Professor Eric Opia, a former Sole Administrator of the then Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) has died aged 83.
Professor Opia was an academic, writer, publisher, entrepreneur and politician.
After his teaching stint in the United States, he returned to Nigeria and served as a member of the Technical Committee for the Privatisation and Commercialisation of the Ore Irele Oil Palm Plantations in Ondo State and the Okomu Oil Palm Company in Cross River State.
In 1991, Professor Opia was the Delta State governorship candidate of the National Republican Convention in Nigeria’s third Republic.
He was the elected member representing Ndokwa Ethnic Nationality at the 1994/95 Constitutional Conference. Opia’s last national assignment was as Sole Administrator of OMPADEC from 1996 to 1998.