Kanemala Penewou

Born in October 1965, Kalanama Penawou hails from Akugbene, Bomadi LGA.

After obtaining his First Primary School Leaving Certificate at Awobu Primary School, Akugbene, he was admitted into Akugbene Grammar School for his secondary education but as fate would have it, his parents took him to Lagos where he obtained his West Africa School Certificate at Festac Town.

He however returned to Delta State in later years to study at the Delta State University, Abraka, where he acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

After his early working life as a Supervisor at Trans Complex, Abuja, and Manager, later General Manager, at First Marine Services Limited, his sharp instinct for identifying opportunities in an environment and creating strategies to service needs led him into private enterprise by which he set up Miebi Global Concept Ltd and Shoreland Global Service  Ltd, both of which he ran successfully as Chairman and Managing Director.

A highly politically conscious  and devoted grassroots mobiliser with keen commitment to the development of his community and the larger society, his contributions to the successes of the Peoples Democratic Party earned him his first major political appointment as the Transition Chairman of Bomadi Local Government Area in 2003 and, in 2004, he was duly elected as the Executive Chairman and re-elected in 2008.

At the completion of his two terms as Local Government Chairman in 2011, he was invited to the state level in 2015 to serve as Special Adviser to the Governor on Niger Delta and BRACED Commission.

In recognition of his high sense of initiative, efficient team play and high performance, he was subsequently appointed Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government Affairs between 2019 and 2023.

It is just fitting that Penawou returns to the service of the state as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, a field in which he is very experienced and conversant with the prospects and challenges.