Biography of Eze Simpson Osuagwu PhD. July 5, 2021

Eze Simpson Osuagwu was born on the 31st October 1965 in Lagos, to Ebenezar and Rhoda Osuagwu of Umunnah clan in Umuome village of Umuguma town in West Local Government Area of in Nigeria. At the last count he has earned 11 academic degrees spanning through 7 disciplines; Statistics, Economics, Law, Accounting, Administration of Human Services, Public Policy and Business Administration. He completed his secondary education at a very young age of fourteen at Emmanuel College, Owerri Imo State Nigeria and proceeded to Los Angeles California in the United States for further Studies immediately. He was carried away by youthful exuberance and returned back to Nigeria in November 1985. As the youngest son he was very close to his father. The death of his father in August 1986 struck a heavy blow on him to turn a new leaf and to take matters more seriously.

With the support of his mother and siblings he restructured himself to write the Joint Matriculation Examination to be admitted to old Imo State University, now Uturu to study Statistics in 1987. He graduated in 1991 as the best graduating student with a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics. After completing his National Youth Service in Kebbi State he went to Lagos, where he obtained employment with the Nigerian Postal Service as a Personnel Officer – Statistics in November 1992.

Moving on, he took the qualifying examination for postgraduate school at the University of Lagos to study Economics. He was one of the 17 students accepted from a highly competitive exam for Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Economics since his bachelor’s degree was not in Economics. He completed his PGD in Economics in 1996 and wrote another qualifying exam for admission to full-time master’s program in Economics. He was accepted to a class of distinguished 37 students from over twenty-eight universities with four first class students. He graduated in 1998 with a Master of Science degree in Economics. He was the second-best graduating student in the class. In the year 2000, University of Lagos offered him admission for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics and a Graduate Teaching Fellowship.

Earlier, in 1996 Eze had passed the qualifying Examination for the Law program at the University of Lagos and at the same time but chose to attend Lagos State University because of his academic involvement with University of Lagos at the time. He combined his Master of Science program in Economics at University of Lagos Akoka and his Law degree program at Lagos State University, Ojo. Upon completing his master’s degree in Economics, he continued the Law degree program, pursuing both his doctoral degree in Economics and Law degree at the same time at different schools. He graduated in excellent grades in 2002 with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and proceeded to the Law school in 2003. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2004 as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court. He returned back to University of Lagos upon his graduation from Law School and was offered full academic appointment as a Lecturer in the Department of Economics. He continued his PhD program under the supervision of Professor Siyanbola Tomori.

Eze became an American citizen in 2009 and proceeded for more academic feats in the United States where he obtained an Associate degree in Accounting and Business Administration from the Delaware County Community College in Media Pennsylvania in 2012 and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts (ALB) in Economics at Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts in 2015. Meanwhile, he was coming to Nigeria as needed to complete his doctoral thesis and was awarded a PhD in Economics by the University of Lagos in 2013/2014 academic session. Dr. Eze Osuagwu returned again to Nigeria in 2016 to take up teaching appointment at Ota. He taught Development Economics, Econometrics and Macroeconomics to undergraduate and postgraduate students. After a brief stay in Nigeria, he went back to the United States in 2018 as a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Development Studies in Wilmington Delaware. He obtained other degrees at Wilmington University; a Master of Science in Administration of Human Services and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2017 and 2019 respectively. He registered for another Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Public Policy – Economic Policy Cognate at Liberty University Lynchburg Virginia in 2019.

Eze has published extensively in reputable journals, which includes Research in International Business and Finance, African Development Review, Journal of Politics and Law, SAGE Open, and PLOS One (to mention but a few), all indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. He has attended conferences and presented papers at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington DC. He is a certified Sustainable Development Expert by the World Bank Group, Washington DC. He is currently an Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Development Economics in Nigeria and a Professor at the International Institute for Development Studies in Wilmington Delaware, United States. He is a Reviewer for the following world class journals: African Development Review, SAGE, Environmental Science and Pollution Research and PLOS One.

He lives in Wilmington Delaware United States with his wife, Celestina whom he met in his undergraduate Statistics class and they are blessed with four children; Ezenwa – 2019 Penn State graduate and a United States Army Second Lieutenant, Ikechukwu a Computer Scientist and 2020 graduate of Villanova University, Onyinyechi – senior at University of Delaware and Uchechi – a freshman at Pennsylvania State University. Eze attributes his entire success to having a good family; his wife especially for being a pillar of support and his children for following directions.

He is a strong advocate for residential reentry of inmates in transition from Federal prisons in the United States and early childhood education at the Red Clay School District in Wilmington Delaware. Above all, he is actively engaged in Community Development activities at his home town Umuguma in Owerri, Imo State Nigeria, where he operates his law firm – Umunnah Chambers.