Ebere Chiamaka Ezeugwu
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Ebe”
14 September 1988 — 27 January 2025 · aged 36
First Bank relationship manager, Port Harcourt, and the daughter who kept the rhythm going
Port Harcourt, Nigeria Born in Enugu, Enugu State Resting at Ezeugwu family compound, UdiAbout Ebere
Ebere Ezeugwu counted things. The number of stairs to her father's bandstand. The number of beats in a bar of highlife. The number of days until payday for the market women who queued at her desk at the First Bank branch on Aba Road. Numbers, she said, were just a kind of music with fewer instruments.
She was born in Enugu in 1988, the youngest daughter of the guitarist Obiora Ezeugwu and his wife Ngozi. She grew up in a house where rehearsals lasted until midnight, did her homework at the edge of the stage, and could play four songs on the piano by the age of ten. At the University of Lagos she read Accounting, graduated with second-class upper honours, and joined First Bank of Nigeria's graduate training programme in 2010.
Posted to Port Harcourt, she became a favourite relationship manager for small traders, helping dozens of women move their businesses from a cash box to a proper account. She was famous for her patience, her flash cards for new tellers, and her habit of walking a nervous customer out to the car park after a loan approval. In 2017 she married Chukwudi Ibe, and in 2019 they welcomed their son, Kamsi.
She led the youth choir at Christ the King Catholic Church, Port Harcourt, and organised an annual Christmas highlife evening in her father's memory after he died in 2021. Her nights off were spent on Okrika waterfront walks with her husband and a bag of roasted corn.
Ebere died peacefully in January 2025, after a brief illness, three and a half years after her father. She leaves her husband, her young son, her mother Ngozi and her brother Chidi.
“Numbers are just music with fewer instruments.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Enugu, Enugu State
- Resting place
- Ezeugwu family compound, Udi
- Passed away
- 27 January 2025, Port Harcourt
Requiem Mass
Tuesday, 11 February 2025 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Ebere Ezeugwu Memorial Scholarship
Support Kamsi's education and a scholarship for secondary school students in Udi, in Ebere's name.
$2,237.25 raised of $8,000
28%20 recent contributions
- HA
Hodan Ali gave $47.50 · 1y ago
“In honour of a great man.”
- DN
Dr. Ifeoma Nwankwo gave $142.50 · 1y ago
- AN
Anonymous gave $95 · 1y ago
“From the church choir.”
- DA
Dr. Rehana Anwar gave $47.50 · 1y ago
- TH
Tim Hendriks gave $95 · 1y ago
“God comfort you all.”
Life journey
Graduate Trainee to Relationship Manager
First Bank of Nigeria2010 – 2025 · Port Harcourt
Helped hundreds of small traders open their first business accounts.
Married Chukwudi Ibe
2017 · Port Harcourt
Married at Christ the King Catholic Church.
Birth of her son Kamsi
2019 · Port Harcourt
Her proudest sum.
Youth Choir Leader
Christ the King Catholic Church2012 – 2024 · Port Harcourt
Led the choir and trained young musicians.
Best Relationship Manager, South-South Region
First Bank of Nigeria2018 · Port Harcourt
For service to small and medium traders.
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Family & connections
Also remembered on Evermore
Ebere is survived by
- Chukwudi Ibe· Spouse
- Kamsi Ibe· Son
- Ngozi Ezeugwu· Mother
- Chidi Ezeugwu· Brother
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Ebere.
Knew Ebere? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- EO
Choir member, Christ the King Catholic Church
Ebere trained us all in the old Ezeugwu way: breathe low, listen to your neighbour, keep time, smile. Our choir is better because of her, and quieter without her. We sang her father's favourite Kyrie at the Requiem.
- CI
Husband
She hummed in the kitchen, in traffic and on the stairs. Our son hums now too. Thank you to everyone who has written. We have printed every word and put them in a book for Kamsi, so that one day he will know what his mother meant to people.
- DN
University of Lagos classmate, Atlanta
We shared a hostel room for four years and a single kettle. Ebe was the one who said, 'Let us study first, then eat.' We did both, always. I cannot put into words how much I will miss her and her tiny, ferocious spreadsheets.
- NA
Colleague at First Bank, Aba Road branch
She trained eleven of us on the tellers' desk and gave each a set of flash cards in her handwriting. Whenever a customer was rude she would hum, softly, until we all remembered to be kind. We hum now, a little.
- MW
Market trader, Port Harcourt
I sell fabric at Mile 1. She opened my first account with a pen from her own pocket and explained every line twice. When I got my loan she cried more than I did. Please look after her little boy.
- CO
Family friend and her father's drummer
I watched Ebere grow up on the edge of her father's bandstand, tapping a wooden spoon on a biscuit tin. She never stopped keeping time. When I heard the news I put the tin on my shelf next to my drums.
