Queen’s School Enugu Alumni Association West Coast Region-USA

Queen’s School Enugu Alumni Association West Coast Region is honored and humbled to announce that MRS. Oyibo Ekwulo Odinamadu (NEE Akwuba) will be attending our inauguration celebration on April 10, 2010. Mrs. Odinamadu, Principal (Emeritus) Queen’s School Enugu, please join us as we pay homage to this “Architect of Change”.

A PROFILE OF MRS. OYIBO EKWULO ODINAMADU (NEE AKWUBA)
MON.. B.A., M.A., K.S.C.
K.S.C.(Knight of St. Christopher of the Church Of Nigeria, Ang. Com)
Retired Public Servant;
Life Member, National Council Of Women's Societies;
National Vice President, Unity Party Of Nigeria (UPN) 1978-1984;
Deputy Gubernatorial Candidate (UPN) for Anambra State 1979;
Activist for Fundamental Human Rights For Women.
Inductee, Nigerian National Women’s Hall Of Fame 2004;

Read more about this great woman by visiting her blog at: http://ugobueze.blogspot.com/

Henrietta N. Ukwu, MD, FACP Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Queen's School Alumni will be one of our event speakers

She received her high school education from Queen's School, Enugu, Nigeria and her medical degree from the University of Jos, Nigeria (1982); completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Baptist Hospital, Nashville, TN (1989); and Fellowship-Specialty training in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (1991).

 Dr. Ukwu started her pharmaceutical industry career at Merck & Co., Inc. in 1992, becoming the Head of Vaccine Regulatory development in 1996 and Vice President Worldwide Regulatory Affairs in 1998. Dr. Ukwu and the team still hold the pharmaceutical industry regulatory affairs record for the most rapid new drug application US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval (HIV Protease Inhibitor drug) approved in May?(45 days!) for Merck's Crixivan 1996. Dr. Ukwu joined Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (October 2004) and is currently Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs for all therapeutic areas.

Dr. Ukwu represented the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) in the media commercial for HIV/AIDS drug impact and Aging (1999-2000) and therefore included in the Screen Actors' Guild membership directory and was featured in the book-"Tall Drums- Nigerians Making an Impact in America" launched in April 2003.

Dr. Ukwu is married to Dr. Isaac Ukwu and they are blessed with three children, Victor, Yvonne, and Henry

Mrs. Oby Nwankwo is a lawyer of 30 years post call.  She holds a Masters degree in Law and served as a Chief Magistrate in the Anambra State Judiciary for 23 years.  Since her voluntary retirement from the judiciary in 2004, she has been in the forefront of the campaign for respect for women’s rights, gender equality and good governance. She is a gender expert, a Human Rights activist, an election monitor, a community mobiliser, an independent development consultant and a trainer/Facilitator. She has authored several publications on gender and women’s rights including “Affirmative Action Strategies: Perspectives From Around the Globe” which she co-edited with Prof. Sam Egwu and “Engendering the Budget Process in Nigeria”.

Oby is the founder and Executive Director of the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) an NGO with presence in Abuja, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states. On that platform, she represents Africa on the Steering Committee of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in New York, USA. She is a member of the ICC Gender Justice Team and Advisory Board member of Global Fund for Women and Women Law and Development International.  

Back home in Nigeria, Oby is the Chairperson of the Civil Society Coordinating Committee on Electoral Reform (CSCC) an umbrella organisation of Civil Society Organisations engaging the electoral and constitutional reform process in Nigeria. She is also the Coordinator of the National Coalition on Affirmative Action (NCAA), a network of Civil Society Organisations committed to the adoption of affirmative action as an effective strategy for increasing the numbers of women in governance. She is taking the lead in the campaign for the domestication of CEDAW (the Gender and Equal Opportunities Law), the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and the passage of the Child’s Rights Law in the States. The Gender and Equal Opportunities Law has been passed in Imo and Anambra states and has gone through 2^nd reading in Kogi and Adamawa states.

Under the umbrella of CIRDDOC Nigeria, she supported several women to contest and win elections as Local Government Chairpersons and counsellors. The organisation provides free legal services to indigent women and widows who are dispossessed of their property on the death of their husbands were assisted to recover them and they were reinstated at no cost to them.  HIV widows who are victims of stigma and discrimination have been assisted through a project “Building Bridges to End VAW as a Strategy for HIV Prevention and Stigma Reduction” to access services and regain their dignity.  She is a founding member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Anambra State Branch and served as Chairperson and Project coordinator of the organisation for several years. It was under her regime that the FIDA Family Law Centre was set up and till date the centre is still providing free legal services to indigent women and girls. Oby is a member of the National Committee of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Stakeholders’ Forum and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Transition Monitoring Group, (TMG) a coalition of over 170 Nigerian human rights and civil society organisations committed to the strengthening of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. She has facilitated the training of election monitors/observers and monitored all elections in Nigeria since 1999.

She is blessed with six children.