Biographical Note

UCHE JOY OGWU OF NIGERIA CHAIRMAN OF SECOND COMMITTEE

Uche Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, was elected Chairman of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on 4 June.  (See Press Release GA/10714.)

Ms. Ogwu has served as her country’s Permanent Representative since May.  Prior to her appointment, Ms. Ogwu was Nigeria’s Foreign Minister from 2006 to 2007, the second woman to hold that position. 

Prior to that, she was the first woman to become Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.  In 2006, she also served as Chairman of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, of which she had been a member since 2003.  She was a member of the National Political Reform Conference in 2005 and of Nigeria’s Political Reforms Agenda Committee in 2004, and has served as presidential delegate and Special Adviser to Nigerian delegations to the United Nations General Assembly since 1988.

Having written and lectured extensively on south-south relations and Latin America’s foreign relations, Ms. Ogwu is considered a foremost voice for women’s development and human rights.  She is the recipient of the 2002 Diplomatic Excellence Award presented by the Society of International Law and Diplomacy.  In 2004, she was conferred an Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic by her country.  She serves on the boards of the TIGER Institute in Poland and the Centre for Law and Business in Lagos.

She earned Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Rutgers University in the United States and received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science from the University of Lagos in Nigeria.

Born on 23 August 1946, Ms. Ogwu is married with both children and grandchildren.

* *** *

__________

*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/3982 of 7 May 2008.

For information media • not an official record