Jerome Udoji

Who is Jerome Udoji?

Chief Jerome Oputa Udoji, 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 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.