Who is Chief May Egbunike Agbakoba ?
QUEEN OF NDIDA LAND, DOCTORATE RESEARCHER, PHILANTHROPIST, SPECIALIST NURSE AND SOCIAL WORKER, SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION CONSULTANT AND COMMUNITY PEACE ACTIVIST
Chief May Egbunike Agbakoba is the founder and director of the ‘Queen of Ndida Land Charity Foundation’ and the ‘Onitsha Ado Global Institute. She is the eldest of nine children born to Prince Akunnia Ugonabo Gregory Henry Igweze Egbunike and Omekaenyi Dimfulumnanya Dolly Ekwunuife Egbunike (NEE OSAKA) both from the Egbunike Royal Dynasty of the Royal Clan of Ogbendida Village, Umuezearoli traditional kingdom of Onitsha.
Her father was educated at Denise Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha and rose to the top rank of a Senior Chief Executive Investigation Officer of the Nigerian Post & Telecommunication service in Lagos, Nigeria. While her mother was well educated at Saint Monica’s College Ogbunike, Anambra State Nigeria. Her mother was the daughter of a prominent wealthy businessman from Onitsha, who for decades was involved in travelling and exporting African commodities and Gold to the West and also importing African textile materials into Nigeria from India, Manchester, Holland and London, England.
Chief May was born in Kano, Kano State, Northern part of Nigeria. She had an excellent education at the primary, secondary, and collegiate levels in Nigeria, USA and Europe. As her father’s job involved travelling to various States of Nigeria, she could travel with him and learnt local languages and adapt to their local cultures and traditions. During the Nigerian Civil War 1967-70 the young May volunteered and served with the Red Cross and Caritas, a Catholic Charity organization and helped in distributing foods, medications
and clothing to refugees in the WAR zones. This was one of the foundations of her interest in Charity Work. Before the Civil War, Chief May being the first granddaughter in her large family, enjoyed travelling down south to visit her Grand Parents and Great Grand-Parents. They were very religious, kind, and compassionate and took her to places of interest always. During those visitations, Chief May witnessed and enjoyed the great charity work she was exposed to that was, helping the poor in the streets and bringing them home
For prayers and dinner on Sundays. At the end of the Civil War that killed millions of citizens and left thousands of children orphaned and homeless with various sources of wounds and physical disabilities, Chief May’s father, Prince Ugonabo Egbunike, launched an Organization called ‘The Onitsha Ado Charity‘ helps and assists the war victims and others who due to circumstances slid into poverty and destitution.
She later transitioned to the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Chief May, also started a Supplementary Mother-Tongue Saturday School, known as the ‘Right Direction Community Education & Welfare Services’ teaching, English, Computing, Mathematics, French, Drama/ Dance and Story Telling. Chief May has showcased her Great African Story-telling, Arts and Crafts in Libraries, Theatres, and in International venues across the United Kingdom. Upon her father’s passing in 2005, Chief May established an orphanage known as the ‘Orphanage Welfare Foundation (OWELF)`.
Positions Held In United Kingdom & Nigeria
Onitsha Ado Cultural Rising Stars
President/Founder
London Borough of Lawisham, Lewisham Homes
Board Director
Right Direction Community & Welfare Services
Education Director & Founder
Global Humanitarian Ambassador
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Orphanage Welfare Foundation, (OWELF) Onitsha. Anambara State, Nigeria.
Director & Founder
The Global Queen of Ndidaland Charity Foundation.
Founder
F.A.Q.
Words & Meanings
It is a TITLE. It means “Queen”.
Ndidaland is the ancestral Home in Onitsha Kingdom.
It means Spiritual Mother.
It is a big title in Onitsha Ibo society where with this very title a woman is able the join the men in different cultural activities.
Only women with this title are allowed & entitled to participate or be involved with men in cultural & traditional activities.