PROFILE OF COSMOS CHUKWUDI NDUKWE – MODEL OF AN ENTREPRENEURIAL POLITICIAN

PROFILE OF COSMOS CHUKWUDI NDUKWE – MODEL OF AN ENTREPRENEURIAL POLITICIAN

Businessman, Politician, Deputy Speaker 6th Abia House of Assembly, Serial Entrepreneur, grandfather, Lay Preacher, Knight of John Wesley, Journalist and Doctor of Broadcasting

EARLY LIFE
Born 13th April, 1963, Cosmos Chukwudi Ndukwe hails from Akanu Item, Bende Local Government Area, Abia State

Cosmos Ndukwe’s father, James Ndukwe Okpo was a business merchant of the first grade. His mother Jessy Ogbonyealu Ndukwe was a pioneer cake designer in Aba. Cosmos’s early life was marked with tutorials on merchandising, management, administration and most importantly on “learning to fear God” from a mother who was a religious Sharon Rose

EDUCATION
Cosmos cut his academic teeth at Dick Organ Memorial Primary School, Aba. His transition to Boys Secondary School, Osusu Aba was, as he would later admit, more of an admixture of formal secondary education and learning the ropes in business. At secondary school, Cosmos developed the sense of multiple strings of income, helped his parents in their businesses and would make his own money through Off cuts from the garment industry.

In trying to balance education and self dependence, Cosmos gave himself a break after Secondary School and didn’t return to further his education until he was 30 years. Though his mother wanted him to be a man of letters, by sending him to Prof Onwukwe Alaezi, his mother’s younger brother and notable lecturer at the University of Jos, Cosmos instead found Palm Oil trade very lucrative in Jos and would later return to Aba to start his garment business

He was admitted into the Department of Mass Communication at Abia State University in 1997; after he had studied Marketing at Abia State Polytechnic, Aba. He was to later feed his passion for seeking knowledge as he pushed further to acquire a Masters and ultimately a Doctorate degree in Mass Communication from the same Abia State University.

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES

This Doctor of Broadcasting is a member of:
1. Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON)
2. Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR)

He has also been admitted to the Chartered Institute of Administrators as a FELLOW

RELIGION
The former Chief of Staff to Abia Governor is an unapologetic Methodist. A Knight of John Wesley and Lay Preacher, Cosmos is a founding member of Reapers Club International, an amalgam of young and talented Christians promoting the spread of the gospel.

An Ambassador of Methodism, ManofGod is a member of Scripture Union Nigeria.

BUSINESS
At 17, he established CONK GARMENT INDUSTRY. He moved from one pant garment industry to the other collecting pieces of “off cuts” from where he made pants and singlets.

His efforts paid off as he grew to acquire 32 sewing machines, employing directly no fewer than 50 persons.

The Garment Mustard Seed was to later blossom into CONK PRODUCTIONS, a desktop computer School, photography and event management initiative.

This Item Okpi born politician partly owns and founded:

1. CONK COMPUTERS, a computer and communications company that pioneered Internet Technology in Aba

2. RAINBOW PRINTING PRESS, a first class industrial printing company

3. CONK ELECTRONICS, a robust merchandising company, holding the CONK brand names in Air Conditioners, Electric Kettles, Pressing Iron and Stand Fans

4. LUXURY CITY HOTELS holding Luxury Classic, Luxury Royale, Red Smoke Bar, Icons Lounge, Sugar Land Entertainment Ministry – leading name in hospitality and entertainment

5. LUXURY SOUND AND TROSS – providing alternative to quality sound and tross for events that hold huge crowds
6. Luxury farms – a rich industrial farm with interest in fishery, piggery and birds to enhance food security

COSMOS NDUKWE FOUNDATION
This Foundation bears the prestigious badge of UNITED NATIONS CONSULTATIVE STATUS as a foremost charity organisation.

Through this Foundation, Cosmos has built and furnished 17 houses for indigent widows, sustained the programme of paying WAEC examination fees for at least 200 candidates each year, maintains a regular undergraduate scholarship for 50 at all material times and offering cash grants to different categories of persons venturing into business or expanding their skills.

POLITICS
ManofGod as he is popularly known insists that politics should be a favorite past time.

To him, only a serial enterpreneur and a person with establishment mindset should venture into politics.

A member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), his baptism into politics was participating in the Zero Party Elections in 1992. He had a landslide win to return as Councilor representing East Ward 1 in Aba North Local Government. He was later appointed Deputy Chairman of Aba North Local Government by his colleague Councillors.

ManofGod was appointed Chief of Staff to the Governor of Abia State in 2012, a position he held until 2015 when he contested and won a seat to represent Bende North State Constituency at the Abia State House of Assembly. His colleagues found him worthy to be appointed Deputy Speaker of the 6th Abia House, a position he held from 2015 – 2019

In 2019, in what appeared like a major upset, he failed to win reelection to the House of Assembly through what many pundits described as “orchestrated conspiracy” by Party members who felt and were indeed threatened by his rising profile.

In October 2019, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu appointed him into the State Executive Council as Commissioner, Ministry of Trade and Investment.

PUBLIC SERVICE
1. Commissioner at the State Primary Education Board 2003 – 2005

2. General Manager, Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme (ASPIMSS), 2005 – 2007

3. General Manager Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) 2007 – 2012
4. Chief of Staff to the Governor of State 2012 – 2015

5. Deputy Speaker, 6th Abia House of Assembly

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