Jekwu Ozoemene

Nigerian Banker, Poet and Playwright, Jekwu Ozoemene, is from Awka in Awka-South Local Government Area of Anambra State Nigeria. Born in Lagos, Nigeria on February 26, 1973, he grew up in Vienna, Austria where he lived with his parents until 1979. Jekwu attended Federal Government College Enugu Nigeria. He later earned a degree in English from the University of Lagos Akoka-Yaba in Lagos and was a prominent member and coordinator of the foremost theatre group on campus at the time, the Theatre 15 Unilag (also known as T15). He went on to obtain a Specialist MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Jekwu was inspired to write his first collection of poetry while listening to Professor Karen King Aribisala’s reading of D.H. Lawrence’s Snake in her ‘Practical Criticism’ Class of 1993 at the University of Lagos. In addition he has written six unpublished stage plays; Nightmare (1996), Hell’s Invitation (1997), This Time Tomorrow (1998), Objections Overruled (2000), We Will Live (an adaptation of Hell’s Invitation) in 2008 and The Anger of Unfulfillment (2010). Four of the plays have since been staged on several occasions in Nigeria, most of which have featured at the prestigious Muson Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. Three of these plays are due to be published in October 2010 under the title, ‘The Anger of Unfulfillment – Tales Out of Nigeria’.

Jekwu currently lives in Port Harcourt, Nigeria with his wife and two young children. He enjoys reading, running, body building, watching movies and stage plays, and facilitating youth mentoring programs. He also teaches Project & Real Estate Finance at the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) in Lagos.