Kachi Ogbonna

From the east to the west, north to south there is one name that is on the lips of every Nigerian right now. And that name is Mr. Peter Obi. In case you have been in a cave and only got released today and you happen to be among those asking – who is this Peter Obi sef? It is okay. There is nothing bad in asking who is this Peter Obi sef? if you know you will not be asking. So today I will share with you the full profile of Mr. Peter Obi, the one most popular individual in Nigeria right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Personal Information of Mr. Peter Obi

Full Name: Mr. Peter Gregory OBI, (CON).

Date of Birth : 19th July, 1961 (61 years old)

Place of Birth: Onitsha, Nigeria

Local Government of Origin: Aguata

State of Origin: Anambra

Nationality: Nigerian

Marital Status: Married

Number of Children: 2

Contact Details

Home Address: 22 Niger Drive, GRA, Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria
Telephone Number: 08034051000
E-mail Address: poanambra@gmail.com

Educational Institutions Attended and Certificates Received

• Christ the King College, Onitsha (WASSCE)
•  University of Nigeria, Nsukka (B.A. Philosophy)
• Lagos Business School, Nigeria (Chief Executive Program)
• Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. (Mid to Mid Marketing)
• Harvard Business School, Boston, U.S.A. (Changing the Game)
• London School of Economics (Financial Management/Business Policy)
• Columbia Business School, New York, U.S.A. (Marketing Management)
• Institute for Management Development, Switzerland (Senior Executive Program)
• Institute for Management Development, Switzerland (Break-Through Program for CEOs)
• Kellogg Graduate School of Management, U.S.A. (Advanced Executive Program)
• Kellogg School of Management U.S.A. (Global Advanced Management Program)
• Oxford University: Said Business School, (Advanced Management & Leadership Program)
• Cambridge University: George Business School (Advanced Leadership Program)

Previous Job Positions Held By Peter Obi with Dates

1. Governor, Anambra State of Nigeria (2006-2014)
2. Honorary Special Adviser to the President on Finance (2014 – 2015)
3. Member, Presidential Economic Management Team (2014 – 2015)
4. Vice-Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (2008-2014)
5. Chairman, South-East Governors’ Forum (2006-2014)
6. Former Chairman: Board of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
7. Peter Obi was Peter Obi was also Former Chairman: Fidelity Bank Plc.
8. Former Chairman: Guardian Express Mortgage Bank, Ltd.
9. He was also a Former Chairman: Future Views Securities, Ltd.
10. Former Chairman: Paymaster Nigeria Plc.
11. Peter Obi was equally a Former Chairman: Next International (Nigeria) Ltd
12. Former Director: Guardian Express Bank Plc.
13. Former Director: Chams Nigeria Plc.
14. Peter was also Former Director: Emerging Capital Ltd
15. Former Director: Card Centre Plc

Peter Obi’s Membership of Professional Associations

• Member, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG)
• Peter Obi is equally a Member, Nigerian Chartered Institute of Bankers
• Member, British Institute of Directors (IOD)

Membership of  the Federal Government Committees

As the Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi served the country as a member of the following federal government committees:

1. Federal Government Committee on Minimum Wage
2. Federal Government Committee on Negotiation with Labour on Subsidy
3. He was also a member of Federal Government Committee on Mass Transit
4. Federal Government Committee on Natural Resource
5. National Economic Council Committee on Power Sector Reform
6. He was equally a member National Economic Council Committee on Sharing of MDGs Funds
7. National Economic Council Committee on Accurate Data on Nigeria’s Oil Import and Export
8. Agricultural Transformation Implementation Council
9. Sub-Committee on Needs Analysis of Public Universities in Nigeria
10. National Economic Council Review Committee on the Power Sector

Awards and Recognition for Mr. Peter Obi

Award for Peter Obi from Media Houses

2007: The Sun Newspaper Man of the Year Award.

2009: Champion Newspaper Nigeria’s Most Trustworthy Governor Award.

Also in 2009: Thisday Newspaper Most Prudent Governor in Nigeria.

2012: Business Hallmark Newspaper Man of the Year.

2013: Silver Bird Man of the Year (with Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State).

2014: Champion Newspaper Most Outstanding Igbo Man of the Decade.

Still in the same 2014: The Voice Newspaper (Holland) Achievers Award for Outstanding Example in Leadership and Governance.

Awards from Churches for Peter Obi

2012: The Golden Award on Prudence – by the Methodist Church of Nigeria as the Most Financially Prudent Governor in Nigeria.

Also in 2012: Outstanding Financial Planner and Manager – by the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion for resourcefulness and creativity in governance.

2015: Golden Jubilee Award from Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha for outstanding contribution to quality healthcare delivery in St. Charles Borromeo Hospital in particular and Anambra State in general, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the hospital.

Other Awards for Peter Obi

2014: Nigerian Library Association Golden Merit Award for remarkable improvement of libraries in Anambra State, exemplified by our Government’s construction of the Kenneth Dike Digital State Library, remarkable upgrade of the Onitsha Divisional Library, and provision of library facilities in secondary schools across the State.

Also in 2012: Leadership and Good Governance Award by The Ezeife Leadership Foundation Award for restoring peace and harmony to Anambra State.

2012: Best Performing Governor on Immunization in South-East Nigeria – by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2011: Zik Leadership Prize.

2010: ICT Governor of the Year – by the West Africa ICT Development Award.

The Nigerian MDGs Office/UNDP Best Governor in the Implementation of the MDGs in Nigeria

Introduction of Constitutional and Other Major Reforms in Nigerian Politics

Peter Obi was the first gubernatorial candidate in Nigeria to legally challenge to its logical conclusion, his governorship electoral victory that was denied him. He won in the Courts and reclaimed his mandate.

Peter Obi was the first Governor in Nigeria to legally challenge his wrongful impeachment and was reinstated by the Courts.

He was equally the first Governor in Nigeria to seek the interpretation of tenures of Governors when INEC allowed elections to take place in Anambra State when his tenure had not expired. The election already concluded was cancelled and he was allowed to complete his tenure.

He was the first Governor to serve a 2nd term in both the new and old Anambra State, that is, almost 40 years after creation of the State.

Peter was also the first and only Governor till date to be appointed a Special Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria while still serving as a governor.

He was the first serving Governor to be appointed into the Presidential Economic Management Team.

He was also among the first Governors to be honoured with a National Award in 2011, while still in office.

Though the only Governor whose political party was in government in only one State, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum twice.

Though the only non-PDP Governor in the South-East (made up of 5 States), he was elected by the other 4 PDP Governors as their Chairman for 8 years rather than the usual one year.

Fundamental Achievement as Governor of Anambra State (Partial Listing)

1. Anambra was the first State to commence Sub-Sovereign Wealth savings, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. At a time many other Governors were leaving huge debts, Peter Obi left the equivalent of $500 million Dollars in investment as well as local and foreign currency, including $156 million in Dollar-denominated bonds.

2. For the first time in the history of Anambra State, Ambassadors and High Commissioners of notable countries such as United Stated, Britain, Russia, European Union, South Africa, Belgium, Israel, the Netherlands, Canada, among others, visited the State. Before the tenure of Mr. Peter Obi, Anambra was practically a pariah state blacklisted by the Diplomatic Corps and international development partners.

3. Development partners such as UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank, DFID, the European Union etc., which hitherto were not in Anambra State started working with the State during the tenure of Peter Obi. Anambra was consistently adjudged one of the best states in development partnership and commitment to reforms for good governance.

4. Peter Obi was also recognised as Best Governor by the Millennium Development Goals Office (OSSAP-MDGs) and the UNDP in the implementation of their programmes in Nigeria.

Fasten Your Seat Belt on Peter Obi’s Achievements

5. The Nigerian Debt Management Office (DMO) rated Anambra as the least indebted state in Nigeria. In spite of visible and measurable achievements recorded in various sectors, the State under him did not borrow or raise bonds for her various projects.

6. The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria rated Anambra State as the most financially stable state in the country.

7. The State’s ground-breaking return of schools to their original owners – Voluntary Agencies (Churches) on 1st January 2009, and subsequent partnership with the Agencies in Education, saw the State move from 24th position out of 36 States to Number One in National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations for three consecutive years. This made the World Bank to commission a study, led by the renowned Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University, on this revolutionary partnership and phenomenal achievement.

FYI: Sir Paul Collier, CBE, FBA is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government and the director of the International Growth Centre.

8. The State also entered into strategic partnership with the Churches in the Health sector. This symbiotic relationship resulted in a tremendous boost to health care because of the services offered by health institutions owned by Voluntary Agencies. And at the same time the State restored grants to the agencies and made available to them more than 50 million Dollars in various types of support.

Through partnership with Churches in the Health sector, Peter Obi Government funded the transformation of -:

a: Iyienu Hospital, Ogidi;
b: Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala;
c: St Charles Borromeo Hospital, Onitsha;
d: Holy Rosary Hospital, Waterside, Onitsha; and
e: St. Joseph Hospital, Adazi-Nnukwu.
His Government also built the Joseph Nwilo Heart Centre in St. Joseph, Adazi-Nnukwu, where heart operations are now being performed.

10. His Government won the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (1 Million dollars) as the best-performing state in immunisation in the South-East. With complementary funding from our Government, they used the money to build 10 Maternal and Child Care Centres across the State, particularly in rural communities, in partnership with the Churches.

11. The State was the first to procure and distribute more than 30,000 computers to secondary schools, including 22,500 from HP. The Managing Director for Personal Systems Group HP Inc, Mr. FabriceCampoy described the deployment as the biggest of such projects in the Middle-East and Africa.

12. Anambra State Government provided Microsoft Academies to more than 500 secondary schools, which the Head of Microsoft in Nigeria (Mr. Ken Span) described as the biggest such deployment in Africa so far.

13. The State provided Internet access to more than 500 secondary schools, which the CEO of Galaxy Backbone (Mr. Gerald Ilukwe) characterized as incomparable to any in the country.

More from Peter Obi in Anambra State – Who is this Peter Obi Sef?

14. More than 700 buses were provided to secondary schools in the State by our Government.

15. Boreholes were provided in schools all over the State.

16. Numerous classrooms were built in all the 177 communities of the State.

17. Equally, as part of the efforts to turn around the economy of the State, a number of companies were attracted to build their facilities in the Anambra State. A case in point is SABMiller, the 2nd largest brewery in the world, which built their first Green Field facility in the State, which is today one of the most successful facilities they operate globally.

18. A number of other companies followed the SABMiller initiative and were all supported and encouraged under our Government; a good example is INNOSON Motor Manufacturing Company, from which our government bought more than 1,000 vehicles.

19. Anambra State for the first time started close collaboration with recognized government security agencies (the Police, Army, Navy, Department of State Security, Civil Defence, among others), offering them various types of support including provision of more than 500 security vehicles. The improvement in security was phenomenal, such that the former IG of Police (Abubakar Mohammed) lauded Anambra State for not witnessing any bank robbery in my last three years in office.

To put this in perspective it is difficult for any state in Nigeria to go one year without any record of a bank robbery in the entire state.

20. To further enhance security, Anambra State provided at least one security vehicle to each of all the 177 communities in the State as well as various organizations such as markets and Churches.

Just a Few More

21. His Administration conceived and built, from scratch, the first state-owned Teaching Hospital, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu teaching Hospital, Awka.

22. The Government of Mr. Peter Obi commenced the planned development of the Igbariam Campus of the ChukwuemekaOdumegwu-Ojukwu University. The work includes the fencing, construction of internal roads, electrification, construction of the Faculty of Law, Auditorium, Administrative Block, Faculty of Agriculture, Management Building, among others).

23. His Government attracted the World Bank support on erosion – National Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) – to Anambra State.

24. His Government was the first to do Poverty Mapping in Nigeria, as a guide for the effective implementation of our poverty-alleviation strategies.

25 Peter Obi’s Government, for the first time, undertook the aerial mapping of Awka as well as the production of Structure Plans for Awka Capital Territory, Onitsha and Nnewi.

26. During his tenure and with his Government’s support, Anambra State became an oil producing State.

27. He built the first Secretariat Complex to house State Government Ministries that were hitherto scattered around the State.

28. His government commenced the development of the ‘Three Arms Zone’ comprising Government House/Governor’s Lodge, Legislative Building/Speakers Residence, and Judiciary Building with Chief Judge’s Residence.

29. By the end of his tenure in 2014, more than twelve (12) health institutions, including two hospitals, had secured accreditation. For context when Peter Obi took off in 2006, no health institution in Anambra State was duly accredited.

30. Anambra State was the first to undergo national peer review, which scrutinised State Governments for good governance, through the State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM), an initiative of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum in collaboration with the DFID.

Conclusion

Who is this Peter Obi sef? Some in the east may be asking.

Who is this Peter Obi sef? Some in the west may be asking

Who is this Peter Obi sef? Some in the North may be asking

Who is this Peter Obi sef? Some in the south may be asking

Who is This Peter Obi sef? Some in the dispora may be asking

So do you know who Mr. Peter Obi is now?

Do you think a man with this profile deserve an opportunity at the Nigeria’s top job?