Chima Ekenyerengozi's Biography

Precocious and fine art child prodigy, *Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima*, now
47, is an award-winning Nigerian writer and producer. A member of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Chautauqua Literary and Scientific
Circle (CLSC), and Online News Association (ONA), New York, USA, he’s
Founder and President of the United Artists for Human Development (UAHD)
since 2000. He is also President/CEO of King of Kings Books International, a
duly registered Nigerian publishing company that launched the first King of
Kings Books International National Literary Scholarship Essay Competition
for Secondary Schools in Nigeria held at the University of Lagos on June 30,
2003.

E.M. Chima has been consistent with his extraordinary, albeit unsung
achievements. At 13, he won the first prize in a national essay competition
on “What I like Best about Nigeria” in 1976. At 17, he directed his first
play “The Prodigal” at the National Museum in Lagos and was interviewed in
the Times International news magazine of Nigeria. At 18 he became a
professional TV scriptwriter for Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) *Channel
10*, where he would write some 20 teleplays for the TV puppet drama from
1981 to 1984. At 20, he was selected to represent Nigeria at two
international book fairs for picture books in Japan; he single-handedly
sponsored Nigeria’s participation at the events. His “Captain Santana” comic
was later reviewed in *West Africa* newsmagazine in 1984. At 21, he was
commissioned by the Johns Hopkins University’s Population Communication
Services (JHU/PCS) as a public health illustrator for family planning
education. He produced nine family planning methods booklets in Pidgin
English, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba for low literacy families in Nigeria in
1984. Then in 1985, he was commissioned by the Programme of Appropriate
Technology in Health (PATH) based in Seattle, Washington, USA, to produce 3
booklets for safe formula-feeding and prevention of harmful traditional
practices. During this time he was in the employ of *Kiddies World* magazine
as Art/Features Editor. At 25, he was appointed a program consultant for the
 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and at 30, he directed and produced
a documentary on the popular Tejuoso Market in Yaba, Lagos, and coordinated
the Market Based Distribution of 100 Traders on Primary Health Care
Awareness in 1995. At 34, he took up appointment as Editor of
*Affections*international magazine, based in Lagos.

EM Chima’s first book *Children of Heaven* (Krystal Books)* *was published
in 1988 and launched at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
(NIIA) on the Victoria Island in Lagos. Reports were aired on the network
news of Radio Nigeria, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), with reviews
carried in *The Guardian* and *Punch*, leading Nigerian newspapers. From
1990 to 1993, he worked as a studio artist and full-time writer, with works
exhibited and sold at galleries and art exhibitions in Lagos. The Friedrich
Ebert Foundation included him in a group art exhibition at the University of
Lagos in 1992. In 1993, he became the IEC Officer of the Centre for
Education on Population, AIDS, and Drug Abuse (CEPADA), while he served as
curator and national coordinator of the Nigerian Network of NGOs (NNNGO)
1993 World AIDS Day Art Exhibition at the National Museum and National
Theatre in Lagos. In 1997, popular Nigerian model, author and celebrity
blogger Linda Ikeji, then 17, came to his editorial office where he guided
and motivated her in her tall ambition to be a world-class model and she
later became one of the highest paid models in Nigeria. He was the first
Managing Editor of her groundbreaking *Fashion, Modeling and Beauty* -- FM&B
Magazine -- for which he created a blog -- www.fmbmagazine.blogspot.com -- in
2006 before Linda took over blogging on her own popular Linda Ikeji Blog in
2007. Chima also discovered and motivated the popular Nollywood actor Emeka
Enyiocha from the early 1990s to date. Since 2000 to date, Chima has been
self-employed as an independent Producer and Director of TV/ Film and Music.
Back in 1998, he was Production Manager of “Money Wise” on DBN TV, Lagos,
Nigeria till the year 2000.

In 2002, he directed and produced “Sleepless Night,” a musical drama on the
late M.K.O. Abiola and the June 12 political impasse; it was sponsored by
Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation International magazine, the French
Cultural Centre and the United Artists for Human Development (UAHD) and “She
Comes on Sundays” a musical CD (2003) broadcast on the BBC in April 2003. He
is currently working on a feature documentary titled, “Winds of Fire, Winds
of Change: New Dawn in the Niger Delta” and a film, “Naked Beauty” on Bonny
Island in Nigeria. He has also started research for a film on “Mary Slessor”
the legendary Scottish missionary who fought to end the ritual killing of
twins among the people of Calabar and Akwa Ibom in South Eastern Nigeria in
the 19th century. Chima is the Publisher and Editor International Digital
Post Network (IDPN) LLC, the largest Nigerian online news and information
network of nearly 30 websites. He was the Managing Editor of the Fashion,
Modeling, and Beauty (FM&B) magazine and writes for other international
magazines and presently the Media Consultant of Supple magazine in Lagos,
Nigeria. He is the author of “Children of Heaven”, 1988 , “Scarlet Tears of
London”, 2006, “Memories of a Refugee Child”, 2007, “Bye Bye Mugabe”, 2008,
“ The Nigerian Fools Who Think They Can Fool God”, 2008 and the editor of
“The Language of True Love”, 2006. His next book “Barack Obama and the
American Dream” will be released in November 2010.E.M. Chima created Eko
International Film Festival (ekoifF) *www.ekoiff.com*
Address: Supple Magaziine
1, Bajulaiye Road, Shomolu, Lagos, Nigeria.
Tel: 234 7066379246