The Chairman

The Chairman's Profile

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By every standard, Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Executive Governor of Rivers State has achieved a remarkable measure of success in politics.

He was born May 27, 1965 at Umuordu-Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. He started his Primary Education at St. Theresa’s Primary School, Ubima, 1976. He attended the Government Secondary School, Okolobiri, (now in Bayelsa State) where he obtained his Senior School Certificate in1982. Thereafter, he gained admission into the University of Port Harcourt and graduated in 1987 with Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He later obtained a Masters degree in English from the same University.

His booming political career kicked off in his university days, when he served as the National President of the National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS). Upon leaving the university, he became actively involved in secular politics when he joined the National Republican Convention (NRC), and was elected Secretary of the party in Ikwerrre Local Government Area. His believe in hard work paid off in 1992 when he was appointed the Special Assistant to the then deputy governor of Rivers State, Sir, Dr. Peter Odili who later became the Governor of Rivers State for eight consecutive years from 1999 to 2007. He was appointed Director of two State-owned companies namely: Risonpalm Limited and West African Glass Industries Limited.

Under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999, he was elected to represent Ikwerre Consituency Rivers State House of Assembly where he became the Speaker of the house.
In October 2007, was declared the winner of the governorship election in Rivers State and was re-elected in April 2011. Governor Amaechi was elected as Chairman of the Governors’ Forum in May, 2011. He is a member of several professional bodies such as: the Louisiana House of Representatives in the United States, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the National Stakeholders Working Group of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and was the Chairman of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria for two terms.
Amaechi’s visionary leadership has fetched him so many awards, some of which are: Award for Parliamentary Excellence (Rivers Foundation, USA, 2000) International Award for Political Leadership (Jaycees International, 2000) to mention but a few.