Chinedum Orji

Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji was born on December 25, 1970, to the family of Senator Theodore Orji and Chief Mrs. Odochi Orji of Amaokwe in Ugba village, Ugba Autonomous Community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. Chinedum attended Ugba Community Primary School, Umuahia Ibeku between 1976 and 1982, from where he proceeded to Government Secondary School, Owerri, between 1982 and 1987. He gained admission into the Federal University of Technology Owerri where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering in 1996.[4]

Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji is a Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (MNSE), the umbrella organization for the Engineering Profession in Nigeria.[5]

Before he threw his hat into the ring of politics, Rt Hon Chinedum E. Orji MNSE had carved a niche for himself as a philanthropist extraordinaire who touched the lives of the people through his numerous philanthropic interventions that saw to the execution of projects and donation of items that directly touched the lives of the people through his Direct Touch Initiative which also saw to the empowerment of many Abians particularly the youth and women through skills acquisition for which he has received many awards and commendations.

Having endeared himself to the people, it became easy for him to emerge as the Lawmaker representing Umuahia Central State Constituency at the Abia State House of Assembly at the 2015 general elections and served as Majority Leader of the House till 2019 when he was re-elected into the 7th Assembly. On June 10, 2019, Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji emerged as Speaker of the 7th Abia State House of Assembly making him the number three citizen of the State. He is a member of the People's Democratic Party.[6] Orji ran for Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the February 25, 2023 House of Representatives election but lost to his opponent Obi Aguocha of the Labour Party who polled 48,199 votes to defeat Orji who scored 35,195 votes.[7]

In 2019, Chinedum Orji started the renovation of the Abia State House of Assembly. It was his first project in his second term in office.[8] Orji also facilitated the live streaming of Plenary sessions was commended by several media platforms.[9] During his leadership the Abia State House of Assembly passed the Abia State House of Assembly Service Commission Bill (HAB1 2019) into law. The Abia State House of Assembly Commission Service bill grants the house financial autonomy.[10][11] As speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, he passed over 17 bills which included the Bills on financial autonomy of the Abia State House of Assembly, the Abia State Agency for free home healthcare services and the Abia State security bill.[12] The Abia State Protection Agency Bill 2019 was also passed into law as well as the Abia State Safety Commission Bill, Abia State Donor Agencies Trust Fund Bill, Abia State Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill 2019, Abia State Marketing and Quality Management Agency Bill 2019 and the Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre Umuahia Bill 2019.[13][14]

On the 17th of October, Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji was honoured with The Sun Public Service Award 2020 award, by The Sun Publishing Ltd, publishers of The Daily Sun Newspapers for touching lives[15][16][17]

Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji is a Knight of the Anglican Communion.[18][19]