Born on December 21, 1960, into the Idumuje- Ugboko Royal family in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta state, Prince Ned Munir Nwoko is a British trained Lawyer. Prince Nwoko attended the University of Keele in Staffordshire, United Kingdom, where he acquired his Bachelor’s degree in Law and History.
He then obtained an LLM in Maritime and Commercial Law from King’s College, London. He was subsequently called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn.
Prince Nwoko later qualified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He then set up his own firm, Ned Nwoko Solicitors and became the Principal Partner and Senior Consultant.
Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko popularly known as Ned Nwoko is a Nigerian lawyer, politician and philanthropist. He was a member of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 representing Aniocha North-South and Oshimili North-South. He will be 61 years old in December.
Ned Nwoko is a strong advocate of Malaria eradication in Africa. He is the initiator of the Ned Nwoko Malaria Eradication Project. He flagged off the Ned Nwoko Malaria Eradication campaign via a symbolic expedition to Antarctica in January 2020.
According to information gathered on the newly minted Senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, the zenith of his practice, was when his organisation had over 30 Lawyers in his employ and gained international acclaim for its meticulous and tenacious legal battles for financial probity, transparency, management and verification of foreign debts of third world countries and their component states.
The firm was renowned for its legal and consultancy work for several African and Asian governments in interstate and inter government work and relationships in democratic settings are therefore a familiar terrain.
Prince Nwoko and his firm won global acclaim when he took some banks to court in UK, Paris and Geneva in what was a test case on behalf of some states in Nigeria who were said to be indebted to Paris and London Club group of lenders. He initiated discussions with the Nigerian government on the need to reconcile and verify our foreign loans that eventually culminated in the exit from the foreign loans.
No doubt, Prince Ned Nwoko is a man, whose intimidating legal records and achievements can not go unnoticed. He has made a mark for himself in his chosen career.
Beyond his career as a Lawyer, the Delta North Senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party is also an established Politician. He was a House of Representatives member; details of which will be relayed in this write-up. A Philanthropist of note, Ned Nwoko, recently won the Senatorial ticket in his district.
After winning the Delta North Senatorial ticket of the People’s Democratic Party, all roads now lead to his palatial residence at Delta state.
To celebrate this win, the businessman and politician splashed over N10m on his staff, as he gifted N100,000 each to over 100 members of his staff.
The notable philanthropist of the moment, is one of the biggest humanitarians that has emanated from the continent of Africa. The kind-hearted businessman, politician and administrator embarked on several humanitarian gestures among which was the Malaria Eradication move which he holds passionately to his heart.
Prince Nwoko knows how malaria is reducing the entire population of the universe. He has in recent years dragged top celebrities to align with this noble and humanitarian project.Aside from that, he is splashing millions into sports across the continent. Several soccer stars are on this project.
Prince Nwoko is a passionate and committed philanthropist. Through his Foundation, he has given scholarships to hundreds of indigent students across the country, sponsoring skill acquisition programmes and youth empowerment initiatives while growing the economy of the village market women through provision of petty trading funds.
His philanthropy cuts across education, tourism, sports, human capital development and agriculture.
For his benevolent financial support for Nigeria’s creative industry, Nollywood, he was made a Patron of both the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN and Association of Movie Producers, Nigeria, AMP.
The Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun, Delta state, awarded him an Honorary Doctorate degree for his ”uncommon philanthropy, service and integrity “. He also received additional Honorary awards from the University of Ibadan and the Delta State University for his phenomenal charity.
The Commonwealth University College in Belize bestowed on him an Honorary Doctorate degree while he was also placed on a pedestal of honour in 2019 as Human Rights Champion of the Decade by Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria for sponsoring bills that promote human rights including the National Public Funds Recovery and Reward bill that gave birth to the whistle blowing policy in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
These were in addition to several local and international awards bestowed on him for his humanitarian ventures, an untrammelled integrity and a rare passion to touch those on the lower rung of the economic ladder.
Prince Ned Nwoko, without doubt, is a man in the theatre of time. His political trek is yet unfinished. Nwoko qualifies, to adopt the words of that Yoruba wordsmith, Alhaji Odolaye Aremu, in parody, to be described as “Idameji Ibadan ti won pe lenikan” (“a half of Ibadan mistaken for a single person”).
This writer’s consciousness of the man Nwoko dated back to January 2020, when he undertook a symbolic expedition to Antarctica to flag off a Malaria Eradication Project. That made him the first black African to visit the South Pole Antarctica.
Ha has been a regular feature in the long playing records of the reigning musicians of the East. He has been the voice of the voiceless, a guardian angel, a great support system to his community, a giant wall over a city about to be ravaged by charlatans, a friend to the poor, the tyrant’s nightmare, the light of African advancement, the father of several fatherless, to a child’s superhero.
Ned has transformed from being a noun to a verb, always changing to suit the occasion for everybody to easily relate with.
Ned Nwoko has left the comfort of his private life, luxuries and peace to pick up other’s burdens. He has changed many people’s lifestyle from one of sleepless nights, starvation through his advocacy programmes. This, Ned has done all his life in a bid to make the world a better place.
Only few men in these parts had “romanced” wealth like the way Ned Nwoko has. The very few men in this privileged tribe included Chief M.K.O Abiola and much earlier, Cândido João DaRocha, the Ijesha man whose name became a synonym for wealth.
He is a very friendly and chatty man. He moves from one topic to another, emotionally expressing strong views on each one. Rumours have it that Ned Nwoko takes it upon himself to serve his guests drinks, moving from one person to the other. He intermittently sits on the floor as he enjoys his conversation with his guests. A very homely man!
He is a Christian leader but always actively involved in the determination of the leadership of many traditional and Islamic groups and associations. He doesn’t go in search of such a role; they brought such roles to him. So was it with Islamic groups, student unions, labour groups, the traditional institutions, musicians, artists, artisans among others.
There are very few men in this clime who are generous like Ned Nwoko. No wonder his house is a kind of Mecca. His residence was a magnet of sorts.
His generosity is as legendary as that of Mansa Kanka Musa of the Mali Empire fame. At a very young age, to his time as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Ned has grown from wisdom to wisdom, strength to strength, relevance to relevance and above all, an advocate and defender of social justice and a safer world. He has advanced too quickly giving credence to the metamorphic nature of the human mind. Ned is futuristic in all he does, I like to call him the Elon Musk of Africa.
We can not but wish this man of the moment the best in his Political career!
