1941 Born 14 May 1941 in Onitsha, Nigeria, to Akunne Anthony Chinwuba and Chukwuebuka Winfred Ogbenyeanu Achebe. He was their first child.
1947 – 55 Attends St. John’s Primary School, Onitsha
1955 – 62 Attends Government Secondary School, Owerri, obtains Ordinary and Advanced Levels Certificates.
1963 – 66 Attends Stanford University, Stanford California, majors in Chemistry and obtains B.S Chemistry.
1966 – 67 Works at Johnson-Williams Inc., California, United States of America.
1967 – 69 Moves to New York City to attend Columbia University, New York, for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA)
1969 – 70 Becomes Executive Director of Biafra Relief Services Foundation in New York City and pioneers a fundraising strategy that becomes the standard for non-profit organizations.
1970-72 Works at American Standard Inc., New York, United States of America.
1972 – 76 Joins Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria and serves in various positions leading to Head of Human Resources Development.
1976 – 79 Becomes a Member of the Federal Government Administrative Inquiry on the Port Harcourt Refinery. Serves on the Governing Council of the Petroleum Training Institute. Warri.
1979 Attends National Institution for Policy and strategic studies, Kuru ( Obtains mni).
1980 – 81 Transfers to N.AM Assen, Holland, as Special Assistant to Operators Manager .
1981 – 84 Becomes Executive Director and Divisional General Manager, East Division of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria.
1985 – 97 Transfers to Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd, London, as Area Co-ordinator, Anglophone West Africa. Becomes a Director for Shell Company of Nigeria, UK, Shell Company of West Africa, UK: Shell Ghana Limited, Ghana and National Oil & Chemical Co. Nigeria. Becomes Chairman of Shell Sierra Leone Ltd.
1986 – 87 Becomes a Director of Shell Gas Nigeria BV, Holland, and Texasco Ghana Limited, Ghana Joins Britain, Nigeria Association as Council Member.
1988 – 96 Moves back to Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria and becomes Executive Director and General Manager for Human Resources and External Relational Relations. Serves as Member of the Governing Council of Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).
1989 – 96 Serves as a member of the education and training and programme committees of the Nigerian Institute of Management
1992 – 96 Serves as a member of the Government and Public Relations Committee of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations Serves as Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association of Adesoye College, Offa in Kwara State
1994 – 96 Becomes a council member of the Nigeria British Association
1995 – 96 Serves as Trustee, St Saviour’s School, Ikoyi, Lagos
1996 – 2002 Becomes Senior Corporate Adviser of Shell International Limited, London
2000 – 04 Becomes a Member of the Advisory Board, Africa Centre, London
2001 -04 Becomes a Member of the Advisory Board, British Business Council
2002 Serves as Chairman of the National Merit Award Lecture
2002 – Present Becomes the Obi of Onitsha as well as Chairman, OMAK Maritime Limited
2003 Serves as Chairman of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Fuel Shortage Gives the Distinguished lecture at Anambra State Pre-Inauguration of Governor and gives another Distinguished lecture at Igbinedion University Installation of Chancellor. Becomes Chairman of the Ahajioku Lectures as well as Chairman of the Maiden Annual Patrick Echeruo Memorial Lecture.
2003 – 06 Becomes a Director, Regency Insurance Co. Ltd
2003 – Present Becomes a Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc.
2004 Becomes Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) and Chairman of the Biennial Herbert Macaulay Lecture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
2004 – 12 Becomes Chairman of The Universal Insurance Company Limited
2004 – Present Becomes Patron of the African Centre, London
2005 Becomes a Delegate to the National Political Reform Conference; Chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Management Reforms and Chairman of the Maiden Annual Bola Ajibola Lecture at Obafemi Awolowo University. Also serves as Chairman of Ahajioku Lectures.
2005 – Present Becomes Patron of MTN Foundation
2006 – Present Becomes a Director, Diamond Bank Plc
2006 – 08 Becomes a Director, Diamond Pension Fund Custodian Plc’
2007 – 08 Becomes a Director, Energy Equity Resources Ltd, United Kingdom
2007 – Present Becomes Chairman, Diamond Bank Plc
2008 Receives the LL.D Honoris Causa from Anambra State University, Uli and a Honorary Fellowship of the College of Education, Nsugbe. Becomes Chairman of Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers and Chairman of Chike Okoli Memorial Lecture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Participates as a lecturer on Nigeria Higher Education Foundation Symposium at Colombia University. New York City and becomes Chairman of the International Conference in Honour of Prof. Adiele Afigbo, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
2009 Serves as Chairman, Convocation Lecture, Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
2010 Receives the DSc Honoris Causa, Kogi State University, Anyigba. Becomes Chancellor, Kogi State University, Anyigba and Chairman of Ohanaeze Anambra Committee on State Creation, which proposed Orimili State. Participates as a lecturer at the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation Symposium, New York City
2011 Receives the Rotary International, Paul Harris Fellowship Award
2011 – Present Becomes Chairman Unilever Nigeria Plc
2012 – Present Becomes Chairman Intafact Beverage Nigeria Ltd (SAB –Miller Breweries)
ASCENDING THE THRONE
On 14 May, 2002, His, Majesty (H.M) Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe was ritually transformed into a spiritual being and became the twenty-first Obi of Onitsha and the cohesive glue of Onitsha community. This transfiguration occurred after selection from a list of twenty-one candidates, five short weeks after the departure of the previous Obi of Onitsha, Ofala Alphonsus Okechukwu Okagbue (CFR, LLD). He ascended the five hundred and fifty year old Ukpo (throne) of Umu Eze Chima at age 61. On becoming the Obi, he also became the repository of the collective memory, history and aspirations of Onitsha Ado N’Idu, founded in the mid-sixteenth century after Chima led a migration eastwards following some misunderstandings in the Benin royal court.
Modern Onitsha society, which selected Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe as the Obi of Onitsha, has dramatically evolved since those early days of the establishment of the kingdom. Its fortune has waxed and waned, but Ndi Onitsha (Onitsha people) always successfully reinvented the kingdom in greater and more brilliant form by being attentive to change, thinking strategically, and finding the silver lining in dark ominous clouds. During his coronation as the Onitsha monarch, Obi Achebe embraced this idea of change by astutely recognizing that Onitsha is at a crossroads, faced with the dual challenge of being a relevant part of a rapidly changing and more competitive world, and of preserving and promoting those qualities, norms and practices that have earned it’s people respect and distinction. Thinking strategically with an eye to the future, as the experienced corporate manager that he is, he drew up a long list of changes that are required to transform Onitsha for the better. These changes make up the elements of a strategic plan from which he works to administer the affairs of Onitsha kingdom. When he travelled to Paris in 2007 with His Majesty Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Ooni of Ife, and His Majesty Alhaji Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano, to discuss the strategic role of monarchs in promoting the development of science and technology, he underscored this principle of change by informing the Director-General of UNESCO that modern African traditional rulers are strong proponents of change. Indeed, the sort of change he envisaged is one that allows Onitsha, Anambra State, the rest of Igboland and Nigeria to leverage their phenomenal dynamism and spirit of resilience to profoundly transform the realities and the environment.
HIS ANCESTRY
A direct descendant of the founding monarch of Onitsha Ado N’Idu, N.M Achebe was born on 14 May 1941 into one of the royal lineages of the obi-producing wards of Onitsha. He is the first child of Akunne Anthony Chinwuba Achebe and Chukwuebuka Winifred Ogbenyeanu Izuora. His father was a direct Descendants of Eze Aroli, through the lineage of Chimedie, Oreze Obi and Aguzani. His mother was from the Izuora family of Umu Olisa Ojiede of the nonroyal ward of Odoje. The immediate elder brother of his mother and his maternal uncle was late justice Chief J. Ora Izuora, the Ojiudo-Enema of Onitsha. Obi Achebe’s paternal grandmother was from Umu Onuma of Obikporo, and his maternal grandmother, Eziamaka was from the Achebe family of the royal Omozele lineage of Umu Ezearoli, while Eziamaka’s mother was of the Okagbue family of royal Orezeabo sub-kindred of Umudei. His maternal grandfather was Nwawulu Izuora and Nwawulu’s mother was from Egbuji family of the Obi Udogwu sub-kindred of Ogbeoza Village of the royal Chimedie.
PRIVATE & FAMILY LIFE
Formally referred to as the Obi of Onitsha, sometimes as Agbogidi and other times as “Igwe” (an Igbo word for sky), the sartorial, even-tempered and reflective Achebe is a man of principles, tact, and diplomacy, with a firm grounding in Onitsha history and culture. His wife, Igwe Nwanyi Chinwe Ngozi Ononye, is from Umu Osodi, Inosi Onira of Ogbeabu. He has six children-two sons, Ezennia Odiakosa and Chinedu – and four daughters of Eziamaka, Ifunanya, Uchenna and Chinwe. The children, all grown, are working in diverse professions in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and France.
Educationally, Obi Achebe was soundly prepared for his life. Two years after the end of World War II in 1947, he began his education at St John’s Primary School, Onitsha. A precocious and avid leaner, he maintained a stellar record and gained admission to Government Secondary School, Owerri in 1955, without completing standard Six or sitting for the first school leaving certificate examination. Such accelerated progress was rare in the British colonial educational system, which correlated academic progress with psychological maturity. In addition to his academic prowess, he also demonstrated a well-defined sense of self. Although he had a choice of two excellent secondary schools to attend in Onitsha – the Catholic owned Christ the King’s College (CKC) and the Anglican-owned Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) – he opted for Government Secondary School in Owerri. Earlier, his mother had proposed CKC, once she realized his deep admiration for Chike Ofodile, who later became Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the Onowu-Iyasele of Onitsha, a CKC alumnus. His father, too, viewed CKC highly because of its good science laboratories. But displaying a streak of individuality, he chose Government Secondary School, Owerri and to his delight, the laboratories were superior to the school of his father’s preference. Still in a display of respect to his father, he followed his father’s footsteps and value of science in the making of the modern world.
HIS PRINCIPLES
Obi Achebe’s adoption of the theme of peace and reconciliation as a ruling philosophy has deep family roots. His father had impressed on all his children the importance of humility, contentment and striving for success. He instilled in them the idea that though they may not be generously endowed with money, they were wealthy beings. In his Obiship acceptance speech, Igwe Achebe said, “Enwerokwomego mana abum ogalanye – ogalanye bu afo ojuju” (I do not have money but I am a wealthy person – wealth is a matter of satiety). The notion of wealth as satiety defines a value system that privileges contented fullness as a philosophy of life.
The moral foundation laid by his parents at home was further strengthened by his foundation master in class one at Government Secondary School, Owerri J.M. Echeruo, B.A Dip E.d (London), a dignified compassionate educationist who “was ever well groomed and impeccably dressed, reflecting externally the inner cleanliness of his heart and mind” (Achebe, “Eulogy at late Senator Patrick Echeruo’s Memorial”). Other strong influences who left an indelible imprint on young ACHEBE, especially concerning the relevance of honesty, labour, self-respect and a positive and transparent attitude to life were Nnanyelugo Ben N. Chukwuedebe, B.Sc MA (Oxon), his chemistry teacher, sports master and great motivating spirit, who influenced a great many to study natural sciences and allied subjects. There were also his three school principals at Owerri – Michael C. English, I.D Erekosima, an John Gerrod,
Mature and academically focused, he passed with flying colours his West African School Certificate (WASC) examination in 1960, five years after enrolment in the school. Two years later in 1962, he passed and received his Cambridge Higher School Certificate (HSC) and his London General Certificate of Education at Advance Level (GCE A-level). With these excellent results, he applied to a number of universities in both Nigeria and abroad. In 1963, he gained admission to study medicine at two top-tier Nigerian universities – The University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos. He declined the two offers, opting instead to accept the offer of admission to study Chemistry at Stanford University in the United States.
In 1966, Obi Achebe obtained a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemistry from Stanford University, three years after commencing his program. Convinced of the importance of deepening his knowledge of the United States, he decided not to apply to his alma mater or other universities on the West Coast for his graduate program, but to universities in the Mid-west and the East Coast. He gained admission to the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program at a number of universities. Only Columbia University in New York City offered him a generous scholarship package after it learned of his financial hardship, caused by the political turbulence in Nigeria. For most of 1966, Nigeria was in chaos following the military coup of January 15 that cut off any financial support from home. Three months after the declaration of the State of Biafra, Obi Achebe recalls, “I arrived in New York City from California in September 1967 half indigent and very apprehensive, but fiercely determined to commence my MBA programme at Columbia University. That was one of the toughest periods of my life…as the Nigerian Civil War raged and all… contact was lost with families at home”. Resourcefully, he recreated a small family support group consisting of Professor Ifeanyi Menkiti and his then fiancée, Carol and the late Mrs. Rita Enwonwu. In 1969, he obtained his MBA after four straight semesters without taking any summer breaks. He then moved on and created his first job.
