Eleazer Chukwuemeka Anyaoku, CFR, CON, born 18 January 1933, is a highly renowned Nigerian diplomat of Igbo descent. The technocrat, who has just turned 85, was the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. Born in Obosi, Idemili-North local government area of Anambra state, Emeka Anyaoku was educated at Merchants of Light School, MOLS Oba, and attended the University College of Ibadan. Aside from his international career, Chief Anyaoku continues to fulfill the duties of his office as Ichie Adazie of Obosi, a traditional Ndichie chieftainship.
In 1959, Anyaoku joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) in Lagos and was sent to the CDC headquarters in London from where he went on a course at the Royal Institute for Public Administration in London. Anyaoku was posted back to the CDC West Africa regional office in Lagos at the end of December 1960.
In early 1962, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa persuaded Anyaoku to join the Nigerian Foreign Service. Within a month of his entry, he was appointed Personal Assistant to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for External Affairs. There he was closely involved in the process that led to the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) in May 1963 and was later posted to its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
In 1966, he joined the Commonwealth Secretariat as Assistant Director of International Affairs. In 1977, the Commonwealth Heads of Government elected him as Deputy Secretary-General. In 1983, the Shehu Shagari government appointed Anyaoku to become Nigeria’s Foreign Minister. After the overthrow of the government by the military later that year, he returned to his position as Deputy Secretary-General.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Kuala Lumpur in 1989, Anyaoku was elected the third Commonwealth Secretary-General. He was re-elected at the 1993 CHOGM in Limassol for a second five-year term, beginning on 1 April 1995.
On his retirement, the University of London established a professional chair at its Institute of Commonwealth studies named after him, the Emeka Anyaoku Professor of Commonwealth Studies. He was also invited to be a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics (2000-2002). He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 1998 and has received decorations from Nigeria CFR and CON, and the highest national civilian honours of Cameroon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia and Trinidad & Tobago’s Trinity Cross (TC) as well as Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) from her Majesty, The Queen in 2000.
Emeka Anyaoku is a published author and now holds 33 honorary Doctorate degrees from top universities in Britain, Canada, Ghana, Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Switzerland and Zimbabwe. He is happily married to a Yoruba lady and they have four children.
