Rt Hon Chief Emeka Ihedioha was born March 24th 1965, Hon.
Ihedioha attended Town School Mbutu, S.D.A Primary School Abule Oja-Yaba Lagos, St Ephraim’s Secondary School Owerrinta and the University of Lagos, where he obtained a BSc degree in Food Technology (1988). In the course of time, Hon. Ihedioha also updated his educational status through Executive and leadership programmes in world acclaimed Ivy League Institutions viz, Stanford University USA, Harvard University USA, Oxford University Business School and London School of Economics, UK, as well as the University of British Columbia, Canada.
The knowledge and experience acquired from these institutions have left a permanent imprint on a man who, today, has been found worthy in character and learning.
At different points, Rt. Hon. Ihedioha has given unflinching demonstrable commitment to nation-building by serving as:
• Press Officer to Senator Iyorchia Ayu as Senate President -Dec 1992-93
• Chief Press Secretary to Deputy Senate President, Sen. Albert Legogie- 1993
• Special Assistant to Special Adviser to President Obasanjo on Utilities- 1999
• Special Assistant to Senate President Chuba Okadigbo on Media and Publicity-Nov 2000-2001
• Special Assistant to Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Political Matters-2001-2002
• Honourable Member representing Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala, Federal House of Representatives- 2003-2015
• Chairman, House Committee on Marine Transport- 2003-2007
• Chairman, House Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa- 2007
• Chief Whip, House of Representatives- 2007-2011
• Chairman, House Sub-Committee on the Review of Police Act
• Chairman, Ad-hoc Committees on :
Constituency Projects -2008-2009
Celebration of Ten Years of Unhindered Legislative Practice- 2010
Process and Procedure to obtain Local and Foreign Loans -2010
House Legislative Agenda- 2011
Constitution Review -2011-2015
• Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives- 2011-2015
• Alternate Chairman, Governing Council of National Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS) 2011-2015
• Speaker, 27th May-5th June, 2015 following the withdrawal of Speaker Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal to assume duty as Governor of Sokoto State.
• Imo State Gubernatorial Flag Bearer of Peoples’ Democratic Party in 2015 elections.
Aside from the high-profile positions he has held over the years in the service of the Nation, Hon. Ihedioha has offered himself as a veritable resource person to the PDP since inception in 1998, serving in several strategic committees to date.
It is instructive that in the course of his legislative sojourn, Hon. Ihedioha distinguished himself as a consummate lawmaker by sponsoring or facilitating the passage of several critical bills and domestication of defining International conventions that have impacted positively on the maritime sector. Worth mentioning are the following:
• A Bill for an Act to establish a Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria-2005
• Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act, 2007
• Nigerian Ports Act (Amendment Bill) 2005
• Merchant Shipping Bill
• The Chartered Institute of Shipping of Nigeria Bill 2005
• The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 2004
• The United Nations Convention on Carriage of Goods by Sea (Ratification and Enforcement) Bill 2005
• The International Convention on the Civil Liabilities for Oil Pollution Damage (Ratification and Enforcement) Bill 2004
• etc
It is also noteworthy that a number of legislations in the ongoing constitution amendment process commenced with the 7th Assembly, during which Hon. Ihedioha was the Chairman, House Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution amendment.
Nigerians will not be in a hurry to forget that under his leadership and inspiration, the House of Representatives initiated and organized the highly acclaimed and successful peoples’ public sections, which involved taking the constitutional review to the 360 Federal Constituencies in Nigeria for voting by the people. This is perhaps the closest to a referendum in the process to the making of a truly peoples’ constitution.
Hon. Ihedioha is widely travelled. He has visited over 40 countries across various continents and also led several Nigerian legislative delegations to the ECOWAS Parliament, the International Parliamentary Union, IPU and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA.
As a devout Christian, Hon. Ihedioha has done enormous work to uplift the Church in his Community, his Mbaise Diocese, Imo State and the entire country, Nigeria. In the year 2000, he was admitted into the respected Order of the Knighthood of Saint Christopher (KSC) of the Anglican Communion, while the Church of Nigeria decorated him in 2014 with the Primatial Distinguished Service Merit Award for Excellence in Christian Stewardship.
LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
s/n Bill Status My Role
1 The International Convention for the Safety of life at Sea (Ratification and Enforcement)Act 2004 Passed and Signed Into Law in June 2004 Principal Facilitator
2 The United Nations Convention on Carriage of Goods by Sea (Ratification and Enforcement)Bill H.B 118 Passed and Signed into Law in 2005 Principal Facilitator
3 The International Convention for the Preservation of Pollution from Ships 1973/78 (Ratification and Enforcement)Bill H.B 159 Passed and Signed into Law in May 2005
Principal Facilitator
4 The International Convention on the Civil liabilities for Oil Pollution Damage (Ratification and Enforcement)Bill 2004 HB 157 Passed and signed into Law in January 2006 Principal Facilitator
5 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for the Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1979 as amended (Ratification and Enforcement)Bill.2004 H.B.159 Passed and Signed into Law in January 2006 Principal Facilitator
6 A Bill for an Act to establish a Council for Registration Freight Fowarders in Nigeria Passed and Signed into Law in June 2005 Sponsor
7 The Chartered Institute of Shipping of Nigeria Bill 2005 Passed and signed into law Co-Sponsor
8 Nigeria Ports Act (Amendment)Bill 2009 Passed Consideration Sponsor
9 Merchant Shipping Act Passed and Signed into law Principal Facilitator
10 Nigeria Institute of Chartered Mediators and Counciliators Bill 2009 Passed Second Reading Sponsor
MEMBERSHIP OF IMPORTANT COMMITTEES/DELEGATIONS
1. Member, Joint Committee on Constitutional Amendment
2. Chairman, Adhoc Committee on Process and Procedure for obtaining Local and Foreign Loans by Federal and State governments.
3. Chairman, Sub-Committee on the Review of the Police Act.
4. Nigeria Branch Representative, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association .
5. Member Leadership Group, National Democratic Institute (NDI) International Observer Group, that monitored the Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Lebanon.
6. Leader of Delegation to the 6th General Assembly of the International Parliamentary Association for Information Technology, Sofa, Bulgaria, 2008
7. Member Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament, African Region.
8. Leader, Nigerian Delegation to the 41st Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
9. Leader of the Nigerian Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament
10. Chairman, House Adhoc Committee on the Alteration of the 1999 Constituion.
11. Deputy Leader of Nigerian Delegation to the 125th IPU Assembly at Barn 19th October, 2011
12. Deputy Leader of Nigerian Delegation to the 126th IPU Assembly at Kampala Uganda 31st March-5th April, 2013
13. Deputy Leader of Nigerian Delegation to the 127th IPU Assembly at Quebec, Canada 21st -26th October, 2013
14. Deputy Leader of Nigerian Delegation to the 128th IPU Assembly at Quito, Equador 22nd -27th March , 2013
15. Deputy Leader of Nigerian Delegation to the 129th IPU Assembly at Geneva, Switzerland 7th -9th October, 2013