alile was chairman of defunct Oceanic Bank International Plc. He served as the chairman of the Board at UTC Nigeria Plc, chairman of the Board at Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited; chairman and Director of Unilever Nigeria Plc until May 10, 2011. He served as Director of Industrial And General Insurance Company Limited and Nigerian Security Printing & Minting Company.
He served as Director of The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 1999 to 2005. He was for 12 years a Trustee and Treasurer of the Nigeria Olympic Committee. He served as President of the Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria. He was a recipient of the Nigeria National Honours awards of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM).
A life Member of Nigerian Economic Society, he was a Fellow of several professional bodies including the Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM), Institute of Directors (IOD) and Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Company Administrators.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu