Born on 26th February 1934. Chief Phillip Asiodu attended King’s College, Lagos with top grades before proceeding to Queen’s College, Oxford where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics(PPE).

Chief Phillip Asiodu entered the Nigerian Foreign Service at the age of 23 and rose to be Chancellor, Nigerian Mission to the UN in New York at the dawn of Nigeria’s independence. He was also a Nigerian Representative in the Provisional Secretariat of the newly formed OAU.  Now a renowned diplomat and bureaucrat, he moved over to the domestic Civil Service in 1964, where he was appointed Federal Permanent Secretary, in what was to culminate in the legendry top career that earned Asiodu (and one or two others) the sobriquet, Super Permanent Secretary. In 1983, he was appointed Special Adviser to the President (Shagari) and Chairman Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, returning to the similar post of Chief Economic Adviser to the President (Obasanjo) in 1999; in between, he was Secretary (Minister) for Petroleum and Mineral Resources in the Transitional Council of 1992/93, and in 2001-2005, he served as a member of the Honorary Presidential Advisory Council on investment. He joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998, became a Trustee of the party, and in 1999 contested nomination as the part’s Presidential candidate: he was unsuccessful. He has served as Chairman and ear Trustee at different times on the Nigerian Conservation, WWF International and the National Committee of the World Energy Council. In private business, he has also served as Director or Chairman of several corporations, subsidiaries of multinationals; mainly manufacturing, oil, and banking sub-sectors.

Asiodu exudes great knowledge and confidence: he has indeed played high profile and leadership roles in the planning and implementation of Nigeria’s oil and gas policies, beginning with negotiations for Nigeria’s admission into OPEC, 1971. His other achievements in this sector include the establishment of NNOC, the recruitment of several Nigerian graduates for training abroad in oil technology, the partial nationalization of oil exploration and production, the decision in 1975 to establish two LNG plants, to build refineries in Warri and Kaduna, establish the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Warri (with Russian help).

Asiodu, is a past President of the Nigerian Economic Society; life Honorary Vice President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute. Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management, Nigerian Institute of Directors and Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Mining & Geosciences. He has been at different times President of the Nigerian-German Business Council, Chairman Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Board of Patrons and of its Policy and Governance Commission. He was also the recipient of the national honours of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering.

SPECIALIZATIONS

• Planning and Implementation of Nigerian Oil & Gas Policies