Politics
By Anthony Isibor
THE Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has honoured Francis Chidozie Ogene with the prestigious award of St Thomas More Medal of Honour.
The event, which took place at the weekend was in recognition of his outstanding contributions and services towards the growth of the Archdiocese of Lagos.
According to Ogene’s biography, he has always shown exceptional qualities right from when he was born on August 7, 1939.
In 1953 he came out as the best student in his Primary School graduating class at Our Lady’s, Abidi Umuoji, five years later in 1958 he repeated the same feat by emerging as the best student in the West African Examination Council, WAEC from St Theresa’s College, Nsukka.
He was also the best student in his HSC graduating class at King’s College Lagos in 1960, where he was presented with a prize by Nnamdi Azikiwe, the then Governor General of Nigeria.
Ogene also can out as the best student at the University of Ibadan where he studied History in 1964 and was one of the best students at the Institute of Social Studies, in the Hague, Netherlands in 1966, as well as the best student in the entire Social Sciences and Humanities faculties at Case Western Reserve University where he studied for his Masters and PhD., and was nominated for an award in 1972.
Ogene told Realnews that having finished as the best PhD student in all the USA universities for Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1972, publishers rushed to publish his PhD dissertation, especially in Nigeria and New York.
His published PhD dissertation in 1983 has since been used as a reading text in US universities and War Colleges and it is today preserved in important libraries all over the world.
It is therefore not surprising that Ogene accomplished all these at the age of 43 before he retired into private business.
Work Experience:
He told Realnews that he began his career at the Nigerian Foreign Service as a Diplomat in Belgium and worked in Holland and Senegal from 1964 to 1967.
From 1967 to 1968 he was the Divisional Officer at Eket Provincial Office, Biafra, and Head of Political Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Biafra from 1969 to 1970 before he was appointed as Special Representative Designate of Biafra to Sweden in January 1970.
From 1973 to 1976 Ogene worked as an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, USA, and as a Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Lagos from 1976 to 1982.
He also worked as a guest lecturer at Command and Staff College, Jaji; Police College Jos; Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru; Centre for Management Development, CMD Lagos; University of Lagos from 1976 to 1986.
Ogene has published several books, including: Interest Groups and the Shaping of Foreign Policy, (my magnus opus), 1983 and Politics of Scarcity, African Raw Materials and International Politics. 1979. He has numerous articles published in professional learned journals.
Today, he is the Managing Director, Franon & Co. Nig. Ltd.
Till date, Ogene is a patron of UIU Lagos. He is married to late Regina Nkemdilim, nèe Aguobi, and blessed with 4 children and 8 grandchildren all resident in Atlanta, GA, USA.
A.
-September. 25, 2023 @ 17:13 GMT |
Tags: Francis Chidozie Ogene St Thomas More Medal of Honour.
