Foremost Educationist Professor Gregory Iyke Ibe Joins the Saints
The heavens have noted and announced the passing of Professor Gregory Ikechukwu (Iyke) Ibe, OFR, the foremost educationist, industrialist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State.
A rare-visioned entrepreneur and humanitarian, Professor Ibe left a lasting mark on the university he established, which has grown steadily since the Nigerian government licensed it in 2012. Born on 10 December 1963 in Kaduna to parents from Uturu, he was 62. He is survived by his six children and seven grandchildren.
Known popularly as Skill-G, Professor Ibe was a classic up-and-coming entrepreneur. He was not born into easy circumstances. He faced poverty early in life, which spurred him to rise to great heights. His tough early years hardened him, and he completed primary, secondary, and tertiary education, balancing work and study. That may have been nature’s way of preparing him for his future role in Nigeria as a hope of the hopeless.
He attended Boys High School, Ihube, Imo State; the School of Accountancy and Management Studies, Aba; Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu; and California Coast University, Santa Ana, California, where he earned his master’s degree in 2003 and his Doctorate in Management in 2006.
From an early age, he showed remarkable enterprise: he began working on the eve of his 21st birthday, had accumulated a million naira by 22, married at 23, and built his first duplex in Uturu at 24.
He later became involved in major public works, including contributions to the development of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), and consulted widely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, ECOWAS, UNESCO, and Nigerian government ministries. He helped design skills modules the UN used to establish acquisition centres across hundreds of local government areas and contributed to public-service reforms.
Though born and raised in Kaduna, he adored his birthplace, Uturu, and, through the university, helped make the community better known and more admired worldwide. He embodied the private-sector spirit shaping science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria. Through Skill ‘G’ Nigeria Ltd — a company he built over roughly three decades into a leading education-consulting and equipment firm — he partnered with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and others to supply state-of-the-art teaching and learning equipment and to promote innovative pedagogy to universities, polytechnics, and Unity Schools across the country. His interventions transformed the teaching of STEM subjects at all levels of education and trained teachers in software and practical skills. He also embedded entrepreneurship as a curricular innovation, particularly in business, engineering, and technical/vocational education.
Gregory University, Uturu, occupies a spacious 100-hectare campus in Amaokwe-Achara Uturu, Isuikwuato Local Government Area, with an additional medical campus. Named after Pope Gregory the Great (the first scholarly pope and patron of teachers), the institution focuses on applied research, entrepreneurship, and work-based university education under the mantra “Knowledge for Tomorrow.” It offers programmes across more than a dozen colleges — including Medicine and Health Sciences, Law, Engineering, Pharmacy, Agriculture, and the humanities — and operates an on-campus specialist hospital. Professor Ibe deliberately emphasised practical skills and entrepreneurship so that graduates, especially from rural backgrounds, would become job creators rather than mere employees. The university has employed hundreds of staff and produced successive sets of graduates prepared for technological and socio-economic leadership.
His landmark achievements in entrepreneurial education, recognised by national and international organisations, earned him the title of Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies. He also established the Gregory Iyke Foundation in 1991 as a humanitarian platform to reach the poor and helpless in Nigeria. The Foundation is affiliated with World Medical Relief Inc. and Global Medical Relief Inc. in the United States to implement medical aid programmes, and through the Gregory Ibe Scholarship Scheme, it has supported more than 250 indigent students with tuition, boarding, and related costs. He further founded Innov8 Hub in Abuja, in partnership with Israeli technology experts, as a centre for innovation, venture creation, technology transfer, and startup incubation.
He received the prestigious title of Enyi Abia (The Elephant of Abia), conferred by the Abia State Advisory Council, and the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) medal awarded by former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2014.
He remained active in public life and contested the 2023 Abia State governorship election as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate. Beyond institutions, his philanthropy extended to community infrastructure (including power transformers), medical outreaches, and seasonal visits to correctional centres.