#Emenike2023
CHIEF IKECHI EMENIKE : THE MAN ON A RESCUE MISSION TO MAKE ABIA BETTER*

High Chief Ikechi Emenike is an Economist, a Financial Analyst, a publisher, and a distinguished Entrepreneur. He is also a politician. Born on April 10, 1957 at Umukabia Okpuala, Ohuhu, in Umuahia North Local Government of Abia State, Emenike is imbued with a unique combination of intellectual acumen, untiring energy, passion and patriotism. For over three decades, he has provided a positive voice for African opinion at such international fora as the IMF/World Bank meetings, the United Nations General Assembly, the African Development Bank meetings, African Union summits among others. For him, any other matter, which collides with the interest of his native Nigeria or Africa, should give way.

Chief Emenike, a well known development economist, believes strongly that no sub-Saharan African country can truly develop if it does not achieve double-digit growth. He has consistently advocated this when later-day noisy converts were spurning the idea. For Chief Emenike, double-digit growth can easily be achieved by expanding the economic space and creating more opportunities for more citizens to participate in national development. In the pursuit of development, he believes that while attention is paid to the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), greater focus should be on the behaviour of Gross National Income (GNI), which paints a better picture of the nature and structure of economic growth. For him, it will certainly yield higher gross domestic happiness (GDH) than any quantum leap in jobless GDP growth. To Chief Emenike, Nigeria is confronted with several challenges. But two stand out: Huge Unemployment and Crippling Energy Crisis.

EDUCATION:
Chief Emenike attended Methodist Kindergarten and Methodist Primary School in Jos in the 1960s and Methodist College, Uzuakoli, the oldest secondary school in the entire Igboland. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in Economics from the University of Jos. He obtained Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in his first degree and later graduated in M.Sc in Economics with Distinction, with the Faculty award. A man constantly in search of knowledge, Emenike is a voracious reader, always making out time from his very busy life to update his store of knowledge. As a journalist he knows something about everything and everything about something.

CAREER:
In all his working life, he has been engaged in knowledge-based issues of development, enlightenment and human empowerment.
• Was a Banker with the United Bank for Africa
• Was Editor with New Breed Organisation
• Was Co-founder of Financial Post magazine
• Was Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of West Coast Communications Ltd, publishers of Business in ECOWAS, Africa’s first bilingual magazine
• Founder/Chairman of D.E.R Group
• The only African official publisher of the World Bank, the IMF, the Commonwealth, the African Development Bank, the African Union and the ECOWAS
• One of the most widely travelled African Editors/Publishers
• Has working experience in five continents of the world and has visited over 40 countries.
• Has interviewed such great leaders as President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Nelson Mandela, President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Mathieu Kerekou, President Abdou Diouf, President Paul Kagame, the late President Levy Mwanawasa and the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, among many others. Since 1987, Chief Emenike has interviewed every Chief Executive (President) of the World Bank, and the IMF.

TODAY:
Chief Emenike is today Chairman of D.E.R Group Limited. He is also chairman of:
(1) Development Associates Limited, consultants to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and several other multilateral institutions.
(2) Economic Publications Limited, publishers of The Economy newspaper
(3) Emenike Properties Limited, real estate developers and owners of Emenike estates
(4) Emenike Farms Limited, an integrated poultry and piggery
(5) Multilateral Products Limited, a logistics and sourcing company
(6) Financial Power House Limited, a manpower training firm
(7) Development Publications Limited, publishers of The African Economy, Banking & Finance magazines and AnnualMeetings Daily newspaper
( Compendia Ltd, publishers of Standard English, Standard Literature, Standard Mathematics, Standard Integrated Science, Standard Economics and others in the Standard series. It also publishes the Sights and Sites series, amongst others.

PUBLICATIONS:
Apart from numerous articles in magazines and newspapers, Chief Emenike has also authored/edited Nigerian Economic Diplomacy and Development; Customer Protection in the Nigerian Banking System; 30 Years of Central Banking in Nigeria; ECOWAS Financial Directory; Nigeria Foreign Exchange Policy Trends; Directory of Public Institutions in Nigeria, among others.

FAMILY/HONOURS:
Chief Emenike is to married Ambassador Uzoma E. Emenike, Ph.D, who is the current Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States of America. Together they are blessed with four beautiful children: Ngozi, Ikechi, Oluchi and Chioma, who are record breakers in academics . Emenike holds the Super High Chief title of his community, Umukabia Okpuala as well as chieftaincy titles from several other communities across Igboland and beyond. The chieftaincy titles were conferred on him by the various communties in recognition of his contribution to human capital development and improvement of the society.

A quiet philanthropist, Chief Emenike has sponsored over 200 people through university and currently has over 100 on his scholarship. He has also built houses for some genuinely indigent widows and sponsored several Christians to the Holy Land, on pilgrimage. On December 29, 2012, Chief Emenike, to the glory of God, handed over a replica of the Methodist Church of the Trinity in Tinubu, Lagos, to His Eminence, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, in the presence of the revered Prelate-Emeritus, Dr Sunday Mbang and other senior members of the clergy. Chief Emenike did not stop at building the St. John Methodist Church located in Umukabia, Abia State; he furnished same with padded pews and modern music equipment as well as special seats for members of the clergy. It is noteworthy that the High Chief does not blow the trumpet while engaging in philanthropic activities in obedience to the injunction of the words of Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:3).

HIS POLITICS:
An astute and highly principled politician, Chief Emenike has been actively involved in politics since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. He has seen, heard and personally experienced the good and bad sides of Nigerian politics and its local variance in his home state of Abia. Despite encountering disappointments in the political turf, he remains undaunted in his belief that with executive power, politics can be effectively deployed for exponential development. On June 26, 2022, he emerged as the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) for Abia State in the forthcoming 2023 General Elections. His passion and drive to make Abia an outstanding state in Nigeria is inspiring. His goal is to rescue his state, fondly known as God’s Own State, from the cruel hands of bad leaders in order to build "a first world state in a third world country". Indeed, Emenike is brimming with ideas and burning with unquenchable desire to make Abia better. Hopefully, his chance will come in 2023.

Chief Emenike has held positions of trust at the high echelon of the ruling APC. He was the Secretary of the Contact and Strategy Committee in the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), and also served consecutively in the party's presidential election committes between 2014 and 2019. He is presently the Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) following his appointment in July 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari. Already, the UNN has started feeling the positive impact of Emenike's reforms and commitment to make Nigeria's premier citadel of learning attain self sufficiency in funding and become a global force in university education. Emenike does not look back once he puts his hands in the ploughshares. Even his detractors acknowledge this fact.