The President of the German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Kenneth Chukwudi Alaekwe, has passed away. He died at the age of 55 on Saturday 17 February 2018 at a Berlin hospital after a brief illness.

Kenneth is survived by his wife Ulla and son Henry.

At the time of his death, Kenneth was Director for Conference Production at Marcus Evans (Germany) Ltd, an international business conferencing group. He joined the company in 1999 and rose through its ranks to become a director.

Kenneth was an accomplished professional and was blessed with a very successful career. In fact, he was one of a very few number of Africans in upper management at a German company.

Kenneth was also an energetic and dedicated member of the Nigerian community. He was elected President of NIDO Germany in May 2017 and he served the body with distinction in that capacity until his untimely demise. He had earlier also served the organisation as Vice President from 2013-2017.

Kenneth was a quintessential gentleman whose distinguished personal carriage would make anybody who had anything to do with him feel proud of the association. Soft spoken and humble, Kenneth left behind the image of a friendly, fine, thoughtful and reliable person with all who came across him in his short, but eventful life.

Kenneth was also an Associate Publisher of The African Courier. Despite his heavy work schedule at his company, he found time to regularly write without any honorarium for The African Courier. And he regularly offered invaluable technical advice on how to put the publication on a sound business basis.

A socially-conscious African, Kenneth was very concerned with the situation of our continent and was a tireless advocate for unity among us as the first condition for progress.

Kenneth Alaekwe was born in 1962 in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria, where he attended primary and secondary schools. He studied at the Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI (USA), where he bagged a BA in History/Political Science. He later earned a Masters degree in International Relations/International Business at Webster University (USA).

•Femi Awoniyi is Publisher of The African Courier, from which this story was excerpted.

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