Eni Njoku was born on the 6th of November, 1917 and died on 22nd December, 1974. He was born in Ebem, Ohafia, Abia State. He is of Igbo origin. He attended his primary education at Esem Primary school. From 1933 to 1936, he attended the Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar.
He studied at the University of Manchester, England where he studied Botany and graduated with a first-clasd honours degree (1947). In 1948, he obtained his M.A degree and obtained his external doctorate degree the following year from the University of London. Other than being a botanist, he was an educator.
He took up a teaching appointment when he returned to Nigeria, at the now University of Ibadan. There, he taught Botany. At the opening of the college, there were only two Nigerians on the academic staff. He (Eni Nnoku) happened to be one of them. He studied photoperiodicity in tropical crops and plants,[5] and published several research papers on these topics. After this, he became a senior lecturer and then professor. In the department of Botany, faculty of science, he served as the head of department. From 1955 to 1962, he was a member of the University Council.
He was a Nigerian botanist and educator. He became the first vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos in the year 1962. In 1965 , he resigned due to a major crisis that occurred over his re-appointment. In 1966, he was appointed vice-chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He remained there until the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967.
He served in the Nigerian House of Representatives as federal minister of Mines and Power, and was chairman of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria.[citation needed] He was an emissary at OAU-sponsored peace talks.
During the civil war Njoku remained in Biafra as an advisor and administrator. He advocated for peaceful resolution of the civil war conflict. He was a leader of Biafran delegations to the Ad Hoc Constitutional Conference in Lagos (1966) and OAU-sponsored peace talks in Niamey and Addis Ababa (1968). When the war ended in 1970 he returned to teaching and research at the University of Nigeria. He served there until his death in 1974.
Eni Njoku was a pre-eminent Nigerian scholar, a teacher, an administrator, and a scientist. He pioneered the advancement and development of higher education and universities in Nigeria. He was very outspoken. He was referred to as “one of the most eminent of Nigerians” by Ashby who noted his “enlightened leadership of the University of Lagos. Njoku received international recognition as a scientist-educator through his leadership in the activities of UNESCO furthering higher education and training in West Africa.
Before his death, Njoku was married to Winifred O. Njoku who bored four children (three daughters and a son). His son, Eni G. Njoku, is a scientist who worked in the United States of America at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
