Ukaegbu, one of UN’s 100 most influential, African descent under 40 joins presidential race
Though he is yet to reveal his platform, a 35-year-old graduate of Biomedical Engineering and one of the UN’s 100 most influential people of African descent under 40, Chike Ukaegbu has announced his decision to contest the Presidency in 2019.
Taking a cue from the recently assented ‘Not Too Young To Run’ law, in which President Muhammadu Buhari begged youths to hold on till he finishes second term, the lion-hearted Owerri, Imo State-born resident technology entrepreneur in New York City, said industrialization holds the key to Nigeria’s emergence as a global player in the scheme of things.
According to him, “Greatness is born of vision that is, seeing the invisible and making it a reality. Nigeria needs a visionary leader now more than ever. This is our time and I am the right Ukaegbu named one of the UN’s 100 most influential people of African descent under 40.
Though he resides in US, Ukaegbu started his education journey here in Nigeria from the kindergarten through his second year at the University of Lagos, before heading to the United States, where he studied biomedical engineering at City College of New York.
He also bagged an Executive Leadership and Management at Cornell University, took MBA courses at University of Pennsylvania, and studied Venture Capital and Investments at Stanford University.
Business Hilights gathered that Ukaegbu has been recognised as one of Ten Nigerian-Americans Making Waves in Tech by Urban Geekz, an honoree of Black Enterprise’s 100 Modern Men of Distinction award, which referred to him as ‘The Tech Accelerator’.
He was named a NYC Rising Star by Pave; Patron of Progress by CuriosityLab; one of 20 African Americans Impacting The World Through Social Impact and Social Innovation by Causeartist; and was selected by the US Department of State to represent the US in China and Zambia as an entrepreneurship evangelist.
In his declaration, the latest entrant to 2019 Presidential race averred that “For every powerful nation, since industrialisation, the pillars of sustenance, competitiveness and wealth have been technology, education and entrepreneurship. These three pillars are interdependent and serve as the foundation on which all other elements of greatness are built upon.
“In all three, Nigeria lags behind, as it stands at an unfamiliar crossroad of two dissimilar paths. If the country is to be salvaged, then we all need to arise and elect Nigerians, who have the vision, strategy and compassion needed to serve and lead the people.”
He argued that there are several youths both in and out of the country that are not only qualified to lead the country to greatness, but also to disprove skeptics that claim the country lacks capable young people to steer the ship of state to safe, secure and sustainable harbor.
Ukaegbu therefore assured that if elected President in 2019, he would use the first two years to set the institutional and structural pillars that would sanitise the system, make for greater efficiency and good governance.
He was however silent on pairing with any well known politician that has declared also to run, but was resolute in taking Nigeria to the next level of development if elected next year.
