Nigerian colonel in US Army honoured with award

In April 1971, an 18-year-old boy born in Enyiogugu, Mbaise, Imo State, landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States of America with just $10 in his pocket and a gargantuan determination to succeed in life. It was an ambition that pumped in his heart, propelled by the love of his parents and 13 siblings.
Working full time night jobs, including washing dishes in restaurants on some days, he endured deprivations, scrimped and saved to pay his way through college, after being adequately prepared by the sound moral training he received from reverend fathers that taught him at Holy Ghost College, Owerri, a Catholic academy that once produced morally upright, well-educated adolescents who moved on life to become professionals and public servants desperately needed by post-Second World War Nigeria, at a time the country was burning with the quest for independence from Britain.
“In a way, I have been on my own since I was about 13 years old. You could say that I learned to solve my problems, focus on my objectives, and strive to be the best that I can be,” Colonel Edwin Njoku recalled in an interview with this reporter in 2003, soon after he became the first African in the United States army to rise to the rank of a colonel. In the intervening years, he held various positions of increasing responsibility, several of which were very strategic to the national security of the United States, and put in a total of 28 meritorious years before retiring in 2013.

  As at 2003, he was one of the only two black people certified by the American Board of Health Physics. And has since been a diplomat of the American Academy of Health Physics.

Njoku’s natural quest for higher education in America took him through Worcester Junior College, Worcester, Massachusetts, University of Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York and Hunter College, New York, New York, the various institutions where he obtained the following degrees – AS, BS, MS and MSc. His postgraduate studies focused on Nuclear Science/Radiological Physics, Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Engineering Technology.
Upon enlisting in the US Army at graduate level, he attended the officer advanced professional training at the US Command and General Staff College as well as the US Army Chemical School and the Air War College.
His experience in nuclear science would ultimately play a significant role in the Middle East and Korea, two troubled regions where he served when former US President George W. Bush, Jnr. sought to resolve the global challenge posed by Iraq’s dreaded possession of nuclear materials and other chemical weapons of mass destruction. Understandably, and for obvious reasons too, Njoku bluntly refuses to talk about his work in this regard, but happily explains why he branched into nuclear science: “I chose the nuclear field because it appeared fascinating and I liked the challenge. It has turned out to be a distinctive choice. It prepared me to work in nuclear power plants, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology, military applications effects, and plain scientific research. The industrial hygiene and environmental engineering programs were pursued for the sake of gaining an overview of what my employees were doing. I hated to be ignorant of the work I was tasking people to do.”
Njoku’s ride through the US military establishment began on a tennis court, he says with a smile, recalling how it happened: “I joined the US Army in 1985 after several months of prodding by a Lt. Colonel Ezell Ware (now a Major General) who used to play tennis with me. He admired my academic qualifications and was bent on selling the advantages of joining the military. He kept pushing on what the military could do for me, including showing me the world. I finally gave in and accepted a direct commission. I went in as a 1st Lieutenant and was promoted to a Captain a month later.
“Considering the way everything has turned out, he was right. The US Army delivers on its promises. The US military, despite its shortcomings, represents the most ideal organization ever created by mankind. It provides an environment where people can rise according to their abilities, irrespective of race or national origin. Enlisted soldiers do not have to be citizens to join the army but they may not be placed in sensitive positions. They, however, have to be permanent residents. As at 2003, we did not have many African-born officers in the military. Among us, I happen to be the first to attain the rank of Colonel. But I have worked hard to see an increase in that number, particularly among people with medical backgrounds. Today there are several Nigerians in the US military. In fact, there are three other enlisted Njoku (s) in the army.”

Altogether, by serving in these various capacities, one of Njoku’s major contributions was in the area of emergency medical response to weapons of mass destruction. Under his leadership, more than 1000 physicians, nurses, and other emergency response personnel were trained between 2000 and 2003 as Al Qaeda fears rose across the US. The trainees went back to their communities and units, equipped and ready to respond to emergencies. “I am particularly proud of this effort,” Njoku says with great elation.
Of his role models, he names Major General Ezell Ware and former United States Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, who had previously been the National Security Adviser to former President George Bush, Jnr, after serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under former President George Bush, Snr.
Yet there is great pain in Njoku’s heart: “The level of poverty in the village distresses me. Several years ago, I tried to alleviate the situation by providing seed money to several women to start small-scale businesses. Some succeeded but many were hampered by the worsening economic conditions.
My vision for my birthplace is that we need to work harder to improve the economic situation, working with government to create more jobs for the youths and improve education and infrastructure.