Senator Urhoghide is our August Personality

pharmacy

Pharm. Matthew Aisagbonriodion Urhoghide, a Nigerian politician, was born on 8, August  1955 in Edo State, Nigeria. He is the senator representing Edo South Senatorial District in the Nigerian Senate. He has been a member of both the 8th and 9th senate.

Born into the family of Daniel Ediagbonya Urhoghide and Rebecca Avanrenren Urhoghide, he grew up in Benin City and attended St. Matthews Primary School from where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate. He thereafter attended Eghosa Grammar School in Benin and finished his West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Urhoghide then proceeded to the University of Benin where he studied Pharmacy and graduated with a B.Pharm degree.

Highlights of his public service career include being board chairman of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, a position he held before venturing into partisan politics in 2014. He was also the Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State. In 2015, he contested and won election into the Senate on the platform of the PDP. He was vice chairman, Senate Committee on Health and chairman Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism. In 2017, he was named chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, a position he currently occupies.

A Fellow of both the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy (NAPharm), Urhoghide has been a vibrant representative of his people in the Red Chamber. He has been vocal on issues pertaining to appropriation, public accounts and the fiscal policies of the federal government. On 22 November 2016, he sponsored a bill for the establishment of  the National institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR). The bill passed its first, second and third reading and was enacted by the Senate.

A very generous and compassionate leader, Urhoghide in May, 2020, led other Edo State National Assembly members to show solidarity with Governor Godwin Obaseki’s anti-COVID-19 efforts when they donated palliatives to the state government to help in mitigating the adverse economic  effects of the pandemic.

The distinguished senator and pharmacist has received the following honours, amongst others: Excellence in Exemplary Leadership and Promotion of Nation Building Through Effective Advocacy in the National Assembly by USEN Social Elite Club; Merit Award for Contribution to Law-making, Legislative Oversight and the Legal Profession by the Nigerian Bar Association; and the Episcopal Award for Contribution to the Growth of the Church/Diocese and Humanity in general by St. Matthew’s Cathedral Church, Anglican Communion.