Austin Adiele Opara OFR , (born 29 August 1963) is a Nigerian politician of the People's Democratic Party. He was raised in Diobu, Port Harcourt and is of the Ikwerre ethnic group. [1]
Opara has a Higher National Diploma and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing option from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. He obtained his Master of Business Administration, from the same institution. In addition, he is certified in Public Financial Management and Mastering Negotiations from John F. Kennedy School of Government in the United States. [2] Austin Opara equally has a PhD degree in Political Marketing from Rivers State University, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Opara started as a lecturer with the Rivers State School of Basic Studies and later as Head of Purchasing Department at Horicon Dredging Nigeria Limited, Port Harcourt. [2]
In 1999, he was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Port Harcourt II (federal constituency). He was reelected in 2003 and served as the deputy speaker until 2007. While at the Assembly, he served also as deputy chairman of National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, sub-chairman of House Committee on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, member of House Committee on Petroleum, deputy chairman of House Committee on the Niger Delta Development Commission and member, House Committee on National Security and intelligence. [2]
In November 2015, Opara was appointed board chairman of the Rivers State Microfinance Agency. [3]
Rivers State University, formerly known as Rivers State University of Science and Technology, is a government-owned university located in Diobu area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Southern Nigeria.
Senator George Thompson Sekibo CON is a Nigerian senator who represents the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State. He became a member of the Nigerian Senate in 2007.
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Ipalibo Gogo Banigo in Obuama, Degema, Rivers State. She is a Nigerian medical doctor and politician who is the current senator representing Rivers West Senatorial District since 2023. She served as the first female deputy governor of Rivers State from 2015 to 2023.
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The Inauguration of Ezenwo Nyesom Wike as the 6th Governor of Rivers State took place on Friday, 29 May 2015 at the Liberation Stadium in Elekahia, Port Harcourt. The ceremony marked the beginning of the first four-year term of Ezenwo Nyesom Wike as Governor and Ipalibo Banigo as Deputy Governor.
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