Ikedi Ohakim

Ikedi Ohakim Biography / Profile

Ikedi Ohakim was born to Chief and Mrs. Maxwell Nwachukwu Ohakim of Okohia, Isiala Mbano, Imo State of Nigeria, on August 4th, 1957.

Ikedi Ohakim Age

Ikedi Ohakim is 67 years old.

Ikedi Ohakim Early Life

Ohakim grew up exhibiting leadership qualities. It was the recognition of his exploits as a vibrant, dynamic youth that earned him the traditional title by which he is known today, “ Ochinanwata” – One who became a king at an early age. He attended the University of Lagos, gaining a B.Sc. in Business Administration and a master's degree in Management, Doctorate (Management Technology).

Ikedi Ohakim Career

For more than 15 years, he served in senior commercial and Executive Management capacity in two multinational Engineering and manufacturing companies in Nigeria – First Aluminum and Tower Groups. He received extensive management training both in Nigeria and overseas and rose to the position of first, Executive Director and later Managing Director and Chief Executive of Alucon in 1997.

He was the Chairman of Mekahog Group of Companies, an integrated engineering group providing world class products and services for defence, security, construction, fabrication, oil & gas sectors. He was also the principal partner in Mekahog Consulting Group, a diversified management consulting partnership. He served as a Commissioner (Minister, at State Level) for Commerce, Industry and tourism in his home state, Imo between 1992 and 1993. He was a highly visible member of the State Executive Council and was instrumental to the designing of the first ever State Industrial Development blue print and also organized the First Imo State Investment Forum in 1992.

Ohakim’s sojourn in corporate governance is marked by his ability to orchestrate complex commercial deals crossing geographic and cultural boundaries, an understanding of robust international business processes, and the promotion of entrepreneurship and industrial development policies and programmes. He is recognized nationally as an expert in corporate turn-around and Re-engineering, Marketing Strategies and Government Policies and is much sought after as speaker and consultant to many leading businesses in Nigeria and beyond. Author of “The Marketing Imperative for Rural Industrialization” a book published in 1994 and widely acknowledged as a fresh and pragmatic approach in strategic marketing of intangible products, especially government programmes and policies.

Ohakim has been very visible in the political arena. He was a youth leader in NPP and a prominent member of NRC. He was a founding member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and served in the party’s first National Finance Committee in 1998. He was also a prominent member of the State Executive in Imo State and contributed substantially in finance and otherwise, to ensure the party’s victory in 1999. He contested the PDP Senatorial Primaries that same year. He again contested the Governorship election on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) pairing as a running mate in 2003. He was a prominent and highly valued member of the National Committee on Industrial Development (NCID) where he made widely acknowledged contributions. The work of the NCID led to the establishment of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in 1999. He possesses impeccable records of integrity and extensive top management and political exposure that spans over twenty years. In 1998, he was listed in ThisDay’s 50 Leaders Nigeria Needs and again in 2000, he was in Vanguard’s 30 Notable Young Corporate Leaders of the Future.

He has been part of numerous government delegations and missions to different parts of the world. For example, he attended the US Congressional Black Caucus of 1992 and 1996, World Tourism Conference in Indonesia in 1993 and the 17th World Oil Conference in Brazil in 2002. He was the Chairman of the Economic session of the World Igbo Congress in the USA in 2002 and delivered the keynote address at the 13th WIC held in Michigan, September 2007. The Paper titled Ima Onwe and which elicited sustained ovation was acclaimed as the best ever in the annals of the body.

He was elected Governor of Imo State, Nigeria on 28th April 2007 and was sworn in on May 29th 2007 as the 13th Governor of Imo State and the 4th to be democratically elected. He went back to his businesses after leaving office as Governor of Imo State in 2011.

Ikedi Ohakim Personal Life

Former governor of Imo State Ikedi Ohakim is happily married to barrister Chioma Ohakim and the union which was conceived about 3 decades ago is blessed with 5 kids, 2 sons and 3 gorgeous daughters, among them is a set of very identical twins, Adanna and Adanma. Adanna who is medical student currently lives in Dublin with her Husband David Steinacker. She tied the knot with her husband on Saturday, December 28th 2013, in Imo state. The dark complexioned and very amiable bagged a BSC from the university of East Anglia UEA Norwich in 2010 and is currently furthering her medical studies. Her twin sister Adanma is a barrister who was called to bar in 2014 is also a Fitness Expert and the CEO of Lyn Health and Fitness. The last Daughter is Omalicha fondly called Oma.

Ikedi Ohakim Awards

A knight of St. Christopher, he has also been honoured with five other chieftaincy titles for community service, funding numerous development projects, encouraging peaceful and harmonious coexistence between communities. He has been similarly cited for taking up the burden of reconciling warring communities like the Anara community peace accord as well as several honours by student union bodies and trade unions for his funding of youth development programmes and encouraging industrial harmony.

He is a 1987 prize winner of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) young managers’ competition with the highly researched paper titled, "Segmenting the Industrial Market – A Strategic Option for Survival”. He has received an Honoris Causa from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri and Doctorate (Business Management) Honoris Causa from Imo State University, Owerri, Imo State.