The institute’s Senior Manager, Corporate Communications Directorate, Dare Muyiwa, disclosed this on Friday.
Muyiwa said, “It was learnt that Ijewere gave up the ghost on Thursday, after a prolonged battle with a terminal illness.”
Before his demise, Ijewere, one of Nigeria’s most prominent businessmen, had a wide range of interests and experience in banking, finance, and agriculture.
PUNCH Online reports that he was the 32nd president of ICAN.
He led the institute from 1996 to 1997 and also served as the president of notable organisations such as the Institute of Directors, and the Nigerian Red Cross.
Born in 1946, the late Ijewere also served as chairman and director in many companies.
He was the pioneer chairman of the Agriculture and Food Security Commission and also the director of the defunct Modified Value-Added Tax Committee in 1993.
The late ICAN president was a member of several associations including the National Economic Forum, International Investment Council, and Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council.
He also served as a resource person on agriculture to the transition committee of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ijewere was the president of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, the umbrella organisation for Nigerian Agriculture, until his death.
PUNCH Online reported in June that the late Ijewere was among the agricultural sector experts who strongly recommended that President Bola Tinubu appoint a qualified professional as the minister of agriculture instead of a politician.
He had said, “First and foremost, under no circumstance must a politician be made a minister of agriculture. Secondly, the new government must realise that agriculture is a business.”
