INTRODUCTION
Anyim Chukwu Ude was born on June 1, 1941, and was elected to serve as a Senator for the Ebonyi South constituency in Ebonyi State, Nigeria, on May 29, 2007. He took office on that date. He identifies with the People’s Democratic Party as his political affiliation (PDP)
- Advertisement -
CAREER
Senator Ude had a lengthy and successful career in the Nigerian public service for a total of 42 years before being elected to the Senate. He has a wealth of expertise in public service, particularly in areas pertaining to the media, and he has worked as a journalist, broadcaster, and administrator. In 1960, he joined the public service of what was then known as Eastern Nigeria as a clerk. Three years later, in May 1965, he joined the Eastern Nigeria Information Service, which was then known as Nigerian Outlook’s printers and publishers, as a reporter. In 1970, when the Nigerian Civil War came to an end, he began his training as a journalist and broadcaster in Nigeria and other countries.
After that, he worked for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the East Central State Broadcasting Service (ECBS), the Imo Broadcasting Service (IBS), and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Senator Ude was the first General Manager of Radio Nigeria, Owerri (1981–1985), the first Director-General of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (1985–1991), the first Director-General of the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia State (1991–1996), the first Chief Executive of the Ebonyi Broadcasting Service, and the first Honorable Commissioner for Commerce, Industry, and Tourism for the state of Ebonyi. He also served as the first Governor of Ebonyi State (1997–1999). Ude was the Chief Executive Officer of numerous Broadcasting Establishments for a total of 16 and a half years, making him the Chief Executive Officer with the longest tenure in Nigeria’s unpredictable Broadcasting Industry.
He held a number of different special posts between the years 1984 and 2003. They include Director of Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia (1984–1987), Member of the Special Advisory Committee to the Federal Government on Electronic Media Operations (1989–1993), Member of the Central Working Committee of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria, BON (1987–1997), Chairman of Zone ‘E’ of BON, which comprises the Eastern States, and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze in Anambra State. These positions (2000–2003).
- Advertisement -
In addition to his role as an appointed Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, he served as the previous President-General of the Old Afikpo Union (OAU), which is today’s Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone. Between the years 1994 and 2000, he served as Chairman of the Presbyterian Joint Hospital in Uburu, which is located in the Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. In addition to that, he is a member of the Advisory Council that is provided to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Nigeria. In the year 2000, then-President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded him the title of Member of the Order of the Niger, and in 2005, he was chosen to be one of the six delegates who would represent Ebonyi State at the National Political Reform Conference.
Ude was appointed Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation shortly after he was sworn in as a senator in June 2007, and he currently serves on four other Senate committees, including those dealing with defense and the army, land transportation, capital markets, and culture and tourism. As the Chairman of the Aviation Committee, he was at the center of the successful effort to elevate Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu to the status of an international airport. This was accomplished with his leadership. In addition, he was a significant contributor to the ultimate payment of pensions and gratuities to employees of the now-defunct Nigeria Airways, just as he is currently contributing to the payment of compensation to the families of those who perished in the aviation crash in 2005/2006. In addition to this, the Committee looked into how the Aviation Intervention Fund was used and how the money was spent.
In the Senate, he served as the primary sponsor of the Social Security Bill. On the floor of the Senate, he was also responsible for the introduction of several motions. After an incident in April 2010 in which a driver crashed into an airplane that was about to take off in Calabar, Ude raised concern about security gaps at the nation’s airports in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation.