After taking a well-deserved break from the Nigerian social scene, Chief (Mrs.) Onikepo Akande, the former Minister for Industry, finally returned from her trip. The beautiful ageless society matriarch and boardroom guru had jetted out shortly after co-hosting the 70th birthday anniversary of her cousin, Chief Ajibola Ogunsola, the former chairman of The Punch.

In any case, it is also Onikepo’s turn to join the septuagenarian club, and she is planning to celebrate the event in a most stylish way.

Come October 29, Onikepo will clock 70. The event, we learnt will be celebrated with a grand ball on November 2, at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island. Her husband, Chief Adebayo Akande, prominent lawyer and the chairman of Splash FM, will be the chief host. Her siblings and cousins from the Alatede Aboderin lineage will also be fully involved in the hosting of the party.

A seasoned business administrator and accountant, she has evolved in the near two decades as noteworthy industrialist in the economic landscape of Nigeria.

Many boardrooms have been graced by the presence of this amiable accomplished woman. She had been the Director of Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), a member of the Board of Trustees, of the National Center for Women Development; member, panel to study and re-organize both the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) and Trust Investment Company Limited Ibadan; Director of National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON).

An accountancy graduate from the North West Polytechnic, London, 1964 to 1968 now (University of North London). She is also a graduate of both the Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field Boston Massachusetts USA and the International Institute for Management Development (I.M.D) Lawsanne Switzerland.