IKEJIANI, Okechukwu

State of Origin: Anambra Local Government Area: Awka Village/Town: Obcagu Nri ft Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani had a full career as university professor, pathologist and ambassador plenipotentiary in Nigeria before going back to Canada where he served in Grace Bay Community for over twenty-six years. He had a privileged childhood, born to the late Rev Canon Jeremiah and Mrs Newton Ikejiani in the days ol'the Missionaries when a priest ofthe Anglican Church who lived in a vicarage was almost living like a Minister of Slate or a Governor in present day Nigeria. His parentage gave him opportunity for higher education overseas and opportunity to attain to the peak of his career early in life. At Independence in the 1960s, Dr Ikejiani was chairman of many lop Government Boards as there were few of his own class in the then posl Independence Civil and Public Service in Nigeria who could stand in the vacant places left by the colonial officer. A humble mission boy, Okechukwu excelled in academics and lopped the class each year. Education • Arrived Canada for higher studies in 1938, just before the beginning ofthe 2nd World War • New Brunswick University B.Sc (lions) 1942 • University of Chicago M.Sc 1943 with Graduate Fellowship • University of Michigan PhD under Professor Reuben Kahn on the Kahn Verification Text which established the optimum temperature for delecting antibodies to syphilis and tropical diseases such as yaws. • Got back to Medical School and earned Ml) and Licentiate ofthe Medical Council of Canada 1948 Job Experience • Appointeddemonstratorin the Deptof Microbiologyand Pathology at BantingInstituteUniversityof Toronto 1945.Hecontinuedhis research on trypanosomiasis and tumours. Returned to Nigeria in 1948 Heldmanysenior positions including Lecturerin Pathology, University ofNigeria Consultant Pathologist, University Teaching Hospital Ibadan Director, National Clinic Laboratories Ibadan and Lagos Medical Director of Pfizer LaboratoriesNigeria. Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, University of Ibadan One ofthe Founding Fathers and member of Council, UniversityofNigeria Nsukka Elected Founderand Fellow ofthe Royal College of Pathologists (F.R.C Path); London England. Chairman ofthe Nigerian Railway Corporation 1960 Pathologist- in Chief of the Nigerian Railway Medical Centre Lagos. Member of Board of Directors, Nigerian Ports Authority Member, Board of Directors, Nigerian Coal Corporation Membership of Professional Associations • Fellow of Medical College of Pathologists Nigeria • Fellow of West African College of Physicians • President, Nigerian Medical Association 1962 1966 • Member, Canadian Medical Association • Canadian Association of Pathologists • Canadian Association of Medical Microbiologists and Canadian College of Microbiologists • Member, Canadian Society of Clinical and Investigative Medicine • Life Member, New York Academy of Sciences. • Elected Senior Membership, Canadian Medical Association 1996 Honours and Awards • Anambra 1964 for his services to the country. • Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Science D.Sc Lincoln University Lincoln Pennsylvania U.S.A • Hon D.Sc, University ofNigeria Nsukka • Hon D. Litt, University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia Dr Ikejiani and the Civil War (Nigeria/Biafra War) • Appointed Commissioner for Rehabilitation , Co-ordinator of refugee medical services • Director of Laboratory Services in Biafra and also Ambassador Plenipotentiary for the Head of State of Biafra. • On Mission to Europe when the war ended in 1970 and family joined him in Lisbon. • Heemigrated to Canada in 1971 and at first settled in Quebec City, then in Ottawa and finally moving to Glace Bay,Nova Scotia. • Pathologist in- Chief and Director of laboratories for Glace Bay,General and Community Hospitals • New Waterford Consolidated Hospital and Consultant Pathologist for the Regional Hospital Sydney. • President ofthe Medical StaffGlace Bay 1984 1985 • Medical Director ofGlace Bay Community Hospital 1987 1993 • He retired in 1997 Publications His interest goes beyond National Service through medicine, and allied fields. He has written extensively on a number oftopics in his field and also on educational problems in the developing countries, as well as in social and political areas. Some of his books include: • Nigerian Education (editor).The book demanded against historical background that those interested in the Youth ofNigeria should examine their basic educational ideas in terms ofthe needs ofa new Nigeria. The Colonial legacy, relevance offoreign educational ideas, the problem of ethnicity, the development of universities while planning for the future are among the topics discussed in the book. For this book, Dr Ikejiani was appointed an external examiner in the Faculty of Graduate Studies of two Nigerian Universities in their final examinations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. • Nkemdilim an impassioned novel ofthe struggle for liberation from ignorance and servitude and for independence and general improvement ofthe hero-Nkemdilim Okoye and the country he symbolises. Abukanze,a mythicalWestAfrican land. There is an in-depthand fine grasp of the ambiguous uncertainties and unsettled values of a twentieth century colony's struggle for, and the aftermath of its achievement of sovereignty. Equally searching is the social commentary on the institutions and the morals ofthe country where Nkemdilim studied • Nigeria: Political Imperative written by Dr O. Ikejiani and his daughter, who is a professor and head ofthe department of political science, is an ambitious complex work and profoundly realistic in its arguments and sensibilities. It represents a most courageous attempt to tell the Nigerian Political History like it is sordid, tragic and utterly discouraging in its details, yet hopeful in its recommendations. It contains a diagnostic analysis ofNigerian political events with hindsight of insiders and participant observers. It calls for a new federation that recognizes Nigerian realities, its heterogeneity and multi- culturalism. The micro- nationalism that plagues Nigerian politics cannot be solved until peace and functions ofthe micro-nations that make up the Nigerian Nation have been adequately addressed. It further warns against military rule in Nigeria. Dr Ikejiani is married with eight children. The mostsenior. Miriam is a professor and head ol" department of political science. Two ofthe boys are architects, another is a senior orthopaedic resident at Dalhousic and theyoungest son is a lawyer with the Ministry of Justice in the Province of Nova Scotia