Samuel Ioraer Ortom (; born 23 April 1961) is a Nigerian politician, businessman, administrator and philanthropist. He was a Minister of State Trade and Investments in Nigeria during the presidency of

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

. Ortom was elected governor of

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is th ...

as a member of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

in 2015. He was re-elected as governor on 29 May 2019.

Background and education

Ortom was born 23 April 1961 in Guma Local Government Area of

, Nigeria. He attended St. John's Primary School,

Gboko Gboko is a town in the Benue State of North-central Nigeria. Climate References External links Location on a map of Nigeria
{{LGAs and communities of Benue State Local Government Areas in Benue State ...

in 1970 but moved to St. Catherine's Primary School,

Makurdi Makurdi is the capital of Benue State, located in central Nigeria, and part of the Middle Belt region of central Nigeria. The city is situated on the south bank of the Benue River. In 2016, Makurdi and the surrounding areas had an estimated popula ...

in 1974, completing his primary education in 1976. Chief Dr. Samuel Ioraer Ortom was admitted into Idah Secondary Commercial College,

Idah Idah is a town in Kogi State, Nigeria, on the eastern bank of the Niger River in the middle belt region of Nigeria. It is the headquarter of the Igala Kingdom, and also a Local Government Area with an area of 36 km. Idah had a population o ...

Kogi State Kogi State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti and Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, to the northeast by Nasarawa State, to the northwest by Niger State, to the s ...

in 1976. He did two years in the school before his father's retirement in 1979 ended his dream of completing formal

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

education for financial reasons. He became a professional driver. He later obtained the

General Certificate of Education The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Crown dependencies and a few Commonwealth countries. For some time, the Scottish ed ...

as well as the Diploma in Salesmanship. He enrolled at

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

Zaria Zaria is a metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau Emirate Council, and one of the original seven Hausa city-states ...

and obtained both the Interim Joint Matriculation Board Certificate, in 1995 and the Diploma in Journalism in 1998. He later attended the

Benue State University Benue State University is a state-owned university in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. In 2006, student enrollment was over 19,000 served by 7 faculties, 23 departments. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs with a catalog ...

where he obtained an

Advanced Diploma is the Japanese original academic degree given to people who had spent more than 4 years and successfully completed a particular specialized course of study at the vocational schools certified by Japanese MEXT (the educational ministry of the Jap ...

in Personnel Management in 2001 as well as a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

in 2004. Ortom earned a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

, from the Commonwealth University,

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, through distance learning.

Political life

Ortom worked for different political parties in Benue State including the National Centre Party of Nigeria as State Publicity Secretary; State Treasurer of the All People's Party (APP); and State Secretary as well as State Deputy Chairman of the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) *People's Democratic Party (Chile) * People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

(PDP). He was also Director of Operations of the PDP gubernatorial campaign in Benue State in 2007 and Director of Administration and Logistics of the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization in 2011. He was PDP National Auditor before his appointment as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in July 2011. In April 2015, he contested for Governor of Benue State and won under the platform of the

(APC). In July 2018, Ortom announced his departure from All Progressives Congress as a result of an internal party crisis. In the 9 March 2019 Benue gubernatorial election and 23 March 2019 Benue State supplementary governorship election, Ortom was reelected as Governor having polled 434,473 votes while the runner up Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressive Congress polled 345,155 votes. Following the election, Jime challenged Ortom's victory and filed a petition on the grounds of substantial noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended. On 21 January 2020 the Supreme Court affirmed the election of Samuel Ortom as the governor of Benue State.

Philanthropy

Through the establishment of Oracle Business Limited Foundation, Ortom has set aside funds in St. Theresa's Hospital, Makurdi and Rahama Hospital, Gboko Road, Makurdi, for treatment of

hernia A hernia is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. Various types of hernias can occur, most commonly involving the abdomen, and specifically the gr ...

and

snakebite A snakebite is an injury caused by the bite of a snake, especially a venomous snake. A common sign of a bite from a venomous snake is the presence of two puncture wounds from the animal's fangs. Sometimes venom injection from the bite may occu ...

s free of charge to the patients. The foundation also works to alleviate hardship for prison inmates, while also offering various forms of skills acquisition for better reintegration into the society. The Oracle Driving School is another outreach, which trains qualified drivers on a regular basis.

Awards

, - , 2014 , Selfless Service Award , National Union of TarabaState Students (UniCal Chapter) , , Notes , Citation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortom, Samuel 1961 births Nigerian businesspeople Living people Nigerian Christians Governors of Benue State All Progressives Congress politicians People from Benue State Nigerian philanthropists

Background and education

Political life

Philanthropy

Awards

See also

References