The eldest son of Nigeria’s first Minister of Finance, Prince John Okotie-Eboh has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to graciously immortalise his father, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, by engraving his portrait in any denomination of the Nigerian currency.
Prince Okotie-Eboh made the appeal in Warri, Delta State in commemoration of the death of the late Finance Minister in the first coup d’etat of January 15, 1966, saying his late father “Was the one who changed the colonial currency, which was jointly operated by the British Colonies of West Africa in 1958 and also effected the new currency and coins bearing the title ‘Federation of Nigeria’ into circulation in 1959.”
According to him, his late father spearheaded the establishment of the Central Bank of the country in 1958.
Speaking to newsmen at his residence, he said: “I believe that being the first indigenous Finance Minister of this country, he is eminently qualified to be engraved on the Nigerian currency he created.
“He initiated the Bill for the establishment of the Central Bank of Nigeria and announced the appointment of Mr. H. Penton as the Governor of the apex bank.”
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He expressed concern that “except perhaps there is a grand conspiracy to deprive him of his privilege because he happens to have come from a minority ethnic group, there is no reason under the sun why he should not be immortalised like his contemporaries.
“Suffice it to say that it was he who established the Nigeria Stock Exchange and worked for the admission of Nigeria as a full fledged member of the International Financial institutions, namely, International Monetary Fund, IMF, International Finance Corporation and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD, among others.
Prince Okotie-Eboh, therefore, appealed to President Tinubu to take the bull by the horn by immortalising Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh in the annals of Nigeria’s history.
“It is tragic that despite all his achievements in the finance industry of Nigeria, not a single of these institutions/buildings is named after him or his photograph engraved in any of the denominations of Nigeria’s currency. Many of his contemporaries have been immortalized severally.”
