Veteran broadcaster and former diplomat Christopher Kolade has died at the age of 92.
His family confirmed in a statement that he died peacefully in the early hours of Thursday.
Born on December 28, 1932, in Erin-Oke, Osun State, Mr Kolade was the son of an Anglican missionary.
He attended Government College, Ibadan and later studied at Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Kolade began his career in broadcasting and rose to become director general of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
He later served as chief executive and chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc and represented Nigeria as high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
After his diplomatic service, Kolade taught Corporate Governance and Human Resource Management at the Lagos Business School (LBS) and Leadership and Conflict Management at the School of Media and Communication (SMC), both under Pan-Atlantic University.
He also served as pro-chancellor and chairman of the university’s governing council and later became chancellor of McPherson University, Ogun State.
Kolade chaired organisations such as the Integrity Organisation Ltd GTE and The Convention on Business Integrity Ltd GTE.
He also led several professional bodies, including the Nigerian Institute of Management, the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, the International Institute for Communications and the World Association for Christian Communication.
In 2012, former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) Board.
He received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Sierra Leone in 1976 and McPherson University in 2016, among others.
The family in its statement said, “We are thankful for his incredible life of faith and service; and are grateful for God’s abundant blessings.”
