He died in a helicopter crash on 9 February 2024 in the United States on his way to attend the Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII championship in Las Vegas.

[5] He attended the Harvard Business School executive management program, and in 2018 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

[11] The biennial event is Access Bank's response to a global call for corporate involvement in resolving the major challenges facing humanity.

[12] At the 2015 edition, Wigwe hosted global leaders such as Steve Wozniak, N. R. Narayana Murthy, José María Figueres, Muhammad Yunus to discuss the theme "Leading in a Transformational World – The Imperative of Innovation".

[13][14] Wigwe, Access Bank and UNICEF collaborated to offer support to vulnerable children, orphans, and internally displaced persons in the northern part of Nigeria.

[16] In February 2017, he was named co-chair of Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS,[17] a private sector initiative to help eradicate HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and support people living with the condition.

The passengers were on their way from Palm Springs International Airport to Boulder City, Nevada on a charter flight operated by Orbic Air to attend the Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.

[18][10] The remains of Wigwe and his family were repatriated to Nigeria, where they were buried in his hometown in Isiokpo, Rivers State, on 9 March, following a week-long wake in Lagos that was attended by several prominent personalities, including billionaire and Africa's richest person Aliko Dangote, who pledged to rename the road leading to his oil refinery in his honor, amidst other tributes.