Chinelo Anohu- Lawyer, Public Worker, and Manager
Chinelo Anohu- Lawyer, Public Worker, and Manager
Chinelo Anohu is a lawyer, public worker, and manager from Nigeria. She was the Director General and CEO of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) just before she left her job. She was on the Pension Reform Committee of 2004, which set up the contributory pension plan in Nigeria. She was named Head and Senior Director of the AfDB’s Africa Investment Forum in May 2019.
She was the first person to join the Africa Advisory group of the London stock exchange. In 2004, she was the first person in Nigeria to be PenCom’s first Legal Adviser. On December 14, 2014, she was officially named the commission’s Director General. She went to the University of Nigeria at Enugu and got a degree in law. She also has a master’s degree from the London School of Economics in Telecommunication and Information Technology. She went to the Executive Education Programs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the London Business School, the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and the Wharton University Business School.
Background
She is one of six kids in her family. Her father is a scientist, and her mother has a PhD in English language and works as a banker and teacher. Her mother is her role model. In an interview with the Nigerian Guardian, she said, “Well, I’m my mother’s daughter. This shows that I’m focused, driven, and have goals. But it also means I’m great at taking care of my home. My mother did well both at home and in the outside world. She cooks, bakes, and does everything else. She still cooks for my dad to this day, and she loves it. I grew up in a place where taking care of your own home wasn’t a big deal. As a child, I used to hide in my room and read a book. My father would find me and tell me, “You need to learn how to cook, wash clothes, and clean the house because you haven’t shown me that you can afford house help.”
Educational Background
Chinelo went to the University of Nigeria, Enugu, and got a Bachelor of Law in 1996. In 1997, she got her law degree from the Nigeria Law School. She went to the London School of Economics and got an LL.M in Computer and Communications Law in 2000. As part of her plan to learn more, she went to graduate school at Columbia University in 2008. In 2007, she went to school at Harvard’s J. F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2002, she went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School for executive studies.
Career
Chinelo is the official Director General and CEO of PenCom, a body with assets worth more than N5 billion, as of 2016. She was on the Pension Reform Team, which brought the contributory pension system to Nigeria. Before becoming the DG of the commission, she was the commission’s first Secretary and Legal Adviser. She was charged of moving money from a Pension Fund Administrator to a Pension Fund Administrator that her family owns. In a separate event, on August 11, 2016, the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped her from taking the case. She is a part of the Africa Advisory group of the London stock exchange.
In 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari fired her from her job as D.G. of PenCom. Also, in May 2019, the Nigerian House of Representatives wrote to the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to let them know that an investigation into alleged procurement irregularities during her time in office, as well as alleged abuse, breach, and violations of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, had begun.
