BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON MARTIN IHOEGHIAN UHOMOIBHI PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FOR 2008-2009

Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi is currently serving as Ambassador of Nigeria to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Dr. Uhomoibhi begins his one-year term as President of the Human Rights Council today.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Dr. Uhomoibhi served as the acting Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria from 2004 to 2007. From July 2003 to January 2004, he was Deputy Director and Head of Division for Inter-African Affairs at the Ministry. In 2000, Dr. Uhomoibhi was appointed Minister and Deputy Head of Mission to the Nigerian Embassy in Addis Ababa, where he concurrently served as his country's representative to the African Union and to the Economic Commission for Africa until 2003. In 1999 he was appointed Consul-General of Nigeria in Atlanta, with responsibility for United States-Nigeria relations in the 16 states of the south-eastern United States. Dr. Uhomoibhi has also been serving as the President of the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization since September 2007.

From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Uhomoibhi served as Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Prior to that, from 1993 to 1995, he served as coordinator and alternative representative of Nigeria to the Security Council in New York. Dr. Uhomoibhi started his diplomatic career in 1984, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Senior First Secretary. In his previous career, from 1977 to 1984, he was a lecturer in diplomatic and African history at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

Dr. Uhomoibhi graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in history. He also holds a master's in history and political science from the University of Ibadan and a D. Phil from Oxford University in Modern History and International Relations.

Born on 3 November 1954 in Nigeria, Dr. Uhomoibhi is married with children.

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