Mr. Toni Iwobi, of Nigerian origin and domiciled in Italy for 41 years, is the first Blackman ever to be elected senator.
On the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York, Thursday, he met with President Muhammadu Buhari, along with a high-powered team from the Italian Senate.
“My congratulations to you, and to Italy more,” President Buhari told Iwobi, who was elected in March this year, on platform of the far-right League Party. “It shows the advanced respect of Italians for human beings, in spite of colour. It’s very impressive.”
The team from Italy discussed issues like illegal migration and how it can be curbed through investments in Africa, recharge of the Lake Chad via inter-basin water transfer, among others.
“Africa doesn’t need charity, but collaboration to develop,” Senator Iwobi declared.
Responding, President Buhari noted that what causes irregular migration from developing to developed countries include lack of security, education, health care, among others, stressing: “Climate change has had negative impact on a big country like Nigeria. That is why our youths often defy the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, to try and get to Europe. It is a problem that needs to be solved.”
The Italian Senate delegation plans to visit Nigeria soon.
Born 63 years ago in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, Tony Chike Iwobi is one of 11 siblings in a Roman Catholic family.
Information curled from his Wikipedia page shows that Iwobi has a degree in economics with specialization in marketing and business management in Manchester, England. He came to Italy on a student visa in 1976, and obtained a degree in accounting in Treviglio. He also has higher degrees (laurea) in computer science from USA and Italy.
Iwobi is federalism, the founder and, since 2001, managing director of Data Communication Labs Limited. Prior to that, he had worked for AMSA (Azienda Milanese Servizi Ambientali) as well as for Roveredo, a Switzerland-based company.
A supporter of which he knew from Nigeria, he became a member of Lega Nord, where he was particularly inspired by Gianfranco Miglio. In 1993, he was elected municipal councillor for the party in Spirano, a position he held until 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, he served as assessor with responsibility for social services.
Iwobi was in 2014 selected by party leader Matteo Salvini to draft Lega Nord’s new immigration policy which had a hard stance against illegal immigration and played a big role in the party’s campaign in the Italian general election, 2018.
In the 2018 general election, he was elected to the Italian Senate, thus becoming the first black person to take a seat in the Senate.
Married to an Italian woman with two children, Iwobi is the director of economic affairs of the Italy-USA Foundation.
