Pius Okigbo

Who was Pius Okigbo?

Pius Okigbo was an eminent Nigerian economist from Ojoto, Anambra State. Receiving his secondary schooling at Christ the King College, Onitsha, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics through private study, after, he proceeded to Northwestern University, where he earned an MA and Ph.D in Economics.

As a scholar, he contributed a great deal in propelling into academic discourse, new methods for solving African economic problems. He gained academic acclaim in Nigeria when he published a book on the national accounting standard of Nigeria. He was then appointed as the economic adviser to the governor of the Eastern region of Nigeria.

As an erudite scholar on public finance, he lent his service to public scholarship and policy, he was chairman in a number of Nigerian committees, particularly those dealing with the economic direction of the country. In 1994, as chairman of a committee to probe the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he released a report critical of the government's role in mismanaging 12.4 billion dollars of oil revenues accrued primarily to two special accounts. The panel's report is popularly known as the Okigbo report.