A leading light of the intellectual community Professor Anya Oko Anya is a multi-dimensional personality, statesman, scientist and Boardroom Guru. Although his academic background is in the core sciences, he has relentlessly served our country, Nigeria in numerous ways.
His career odyssey in the academic environment is enthralling. He spent 37 years in the Ivory Tower; becoming a Professor at age 36 and was so for 29 years, before he retired in 2002. He was Professor of Zoology and the Life Sciences at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, former Dean of its Faculty of the Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dean of the Postgraduate School and member of the Council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Among other positions and appointments, he remains famous for the School of Postgraduate Studies which he founded and became its first Director and Chief Executive.
Born in January,3,1937 at Abiriba, Abia State of Nigeria, Young Anya obtained his secondary and tertiary education variously at the famed Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar; University College, Ibadan and Cambridge University, England – obtaining a Ph.D. in 1965 from the Cambridge University.
An accomplished Chartered Biologist and Parasitologist, some of his significant research breakthroughs include;
- A comprehensive review of reproduction in nematode which more than forty years later remains a classic in the physiology and biochemistry of helminthes.
- With his student Professor A.B.C.Nwosu established target age/target population technique in helminth ecology which is the basis of selective chemotherapy, promoted by W.H.O as an innovation that radically reduced the cost of community based helminth control and epidemiology, hence affordable in the poorest rural communities.
From academia, he veered into the corporate world where he established a reputation as a formidable boardroom colossus in quite a number of blue-chip companies.
He is the founding Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and until recently he served on the Board of Directors and the Board of Patrons of the Organization.
He has served in numerous National capacities and he is a recipient of several awards which include: Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) and Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). Fellow, Nigeria Academy of Science, Honorary Doctor of Science; Honorary Doctor of Literature and Honorary Doctor of Letters.
He was the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award and former President of the Nigerian Academy of Science.
Professor Anya continues to proffer high-minded solutions to Nigeria’s numerous developmental challenges. Professor Anya O. Anya is happily married with children.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to invite this eminent intellectual, Scientist and authority of contemporary affairs to receive the HLF Role Model Award for Outstanding Contributions in Science and Public Affairs.
Accept our hearty congratulations!