Oranu, Chizoba Obianuju

Chizoba Obianuju Oranu is a Senior Research Fellow at  the Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre – Environment for Development (REPRC-EfD) and the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is a postdoctoral researcher with the Climate Policy for Development (CPfD) Collaborative under the EfD global network. She has a Master’s in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, after completing a one-year master’s mobility programme at Mekelle University, Ethiopia, under the Trans-disciplinary Training for Resource Efficiency and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (TRECCAfrica) intra-ACP Mobility scheme. She obtained her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Malawi, under the Regional Universities Forum (RUFORUM) Graduate Teaching Assistantship program.

Her work has explored diverse themes such as clean cooking energy transitions, women’s empowerment in the energy sector, voluntary carbon markets, climate finance, agricultural productivity under conflict, forest governance, and sustainable livelihoods. She has collaborated with policymakers, academic institutions, and international organizations to generate evidence that supports inclusive and sustainable policy design. She has coordinated and contributed to multi-country research projects, stakeholder engagement activities, policy dialogues, and capacity-building initiatives across Africa. His research outputs combine empirical analysis with strong policy relevance, contributing to ongoing debates on climate resilience, energy access, gender equality, and sustainable development.

Research Interest

Chizoba’s research focuses on a broad range of issues in resource, environmental, and development economics, with particular focus on climate change, forestry, energy transitions, pollution, poverty, food security, and gender.

Grants for Ongoing and Previous Projects

1. Unlocking Energy Transitions: The Case for Granular Market-Level Energy Price Data in Sub-Saharan Africa. Funded by SIDA through the CPfD EfD collaborative (2025 – 2027) (Co – Principal Investigator)
2. Electric Vehicle Uptake in Response to Tariff Changes: A cross-country analysis – (Funded by SIDA) (2025 – 2027) (Collaborator)
3. Developing and piloting measurement of gendered empowerment energy Index (GEEI): Mixed-methods insights from Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda (Funded by SIDA) – 2025 – 2027 (Co-principal investigator)
4. Innovative Climate Finance for Unlocking Development and Equity in Africa (Funded by IDRC) (Collaborator)
5. Africa Think Tank Platform (ATTP) Project, under the RAISED Africa - Research Alliance for Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Development Consortium - (Economic Research Forum (ERF), Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) and Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre (REPRC), EfD Nigeria, University of Nigeria, Nsukka)
6. Exploring the potential and Challenges of the Voluntary Carbon Market in Global South - (funded by IDRC)
7. The Geopolitics of Climate Change-Linked Risks & Transformations (Funded by GIZ)
8. MS1309- The Gender Analysis of the Impact of Armed Banditry on Agricultural Productivity and Household Food Security of Smallholder Farmers in Nigeria: Evidence from Nigeria Panel Data - Funded by SIDA through Environment for Development Initiative
9. MS1483- Empowering Households for Clean Energy: The Impact of Women's Empowerment on the usage of cleaner fuels in selected countries of Sub-Saharan Africa- Funded by SIDA through Environment for Development Initiative.
10. Agricultural crops productivity shocks, adaptation pathways, and implications- (Funded by World Resources Institute, WRI) - (Collaborator)
11. Evaluating the impact of CGIAR-related agricultural innovations in Nigeria. (Funded by Special Panel for Impact Assessment- SPIA) – (Collaborator)
12. Building Sustainable and Synergistic Evidence for Informed Policy in East and West Africa (Funded by Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) and Hewlett Foundation) – (Collaborator)
13. Assessing the value of time savings from women’s use of clean energy solutions. Collaborative study with Duke University, North Carolina. (Funded by Shell Foundation) – 2024 – 2026 (Collaborator)
14. Exploring Carbon Tax Implementation (choice experiment) in Nigeria (Climate for Policy Development, Seed project) – 2025 – 2026 (Collaborator)
15. Determining the Optimal Carbon Pricing Policy for Nigeria, (Climate for Policy Development, Seed project) – 2025 – 2026 (Collaborator)
16. Consumer Impact Research Study in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda by Collaborative Labelling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP), Kenya – 2025- 2026 (Co-Principal Investigator)
17. Smallholder farmers’ preferences and willingness to accept compensation to reduce deforestation. Carnegie research grant through the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM)
18. Comparative analysis of the effect of climate variability on Maize production in Ethiopia and Nigeria. Funded by Transdisciplinary Training for Resource Efficiency and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (TRECCAfrica) under the European Commission Intra-ACP Mobility -

Policy Engagement

1. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) policy workshop in Abuja for developing and including NCA into Nigeria’s policies, plans, and programs, organised by Resource and Environment Policy Research Centre (REPRC).