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 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 served in both in the colonial, military and civilian governments in Nigeria and 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).

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