ONYEKURU, NwaJesus Anthony

ONYEKURU NwaJesus Anthony is a professor of Resource and Environmental Economics with the Department of Agricultural Economics University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Senior Research Fellow of the Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds a National Diploma in Agricultural Technology, from Michael Okpara College of Agriculture, Umuagwo, Imo State, Nigeria. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics (First Class) and an M.Sc in Resource and Environmental Economics, both from the University of Nigeria. He also has a Ph.D in Evironmental Science from the University of York, United Kingdom. He has worked extensively on the impact of climate change and adaptation/mitigation strategies across Nigeria and West Africa. He has also focused on sustainable forest resource use and management, plastic waste pollution reduction and recycling. His research in relation to energy are focused on cooking energy use, efficiency and transition among Nigerian households, including the use and adoption of improved cookstove among rural and urban households. He has recently worked in the areas of carbon pricing and policy in Nigeria and Ghana. Some of his current interests in the area of energy are sustainable low carbon   transition and designing clean cooking policy for Nigeria. He has published several journal and book chapter in both local and international  peer reviewed journals and books and has presented several papers in local and international conferences.

Research interest

His research interests are in the areas of climate change impact, adaptation / mitigation and policy, sustainable energy use, circular economy, carbon pricing and forest resource use and management. Particularly, he focuses on the nexus of cooking energy use, pricing, efficiency. just transition, policy and livelihood. Also, on the political economy of global carbon financing, with emphasis on policy frameworks for achieving equity between the northern and the southern economies

Mentoring (PhD students and masters)

Prof NwaJesus Onyekuru has devoted a major part of his post PhD career to mentorship and capacity building for postgraduate students and young academics through targeted and intentional platforms  which he has created over the years. He has successfully supervised eight PhD and six masters students and is currently supervising five PhD and two masters students. He has also mentored several other students and young academics in the areas of capacity building, scholarship, grant and proposal writing, publications and career development 

Some Completed and Ongoing Grants

Some of the grants he has successfully implemented are:

1. Principal Investigator in Eco-regional assessment and mapping of climate change impact and adaptation in West Africa
2. Member in the project on Assessing climate smart Agricultural Practices in Nigeria
3. Principal Investigator in Estimation of Participation and welfare impacts of REDD+ community-based pilot projects in Nigeria
4. Member of the research team on Gender based analysis of the impact of COVID 19 pandemic on income and food security of households in Nigeria
5. Principal Investigator in the research on Engendering behavioural change and incentive based policy options for plastic waste reduction in Nigeria
6. Member of the research team on Policy research partnership for pragmatic evaluation for climate change adaptation and development models in Agricultural Energy sector in Africa
7. Exploring the prospects of effective carbon tax implementation in Nigeria: A choice modeling

Consultancies

• Consultant to the House Committee on Renewable Energy, Federal House of Representative, National Assembly Abuja
• Consultant to the House Committee on Climate Change, Federal House of Representative, National Assembly Abuja

• Consultant to the Imo State Government on the development of an agricultural policy for the state 2021 till date
• Consultant to the Igbo Bu Igbo sociocultural organization on the drafting of the agricultural roadmap for the Eastern Region 2020 to 2021
• Member of the research team on assessing the future cassava supply and demand projections and effective use of the cassava residues as energy resources in Nigeria. Sponsored by the Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (PRIMAFF), Japan
• Research on the use and prospect of Improved cookstove in South Eastern Nigeria, sponsored by the African Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, 2016 – 2017
• A member of the Agricultural Policy Research Network Technical Group on the analysis of the Nigerian annual budget, 2009 till date
• Member of the research team on the impact of climate extreme even on the incidence of poverty in Nigeria,  sponsored by Climate Analytics, Germany,2015 – 2016
• Member of the research team on cost-effective agriculture growth options

for poverty reduction in Nigeria 2011, by African Institute of Applied Economics

• Member of the research team on the Assessment of the Incidence of Climate

Change and Indigenous Innovative Adaptation Measures in Northern

Nigeria, sponsored by African Technology Policy Studies Network    2011

• Member of the research team on the Assessment of Indigenous Climate Change Adaptation Practices in Smallholder-Agriculture of Southeast Nigeria

            sponsored by African Technology Policy Studies Network    2011

Policy engagements

• Member of the National Clean Cooking Committee on the development of a Clean Cooking Policy for Nigeria, I am the only academic appointed into the committee in Nigeria, 2021 – 2022
• Member representing University of Nigeria in the Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cooking (NACC) 200 till date
• Consultant to the Friedrick Ebert Stiftung Foundation on the development of the climate change bill for Nigeria, 2017
• Consultant to the Friedrick Ebert Stiftung Foundation on the formation of the coalition of labour and civil societies on climate change advocacy,  2017

Awards

1. Student with the Greatest Sense of Responsibility Award, 1993, Government Secondary School, Karu Abuja, Nigeria
2. Federal Government of Nigeria Scholarship Award, 2002
3. Best Graduating Student Award, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 2004
4. Commonwealth Scholarship Award, 2010