Prof. Maurice Nkemakolam Iwu was trained at the University of Bradford, Bradford, England. Iwu is the President of Bio Resources Institute of Nigeria.  He was Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (1984-1993).  He is the founder and Chairman of many companies including The International Centre for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (InterCEDD).

He has received many academic and professional honours among which are the World Health Organisation (WHO) Visiting Scholar to the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, University of Oxford (1980), Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio). He consults on technological management and the establishment of strategic alliances and multinational cooperative research and development projects for international agencies such as UNIDO, UNDP and the International Organisation of Chemistry for Development (IOCD).

Professor Iwu has presented over 200 scientific papers, published more than 100 research articles and is the author of four books and a member of the Editorial Board of several international scientific journals and has a number of patents to his credit.

In public service, He was the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission/Chief Electoral Officer of Nigeria (2005 -2010), where the introduced the electronic voter registration regime, established the Electoral the Electoral Institute and held the first successful election the transition of one democratically elected government to another in Nigeria.  He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.