Jerome Udoji

Chief Jerome Oputa Udoji (1912–2010), Igwe Ozuluoha I of Igboland, was a Nigerian business administrator, government official, traditional ruler, and philanthropist. He was one of Nigeria's most famous public servants as a result of the "Udoji Award" and through his various roles in the government and business administration. Udoji commanded respect both nationally and internationally as an honest, disciplined and intellectually alert public administrator and private sector operator. He received his education at the University of Cambridge in England and later the Economic Institute of the World Bank in Washington. He held the title of Igwe. He was recipient of the national award of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR)Commander of the most distinguished order of Saint Michael and Saint George by the British crown in 1959, Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963, and became a Papal knight of Saint Gregory the Great in 1975.

Udoji was one of Africa's most distinguished administrators who had the rare and remarkable opportunity to serve in not only the colonial, military and civilian governments in Nigeria but also in the country's expanding private sector. As a government official he held various positions in the colonial government, military government, and civilian government. He was the first African administrative officer to serve in the British Colonial government. Over the course of his government career he served as the minister of finance, minister of health, minister of commerce, and head of service in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria. He was part of the Constituent Assembly of 1977–78 that worked on the 1979 constitution of Nigeria and served as the official Constitutional Adviser, to the Eastern Nigerian delegation to the Nigerian Constitutional Conference in London.

Udoji was also the first Nigerian to serve as Chairman of a multinational corporation in Nigeria and his success in that position opened the way to other Nigerians: Christopher Abebe in UAC, Michael Omolayole in Lever Brothers, Gamaliel Onosode in Cadbury and Jamodu in PZ. He helped found the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and served as its first chairman from 1981 to 1986 in conjunction with his service as the second Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) from 1982 to 1987. Between 1974 and 1993, he was either the chairman or on the board of at least 13 major corporations, including Citibank Nigeria, The Nigerian Tobacco Company, R.T. Briscoe, Michellin, Motor Tyre Service Company, Coates Brothers, Pilkington Glass, Roache, West African Batteries, Nigerchin, Power Communications Engineering, Security Assurance, Consolidated Breweries, Wiggins Teape, Udoji United F.C., and Solgas Petroleum.

He played a pivotal role in the shaping of the post-civil war history of Nigeria. A celebrated administrator, teacher, lawyer and businessman, Chief Udoji, also positively impacted other countries of the African continent, during his eventful life as a United Nations consultant. For his contributions he received numerous honors and traditional titles including having schools, roads, and a government building named in his honor. In 1995 he published his memoirs, titled "Under Three Masters" and some of his speeches and correspondences as, Which Way Nigeria?: Selected Speeches of Chief J.O. Udoji (2000, Ibadan, Spectrum).

Upon His passing, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State stated "Udoji was a legend, a selfless Nigerian and a devout Christian who took care of the down-trodden, the widows and the poor. His death will create a lacuna that will be very difficult to fill."

Early life and education

Udoji was born in 1912 to the Ezemba-Dogbu Udoji family in Ozubulu, Ekusigo LGA of Anambra State. He held the title of Igwe in Ozubulu. A man of great learning and vast experience, Chief Udoji started formal education at St. Michael's Catholic School, Ozubulu (1920–26), went to St. Charles Training College, Onitsha (1929–31) before heading to Kings College, Cambridge University, England (1945–48) and being called to the Bar, Gray's Inn, London in 1948. He was also at the World Bank, Washington between 1955 and 1956. Udoji received two post graduate degrees from Cambridge. Prior to attending King's College in Cambridge, he worked as a teacher in schools in the Eastern and Western region including Ibadan Grammar School and Abeokuta Grammar School. He also served as a personal assistant to the secretary in charge of the Western Nigerian provinces.

Public service

After completing his studies abroad, he applied and got employment with the colonial administrative service and was made an assistant district officer in Ado Ekiti before being posted as district officer for Egbado. In 1954, he was transferred to the Eastern region and made the permanent secretary in the ministries of Health, Commerce, Finance and Establishments. In 1960, the year of Nigeria's independence, Udoji became the Head of Service and secretary to the government of the Eastern region and also acted as secretary to the cabinet and premier. He rose to become the first African to be appointed District Officer in the British colonial service.

On his return from England, Udoji joined the Colonial Administrative Service and rose to become, in 1959, the Chief Secretary to the Premier of the Eastern Region, Dr Michael Okpara, as well as Head of the Region's civil service, and Secretary to the Executive Council. He remained in that position until the coup of 1966.

As colonial administrative officer he had a distinguished service in Ondo and Abeokuta provinces of the country. Between 1954 and 1966 Udoji offered valuable administrative service to the Eastern regional government. Udoji was permanent secretary in the different g ministries in the then Eastern region of Nigeria. Udoji's exemplary dedication to duty, his remarkable intellectual capacity that he brought to bear on his duties and his integrity made him to rise up to the level of Chief secretary to the premier of Eastern Region, Michael Okpara and also Head of Civil service/secretary to the region's executive council.

Between 1955 and 1959, he was, variously, Permanent Secretary in the ministries of Health, Commerce, Finance and Establishment of the Eastern Region, functioning, in-between, as official Constitutional Adviser, to the Eastern Nigerian delegation to the Nigerian Constitutional Conference in London. He became the Chief Secretary and Head of the Eastern Nigeria Civil Service from 1960 to 1966 after which he went into private legal practice (1966–68). He served as a Ford Foundation Consultant in Administration and Management (1968–72).

In 1972, during Nigeria's oil boom period, he was assigned by the Yakubu Gowon administration to head a review commission of the civil service standards and compensation in the country. The commission made recommendations such as an increase in the salaries of public servants, civil servants training, a unified and integrated administrative structure, elimination of waste and removal of inefficient departments and introduction of an efficient civil service on the basis of management by objective. The commission also recommended the establishment of an Ombudsman in the country. The commission's report was portrayed in subsequent years as a salary review commission though the original intent was to study and make sweeping recommendations on the public service including the recommendation of an objective or goal oriented management style. This salary increases are known today as the "Udoji Award".

International Service

Widely travelled, Chief Udoji was Chairman of the Africanisation Commission of the East African Community, covering Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (1963), a consultant to the United Nations Conference on the Management of Public Enterprises held in Yugoslavia (1969), served in Swaziland (1970) as Sole Commissioner for that country's Localization Commission, functioned as Secretary-General of the African Association for Public Administration and Management (1972–75) and was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to review and re-organise Uganda's Public Service in 1991.He was part of the Constituent Assembly of 1977–78 that worked on the 1979 constitution of Nigeria and was also President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 1981 to 1986 and that of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) from 1982 to 1987.

Business Career and Family

In the Nigerian first republic, Udoji represented the regional governments in some of the latter's financial concerns such as Hotel Presidential, Enugu and Port Harcourt and Independence Breweries, Umuahia. However, following disagreements between him and the new military authorities in 1966, he left the regional civil service to practice law briefly before joining Ford foundation. Udoji served on numerous boards as chairman including the board of directors of R.T. Briscoe, Motor Tyre Service Company, Wiggins Teape, and the Nigerian Tobacco Company.

According to the book – Under Three Masters: Memoirs of an African Administrator – the most authentic story of his life and times written by Chief Jerome Udoji himself and published by Spectrum, Ibadan in 1995, Jerome married his loving wife, Marcellina Uzoamaka Udoji (née Onuchukwu) who died on 4 October 1992. He is blessed with three children – Mrs. Scholastica Lola Onwubuya (née Udoji), Chief Oscar Paul Udoji and Mr. Ebelechukwu Peter Udoji.

Mrs. Scholastica Onwubuya is a seasoned educator and teenage guidance counsellor. She is a Director in the Federal Ministry of Education and a Board member of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria

Chief Oscar Udoji was honoured by Newswatch Magazine in their "Emergent Titans" Category along with Tony Elumelu, Rabiu Ishiaku, Folu Ayeni and Leon Stan Ekeh for their accomplishments in business. Chief Jerome Udoji also served as chairman for two companies, namely, Solgas Petroleum (which Oscar was the CEO) and Udoji United FC (which Oscar was the Founder/CEO). Chief Oscar Udoji also served as the national chairman for the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) political party who finished as runners up in the 2011 Presidential Elections with General Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate.

Mr. Peter Udoji is the current Chairman of Nigerchin Electrical Development Company Ltd. and the managing director of Belsun Holdings Ltd. – both going concerns.

Death

Jerome Udoji died on 2 April 2010, the day of Good Friday, at the age of 98. Chief Oscar Udoji confirmed this in a statement. Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State described Udoji's death as a great loss the nation. "He was an exemplary man. He did the nation proud in every area of his life. The state government will be fully involved in the burial," he said.

Family friend Cardinal Francis Arinze said the Mass in the burial. In his sermon, Francis Cardinal Arinze said the life and times of Udoji reflected how men who found themselves in authority should conduct themselves in public. Cardinal Arinze described Udoji as a man who used his experience, wealth and position to cater for many Nigerians by recommending a salary package for workers, while protecting the interest of the poor. "Udoji was a man of integrity, selfless, humane who lived a good life. Everyone present at his funeral today must have benefited from his Udoji Award," he said, urging all to emulate his legacies.

In his condolence message state governor Peter Obi described Udoji as one of few Nigerians who projected the country's image internationally and locally. According to Obi, the contributions set by Udoji improved the standard of lives of many Nigerians, especially civil servants. He said that Anambra State had named the newly built secretariat after Udoji.

References

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