The New School for Social Research, New York City (PhD) Timothy Uzodinma Nwala (born 20 March 1942) is a Nigerian professor of Philosophy.
[4] Uzodinma Nwala was born on 20 March 1942 in the bush in Itu town, Ezinihitte Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria.
"[15] Elizabeth Urasi Ehilegbu, née Nwosu, Uzodinma Nwala's mother, was a trader and one of the town's female leaders.
[13] Nwala later participated in a Commonwealth Fellowship program at Oxford University in Britain and was a Fellow of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, the capital of the now-defunct Soviet Union.
He made a speech to the United Nations in 1975 regarding the issues facing youth worldwide, under the sponsorship of the UN Economic and Social Council.
He was then named to a Special Committee to advise the UN on the steps to be taken to involve the Youths in world affairs by Kurt Waldheim, the UN Secretary-General at the time.
[2][12] He addressed the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on behalf of the World Youth and the Youth-related Organizations affiliated to the UN in 1975.
Sometime later in 1990, while Nwala was the Acting Head of the Philosophy Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he invited Peter Bodunrin to speak as the keynote speaker at an event.
Bodunrin said: It can be said with a good deal of justification that what has come to be respected today; African Philosophy, first received emphasis in the curriculum of this university.
[3] In 1978, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was founded by Nwala and two other youthful scholars, Biodun Jeyifo and Edwin Madunagu.
[13] In 1979, Nwala became a member of the Socialist Working Peoples Party (SWPP), which was led by the General Secretary, Dapo Fatogun.
Nwala delivered a presentation of the pamphlet "A Workers Party or A Popular Democratic Front: Which Way Forward for the Nigerian Left" at the Conference of Labour Leaders and Socialist Veterans in Calabar in 1989.
Nwala argued that in order to create a mass organization capable of opposing military dictatorship and freeing Nigeria from feudal dominance and oppression, a coalition comprising Marxists, Socialists, Liberals, Social Democrats, Labor Activists, Student Movements, Professionals, and the Radical Intelligence should be formed.
In the intense days of the conflict between the Nigerian people and the military dictatorship over the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential elections, Nwala's Popular Democratic Front was adopted in order to radicalize the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), founded by Lagos lawyer Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), and to form NADECO, the Campaign for Democracy (CD), and the Democratic Alternative (DA).
The book, published in 1997, was Nigeria: Path to Unity and Stability: The Abuja National Constitutional Conference 1994-5: Background, Issues and Personal Reminiscences.
The Institute of Civil Society (ICS), which he and Ekwueme founded, served as the foundation for G-34's formation..[2] Nwala authored the initial drafts of the G-34 Memorandum.
Nwala, a senior lecturer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka by 1998, took time off from his teaching responsibilities to assist in founding the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the height of the G-34 movement.
From September 1998 to 1999, he served as the PDP's Foundation National Director of Organization and Strategy, where he was in charge of establishing the party's structures.
[26][27] The perceived challenges that Ndigbo face in Nigeria and around the world, along with the unstable nature of the Nigerian federation, served as inspiration for this initiative.
[13] Nwala was the National President of the Uhuru Research Council (One of the Founding Organizations and an Affiliate of Campaign for Democracy – CD)(1983 – Date); pioneer member of the G-34, and the Peoples Democratic Party.
he is the President and Founder of Conference of Democratic Scholars (CODES) Global Foundation for Climate Change, Good Governance and Social Development (2009 – Date); President, Conference of Democratic Scholars (CODES) (2000-Present) (it is a Think Tank Group that has been active in campaign for Constitutional and Electoral Reforms in Nigeria from 2001 – Date); Member, Board of Trustees, Otonti Nduka Foundation for Moral and Ethical Education (2006 – Date); Member and Research Director, United Kingdom Committee on African Reparations Movement (1993); Member, 10-Man Committee on Academic Freedom and Human Rights set up at CODESRIA Conference on Academic Freedom in Africa, held at Kampala, 1990; Project Director, Imo State Committee against Apartheid (1984 – 1986); Founder of the William Amo Center for African Philosophy (1990); Executive General Secretary, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) (1980 – 1982) (Responsible for laying the foundation of modern ASUU in Nigeria, organizing its first strike in 1981-2); and Founder/Chairman, Nigerian Study Group, New York, 1975 –1977.
[13] Nwala was conferred with the Aime Cesaire Award on African Philosophy by the Nigerian Philosophical Association on October 23, 2012 at Abuja.