Who Is Natasha Akpoti? What Should You Know About Her?
| Full Name: | Natasha Hadiza Akpoti |
| Age: | 43 year old |
| Date of Birth: | 9th December 1979 |
| Religion: | Christian |
| Birth Place: | Ihima, Okene Local Government Area |
| Profession: | Lawyer, Politician |
| Net Worth: | |
| Martial Status: | Married |
| Husband: | High Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan Alema |
| Father: | Dr. Jimoh Abdul Akpoti |
| Mother: | Mrs. Ludmila Kravchenk |
| State of Origin: | Kogi State |
| Children: | 3 |
Natasha Hadiza Akpoti is a Nigerian lawyer, social entrepreneur, and politician who was born in 1979. In the year 2019, she ran for the Social Democratic Party’s Kogi Central Senatorial District (SDP) seat.
She contested in the Kogi State Governorship election which held on 16 November 2019. She is the founder of Builders Hub Impact Investment Program (BHIIP).
Education and childhood
Natasha is the second of four children, and the only daughter of a Nigerian father and a Ukrainian mother.
Her mother, Ludmila Kravchenk, is a Ukrainian from Rakitna in the region of Chernivtsi. Her father, Dr. Jimoh Abdul Akpoti, is from Obeiba-Ihima, Kogi State. Natasha spent her early years in Ihima, Okene Local Government She lost her father in 1998 and the family had to relocate.
She earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Abuja between 2000 and 2004. After graduating from the Nigerian Law School in Abuja in 2005, she was admitted to the Nigerian bar. She enrolled at the University of Dundee in 2011 and received her Master of Laws degree in 2012. She graduated from the University of Dundee with a Master of Business Administration in Oil and Gas Management.
Career
She worked as a legal counsel at Brass NLG from 2007 to 2010 after graduating from the Nigerian Law School. She founded the Builders Hub Impact Investment Program in 2015. (BHIIP).
Natasha Akpoti rose to national fame after submitting an investigative report on fraudulent practices at the Ajaokuta steel factory before the National Assembly on March 1, 2018.
The investigation highlighted the repeated misappropriation of government funding and theft since the steel mill’s construction, which has remained dormant despite many attempts to restart it.
The Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development disputed the report, and Akpoti was accused of purposefully misleading the House of Representatives.
Akpoti was also accused of leading a sponsored effort to denigrate the government and reward some corporate interests, according to a group of small-scale steel traders.
Ifeanyi Uba and Williams Orji, the publishers of Authority newspaper, were ordered by an Abuja High Court to pay Natasha Akpoti ten million naira in damages for their libelous publishing against her.
Political career
In 2018, Natasha declared her intentions to run for the office of Senator representing Kogi Central in the Nigerian Senate under the umbrella of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In 2019, she contested for the post of a governor under the SDP party. In 2022, Natasha Akpoti defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Personal and marital life
Natasha Akpoti is from the Kogi State town of Okehi. She is an Ebiraland native. She is the mother of three children.
In a ceremony held at her native home in Ihima, Kogi State, on March 5, 2022, she married the Alema of Warri, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan (not to be confused with the ex-governor Emmanuel Uduaghan).
