Person: Okonjo, Chukwuka
Chukwuka Okonjo was a Nigerian mathematician and economist who was the Eze (King) of the Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Okonjo began his education at the age of six at the government school in the town of his birth Ogwashi-Ukwu.
- Okonjo was at this school for three years until 1938 when he went to the government school, Lagos where he spent the academic year 1938-39.
- In 1939 Okonjo began his secondary education at King's College, Yaba, Lagos.
- In 1944 Okonjo moved from to the Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha where he spent the year 1944-45.
- By the time Okonjo attended the school, it had made great efforts to provide top quality science teaching in line with government policy.
- Okonjo was awarded University of Cambridge Overseas School Certificate in 1945.
- Okonjo followed this route, attending Higher College, Yaba from 1946.
- Okonjo attended University College, Ibadan in 1948-49, but registered for correspondence courses with the University of London.
- University College, Ibadan, was established in 1948, the year Okonjo began his studies there, as a College of the University of London, being the first university to be established in Nigeria.
- Okonjo was awarded a Diploma in Education in 1949.
- His studies as an external student of the University of London from 1948 to 1951 led to Okonjo being awarded a B.Sc. in Mathematics, Logic and Scientific Method in 1951.
- Under the able leadership of Principal Okonjo, we were made to, and we did, feel equal to the other two boys' secondary schools in Ibadan.
- In 1955 Okonjo went to Germany on a German government scholarship to study at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, where he remained until 1961.
- Okonjo was awarded a Dr.rer.nat.
- In the paper, Okonjo presents a plan for a four-year economics first degree.
- In 1967, as a result of the civil war, Okonjo moved to the University of Nigeria Nsukka, where he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer.
- During that time, Mr Okonjo installed the first African population information network popularly known as the Population Information and Documentation System for Africa valued at $350,000.
- Professor Chukwuka Okonjo later left the United Nations in 1985 and worked as the Education Adviser to Ghana's Minister of Education and Culture where he was instrumental in conceptualizing and implementing several reforms in the structure and organization of the minister.
- Okonjo was asked to run the Institute but the Ghana government did not take over running it.
- In 2000 Okonjo published The Quiet Revolution.
- In 2007 Okonjo became the Obi of Ogwashi Ukwu.
- there has been a protracted kingship tussle over who occupies the throne between the Umudei ruling house represented by Izedunor lineage and the Umuobaha ruling house represented by Okonjo lineage.
- However, Okonjo's victory at the lower courts is being challenged by the Izedunor lineage at the Supreme Court and as such the police advised both parties to maintain the status quo until judgement was delivered.
- After being held for five days, with a ransom demanded for her release, Kamene Okonjo was released.
- It was not clear whether Okonjo had paid the ransom that had been demanded.
- Okonjo received the National Service Award in June 1982 for the support he gave to the National Service Scheme of the Ghanaian Government.
Born 21 June 1928, Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria. Died 13 September 2019, Lagos, Nigeria.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
African, Origin Nigeria
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
