The Governor of Enugu State in South-East Nigeria, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, rose through the ranks of business and politics to reach lofty heights that now distinguish him as one of the most well-liked governors in the nation. On March 20, 1964, he was born in Enugu metropolis, the state’s capital at the time.
His parents were from Orba, a village in the state’s current Udenu Local Government Area. Early in his youth, He attended the esteemed St. Theresa’s College in Nsukka, from whence he was admitted to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His excellent leadership characteristics have continued to endear him to his people and beyond began to emerge (UNN).
From the nation’s foremost university, he obtained a B.Sc. degree in Finance and M.Sc. degree in Marketing (Public Relations) . Governor Ugwuanyi is a graduate of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology with an MBA in Finance and an additional MBA in Accounting (ESUT).
He rose through the metaphorical career mills to become the CEO of Premier Brokers Limited, the leading insurance brokerage in the country’s South East region, which was owned by the five states in the region and ACB Bank. The qualities of Rt Hon. Ugwuanyi as a team player, peacemaker, and bridge builder have combined with his philanthropic passion to elevate him over the years for humanitarian services and his current political leadership in which he has been severally described as the best Enugu state could have at the moment.
As a Rotarian, he laid the groundwork for his philanthropic career. He was elected to lead the Rotary Club of Emene in Enugu as its 16th president in 2002. Long before he entered partisan politics, his achievements as a philanthropist and humanist brought him a rare honor from the people of his hometown of Orba, who gave him the title of Dunu Gburugburu1 of Orba.
He was initially elected to the Federal House of Representatives’ Fifth Assembly in 2003, and he represented the Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency there till 2007. In 2007, he was re-elected with a landslide to the 6th Assembly of the Federal House of Representatives, where he served until 2011. Nevertheless, he was once more chosen to serve in the 7th Assembly from 2011 to 2015. As a result, before he was elected governor, he was the Enugu North Senatorial District’s longest-serving member of the National Assembly.
He undoubtedly left his imprint as a legislator at the National Assembly by holding chair positions on significant committees. He held the positions of deputy chairman of the House Committee on Public Service Matters from 2003 to 2007 as well as deputy chairman of the House Committee on Pensions. It was during this time that the ground-breaking Pension Act 2004 was passed. He was appointed head of the House Committee on Marine Transport in 2007.
The maritime industry underwent a transformation during his period as chairman of the House Committee on Marine Transport, giving rise to a regime of new laws designed to outfit the country’s marine transport sector in accordance with what is standard internationally. He was reappointed upon his election to the National Assembly in 2011 due to his diligent work, making him the first lawmaker to ever occupy that position for two consecutive legislative sessions in the National Assembly’s history. He developed his valued passion for helping the underprivileged while working as a legislator.
His charitable endeavors included, among many others, the provision of boreholes to meet the water needs of some communities in his constituency as well as the donation of electric transformers to numerous communities. He also provided scholarships to deserving students at all educational levels. As a result, he has received numerous awards from traditional, religious, and social institutions.
The popularity of Governor Ugwuanyi, fueled by his affable demeanor and charitable work over the years, was evident in the 2015 Enugu state governorship race, which he won with a landslide and without any sign of obvious animosity in a way never previously seen in the state’s history.
Since May 29, 2015, his administration has unquestionably accomplished incredible milestones and astounding distances. created unequalled records in the annals of government of states in Nigeria. And there are many examples of these, particularly in the innovative way Governor Ugwuanyi has continued to win over the hearts of the populace by opening his doors to them at a degree that no other governor would do across the nation. He has already received unusual praise for his exceptional frugality in the management of the state’s economy, the most recent of which came from the hall of ambassadors of nations with missions in Nigeria.
Governor Ugwuanyi has just once traveled abroad since taking office. And at that time, he was in charge of his state’s economic mission to Dublin, Ireland, which is now showing tangible results, particularly in the state’s educational sector. In keeping with that, consider a governor in modern-day Nigeria who came to office from a very comfortable position as a three-time member of the House of Representatives but who would never visit Abuja, the nation’s capital, unless there was an urgent need for official business.
However, in such a short period of time, his administration has turned into a case study in major infrastructure development that is gradually transforming semi-urban districts into new urban areas and causing a growing popular movement for the opening up of rural sections of the state.
Enugu’s government must be led by a special person with magical economic management wisdom if she is to achieve this Herculian rank. The state lacks both oil and the benefit of hosting industrial clusters. Therefore, in its rarest judgment in recent memory on the management of an elected governor in the nation, the Nigerian Labour Congress singled out Ugwuanyi as the best in that regard among all the 36 state governors in the nation.
The governor received another achievement when Enugu State University of Science and Technology awarded him an honorary doctorate in Business Administration on Saturday, December 10, 2016.
For the affable governor of the coal city state of Enugu, everything is actually in God’s hands at this most favorable time for a people-oriented government.
