Chief John Nnia Nwodo is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

lawyer, economist, and minister. He serves as 9th President-General of the

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Ohanaeze Ndigbo is an Igbo socio-cultural organization in Nigeria. The group aims to represent the interests of all Igbo communities within and outside Nigeria. Although the group is not a political party, one of its main objectives is to foste ...

Early life and education

Nwodo, the third-born male child of his family, was born in 1952 in Enugu State, Nigeria. He completed his primary and secondary school education in Enugu State. In 1971, he gained admission to the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

. He attended the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

and returned to Nigeria in 1988.

Career

During the second republic, under the government and administration of

Shehu Shagari Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (25 February 1925 – 28 December 2018), titled Turakin Sokoto from 1962, was the first democratically elected President of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by military head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo in ...

, Nwodo served as Minister of Civil Aviation. Under the government of Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nwodo served as Minister of Information and Culture. In 2017, Nwodo won an election that decided the 9th President-General of the

, a socio-cultural organization that represents every Igbo speaking community, and protects the rights and interests of the

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A ...

around the world. He won with a total of 242 votes whilst his opponent, an ex-Vice Chancellor of the former

Anambra Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi Stat ...

State University of Technology, Prof. Chiweyete Ejike, had 13 votes.

Personal life

Nwodo was married to Regina Nwodo, who was a

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

in the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

of Enugu State until her death in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwodo, John Nnia Nigerian politicians People from Enugu State Living people Nigerian economists Igbo politicians 1952 births