Osaze Osifo - Online Memorial Website

I received the news of your passing with great shock and sadness, and a lingering feeling of not wanting it to be true. However, in life it is moments like this that force us to look back and take stock - and we can either be appreciative or be lost for words to say. I will choose to appreciate your life! We had met at the Engineering School of the University of Lagos in the eighties, and even then it was clear that you were destined for greater things - always positive, such energy, and never could be kept down. I remember meeting up again with you in the U.K. during my post-graduate studies. You were working at HSBC, at that time Midland Global Markets. I had interviewed with the group and was interviewed by your direct boss. He had asked if I knew "Oz" and I had replied - Yes. We had a very friendly interview - I would even call it a chat. He was ready to hire me, and I suspect knowing you had a lot to do with it. Such was the respect and high regard those who you worked with had for you then; and reading through the various postings on this site, I can see that it continued even through your other achievements in your career in Nigeria. You were certainly a focal point for a lot of Nigerians who had careers in the "City" in the nineties - always bringing people together, always networking.

We had lost touch when I returned to Nigeria in the mid nineties, but I had kept up with your achievements through mutual friends and acquaintancies. You certainly did outstandingly well, and amongst our generation we can only say that your achievements are stellar and exemplary! My heartfelt sympathies go out to your wife and your young children; to your aged parents & your in-laws, and to your sisters and their families. May our good Lord comfort them through this very difficult time, and I pray that they be able to find solace in the fact that even though you left too soon, your life and achievements were impactful and that you helped in making many lives better than when you first met them. May your children achieve more than you ever did.

I must salute a great man of our generation - an outstanding man of good pedigree & boundless energy, of vision & love of country, and a man of great drive & possibilities. It is a regret that I will never have the chance to salute him to his face.

Osaze, in respect, I doff my hat to you. May you rest in perfect peace, and may you go well. It is truly a great honour to have met and known you.

You were such a cool person to know Oz. Such a patient friend who would take whining phone calls about breaks ups and make ups and dish out wisdom for free when you really ought to have been charging me for it! 

Bar Bourse Fridays are some of my happiest memories.  

I hate to think of the pearls of wisdom that I may have missed due to the consumption of one long island ice tea too many. You were wise beyond your years and I learned important lessons from you. During one vent I remember asking you who you talk to you when you need to vent or sound things out and you said "I talk to my wife." I remember thinking how cool it would it be to have that kind of relationship when I grow up and get married.

But with hindsight, I think you gave Ibukun something else too. Your support of her over the years allowing her to be what she can be. It will serve her and your girls well now when they need to be strong. I think that they are the greatest thing you have achieved.

I am a lucky, lucky person to have had the benefit of your friendship for however short a time it was.   

I thank God for you.



 

If  one's  passion for life could determine how long one lived then this must be a dream because you should still be here Osaze. Dare I then shake my fist at God and ask why now? Why you? Or why like this? Dare I? 
Thank you Osaze for impacting my life, for believing in me and giving me opportunities. For calling me 2 weeks ago to say 'Happy new year', not knowing you were saying good bye! For your 'can do' spirit, for your optmism about Nigeria and its future, for needling me so many times about Man U -your beloved club, always reminding me that your were my 'egbon' because I was born the same year as your younger sister. Thank you for repeatedly reminding me that "you preferred to try and fail rather than not try at all"....... Thanks Osaze.

Osaze, I thank God for your life and for your accomplishments in your short time on earth.  I thank God because you are a true shining star, a mentor like no other.  Osaze you would unravel a 'perfect' presentation that one had toiled over for hours with just one question! You zeroed in immediately on a slight difference in font sizes. And woe betide you if you committed the cardinal sin of brand dilution by typing in any font other than Trebuchet! You would reel off the top of your head the procedure for share increase or new allotments. You would matter of factly state the IRR on a project after a quick glance at a financial model. I remember fondly how you once educated me on the genres of emerging music artists in Nigeria, tapping your feet along to Naeto's C 'kini big deal' in the background at one of our office drinks You were delighted when I mentioned I had no choice but to support Manchester United as my father and brothers were die hard fans. You loved the people that worked with you, you always had a joke to break the ice, an anecdote that just made perfect sense. I never did get that Private Equity 101 you threatened on several occasions.

It was an absolute privilege to have met you Osaze.

May God grant your soul eternal rest and provide succor and comfort to Ibukun, your parents, children and to us your wider family who miss you so much already.

Ronke Nwadike

We didn’t quite get to have that conversation yet - it was too early, there was still too much to do, a multitude of kingdoms left to conquer, many issues left to resolve. Anyway, if I had the chance I would have said thank you for everything - for the opportunities, triumphs, challenges, for constantly threatening to report me to my mum (she says thank you too) and for my entire career. I never said it, but I would not have had it any other way - I wish you knew that. Rest well in the Lord and protect your precious family from above.  Miss Carrena.