Victor Ezeja
A former Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has passed on at the age of 72.
He reportedly died after a brief illness in an undisclosed hospital in Nigeria.
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Dr Onu served as a minister under the immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari from November 2015 until his resignation in 2022. He was the longest-serving minister of the ministry.
He was the first civilian governor of Abia State when his state Ebonyi was yet to be created.
Prime Business Africa recalls that the ex-minister was one of the aspirants who contested for the presidential ticket of the All Progressive Congress (APC) during the party’s primary but lost to President Bola Tinubu.
Born on December 1, 1951, to the family of Eze David Aba Onu in Amata, Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area in the present-day Ebonyi, State, Onu studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Lagos where he obtained a first-class degree in 1976. He further bagged a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California in 1980.
Onu was a politician, engineer, teacher, and author. As a teacher, Ogbonnaya Onu worked at St. Augustine’s Seminary, Ezzamgbo, Ebonyi State, after his graduation from the University of Lagos. Subsequently, he became a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt, after obtaining PhD, and later became the pioneer head of the department. He also served as the acting dean of the Faculty of Engineering and was also elected as a member of the Governing Council of the university.
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Political Career
In politics, Ogbonnaya was first an aspirant for a senatorial seat in the old Imo State on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Aside from being the first elected civilian governor of Abia State which he won under the platform of the National Republican Convention in 1991, Onu was also the presidential flag bearer for the All People’s Party (APP) but stepped down for Olu Falae after a merger of his party with the Alliance for Democracy who later lost to Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP in the 1999 general election.
He became the national party chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) in 2010.
He was a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as his party (ANPP) merged with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the APC in 2013.
With the APC winning in the 2015 presidential election, Buhari appointed Onu as a Minister of Science and Technology.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
