Okoya, Ex-Minister Dies At 92

A former Minister of Transport in the old Eastern Region, Chief Ezekiel Okoya, is dead. He was 92 years.

Okoya, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Clan in Bayelsa, died at his residence at 38 Aba Road, Port Harcourt.

One of his sons, Mr Pappah Okoya who spoke with our correspondent on telephone said that his father died in his sleep on Dec. 5, explaining that the remains of the former minister had been deposited at the Kpaima Mortuary along Elechi Beach Street in Port Harcourt.

Okoya was a three-time minister in the old Eastern Region in the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroon (NCNC).

Okoya was born in 1919 at Bumoudi in the Ekpetiama Clan in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

He had his primary school education at Bumoundi, Tombia and Proctor Memorial School, Kaiama in 1937 and later attended the prestigious Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha and CMS Teachers Training College, Awka.

In 1944, Okoya became a second master at St. Michael’s School Okrika and later became a senior tutor in New Bethel College, Onitsha between 1949 and 1951.

He was a member of the Eastern Region House of Assembly for 14 years as well as the House of Representatives in Lagos.

Okoya was also a minister in the NCNC-controlled Eastern Nigerian Government in a Enugu for 12 years, where he served in the Ministry of Transport between 1954 and 57, Ministry of Health from 1957 to 19 61 and the Ministry of Health between 1961 and 1966.

Pappah Okoya told newsmen that the burial rites of his father would be announced at a later date after, due consultations by the family and the community.