His towering physical stature and presence was a reflection of the monumental and indelible impact that the late Chief Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuayanwu was to make in diverse spheres of Nigeria’s socioeconomic and political landscape in his sojourn of 81 years this side of eternity.
Born on September 4, 1942, in humble circumstances to the family of Pa Bernard and Madam Hulder Iwuanyanwu of Umuahii Atta in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, Chief Iwuanyanwu died on July 25, 2024, having established himself as a veritable colossus in business, politics, sports, culture and philanthropy, amongst other spheres of life. He was neither born great and neither did he have greatness thrust on his laps on a platter. Rather, he became a man of no mean reckoning both among the Igbo, his kinsmen, and in Nigeria as a whole by dint of clarity of vision, intuitive brilliance, hard work, commitment and determination.
Chief Iwuanyanwu had his elementary education at St Patrick School, Nkpokwu, (later renamed Rukpokwu), Port Harcourt, and the Holy Trinity Primary School, Umuapara, from 1948 to 1954. He attended the New Bethel College, Onitsha, Anambra State, from 1955 to 1959 and, in 1960, he was among a select number of brilliant students to be offered admission into the Federal School of Science, Lagos, where he studied Pure and Applied Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
As a result of his academic brilliance at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), into which he was admitted to study Civil Engineering in 1963, he was awarded the coveted German Academic Exchange Scholarship covering school fees, boarding, feeding and holiday tickets with all costs borne by the Federal Republic of Germany.
Like many other young men in the Southeast at the time, the young Iwuanyanwu’s education at the UNN was disrupted by the Nigerian civil war which broke out in 1967 and ended in 1970. Given his engineering orientation, Iwuanyanwu was drafted into the Biafra Research and Production (R&P) Directorate during the war and served in the Directorate’s Rocket Unit. Working alongside other accomplished scientists such as Professor Gordian Ezekwe, Professor Chukwuka Nwosu and Dr Felix Oragwu, he contributed to producing essential armaments and amenities for Biafra’s war effort at a time when the fledgling republic had limited access to weapons from the outside world.
At the expiration of the war, Iwuanyanwu completed his studies at the UNN and graduated as an engineer in 1971. He was quick to demonstrate his astuteness as an engineer in his places of employment and became a registered engineer of the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) on 12 April, 1972. In the course of his professional career, he successfully experimented on flexible pavement and parameters for concrete, producing a mixed design of asphaltic concrete which was approved by the Federal Ministry of Works for the construction of airport runways and highways in Nigeria.
Combining his professional expertise with an astute business acumen, Iwuanyanwu, in 1976, started a construction company with two Americans, Messrs Harper and Delano. He later acquired the company from his partners and renamed the business Hardel and Eric Construction Company. It is a mark of his versatility and dexterity as a businessman that he grew the business into a conglomerate of over 20 companies spanning advertising, media, insurance, shipping, hotel and hospitality as well as aviation.
He was an active participant in the political transition programmes of the Babangida and Abacha regimes, respectively, being an active member of parties such as the National Republican Convention (NRC) and United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) in the two dispensations. After the transition to the fourth republic midwifed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar in 1999, Iwuanyanwu eventually found his natural political habitat in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party with which he remained aligned as a member of its Board of Trustees till his death.
Iwuanyanwu was a member of the National Political Reform Conference in 2005. He served at various times as Chairman, Raw Materials and Research Development Council (RMRDC); among many others.
A household name in sports, he founded the Iwuanyanwu Nationale Football Club (now Heartland Football Club of Owerri) which excelled in national and international competitions.
He also made his mark as one of the country’s most eminent philanthropists. The Iwuanyanwu Foundation, for example, has reportedly offered scholarships to no less than 10,000 indigent students across the country. Until his death, he was President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze-Ndigbo. Before his ascension to the position in April 2023, he had served the body in several capacities. Iwuanyanwu holds the national honours of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR). He was awarded honorary academic degrees by several universities in Nigeria and abroad. In his demise, an ‘Iroko: has departed the Nigerian forest.
