Gamaliel Offoritsenere Onosode (22 May 1933) was a Nigerian technocrat, administrator and a former presidential candidate of the All Nigeria People's Party of Nigeria. [1] Educated at the Government College, Ughelli and the University of Ibadan , he emerged in the 1970s as one of
Nigeria's leading educated chief executives, when he was at the helm of NAL merchant bank of Nigeria. Over the years, he has risen to become a leading boardroom player in Nigeria's corporate environment. He was also
a former presidential adviser to President Shehu Shagari and a former president of the Nigerian Institute of Management .
An Urhobo man, born and raised in Sapele, avsuburban city in the current Delta State by a disciplined father, he sometimes credited the strict family background and practice as being
a complementary factor in his success as a disciplined civil servant and corporate administrator.
Throughout his career, Onosode has chaired several private and public sector businesses and initiatives. He was the Chairman of DunlopvNigeria Plc (1984–2007), a former chairman of
Cadbury Nigeria Plc (1977–93), the
Presidential Commission on Parastatals
(1981), Nigeria LNG Working Committee and Nigeria LNG Limited (1985–90) and the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (since 1995). He was also the Chairman of Zain Nigeria, a GSM telecommunications company, the oldest GSM operator in Nigeria.
Onosode was Presidential Adviser on Budget Affairs and Director of Budget (1983). He is a Fellow of the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank, the Nigerian Institute of Management, of which he was President (1979–82). He is also a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria,nhaving been elected to membership of its
Board of Fellows in 1998.
In addition, Onosode is immediate past and inaugural President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, immediate past Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Uyo and immediate past and inaugural President & Chairman of
Council of the Association of Pension Funds of Nigeria. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and holds Honorary D.Sc. degrees of Obafemi Awolowo University (1990), the University of Benin (1995), and the Rivers State University of
Science and Technology (2003) as well as Honorary D.D. degree of The Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso (2002).
He died September 29,2015 at the age of 82 years.
