Dr. Onuoha is a HIPAA Certified expert witness who has written several expert witness reports and opinions, and testified in immigration evaluation and immigration detention hearings over the years. His expertise spans asylum, human rights and human security claims, persecution and discrimination based on political associations (including party politics, social and environmental activism), religion, ethnicity, identity, customs and culture (gender-based persecution ranging from forced marriage, child marriage, polygamy and to FGM, among other gender-related cases), and self-determination cases of people fleeing violence and conflict from West African countries with similar dynamics.
As an African social anthropologist, he has taught and designed courses in American universities bordering on Female genital cutting, Gang-related violence, General country knowledge, LGBTQ+ issues, Political associations, Race/ethnicity, Religion, Trafficking, Violence against children, Violence against women. He has extensive experience on a variety of theorical, epistemological and practical cultural problems in African societies.
Caste discrimination or persecution, Child soldiers, Deportees/criminal deportees, Document Authentication, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Ex-combatant reintegration, Female genital mutilation/circumcision/FGC, Forced conscription, Forced marriage, Gang-related violence/non-state actors, Gender-based violence/domestic violence, Journalist persecution, Land tenure disputes, LGBTQ, Likelihood of destitution or homelessness, Military/police service, Political persecution, Prison conditions, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution, Risk of retaliation, Safe internal relocation, Sexual abuse/assault, Torture, Trafficking, Tribal discrimination or persecution, Violence against children/child abuse, Immigration / Migration; Human Security Issues; Human Rights Claims; , Political associations; Violence against children and Violence against women, and Persecution Based on Politics, Religion, Ethnicity or Culture, among others.
I have written over 25 expert witness reports and have been qualified to testify numerous times in immigration court as an expert in Country of Origin Information (COI), Asylum, Deportation, Immigration/Migration issues, Human Security issues, Human Rights Claims, State Violence, Discrimination/Persecution Based on Politics, Religion, Ethnicity, Related Cases of people fleeing persecution, violence or conflict from Nigeria, and from other countries in the broader West African sub-region.
As an African social anthropologist, I have taught and designed courses in American Universities bordering on Female genital cutting, Gang-related violence, General country knowledge, LGBTQ+ issues, Political associations, Race/ethnicity, Religion, Trafficking, Violence against children, Violence against women. I equally have extensive experience on a variety of theorical, epistemological and practical cultural problems in African societies.
PUBLICATIONS
Book
2011: Challenging the State in Africa: MASSOB and the Crisis of Self-Determination in Nigeria (LIT
Verlag: Munster. 216 pp).
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2004: “Local and External Intersections in African Conflicts: Issues, Trends and Perspectives in the
Liberian Experience”, Nigerian Journal of Policy and Development, Vol. 3.
2006: “Contextualizing the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria’s Niger Delta: Local and
Global Intersections”, African Security Review, Vol.15, No. 2: 108-114.
2009: “Energy and Security in the Gulf of Guinea: A Nigerian Perspective”, South African Journal
ofInternational Affairs, Vol. 16, No. 2: 245-264.
2011: “Contesting the Space: The ‘New Biafra’ and Ethno-Territorial Separatism in Southeastern Nigeria”,
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol. 17, No. 4: 402-422.
2012: “Contemporary Igbo Nationalism and the Crisis of Self-Determination in Nigeria”, African Studies, Vol.
71, No. 1:29-51.
2012: “The Presence of the Past: Youth, Memory-Making and the Politics of Self-Determination in Southeastern
Nigeria”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 36, No. 12: 2182-2199.
2013: “The Fractured Multi-Ethnic State: Contemporary Igbo Quest for Self-Determination in Nigeria”,
African Identities, Vol. 11, No. 1: 19-32.
2013: “Cultural Interfaces of Self-Determination and the Rise of the Neo-Biafran Movement in Nigeria”,
Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 40, No. 137: 428-446.
2014: “The Politics of ‘Hope’ and ‘Despair’: Generational Dimensions to Igbo Nationalism in Post-Civil War
Nigeria”, African Sociological Review, Vol. 18, No. 1: 2-26.
2015: Review Article, “Development and Diffusionism: Looking beyond neopatrimonialism in Nigeria, 1962–
1985* Democracy in Nigeria: Thoughts and selected commentaries* The Jonathan presidency: The first year*
Nigeria: Dancing on the brink”, African Affairs, Vol. 114, No. 457: 649-654.
2016: “A ‘Rising Africa’ in a Resource-Rich Context: Change, Continuity, and Implications for
Development”, Current Sociology, Vol. 64, No. 2: 277-292;
2016: “Shared Histories, Divided Memories: Mediating and Navigating the Tensions in Nigeria-Biafra War
Discourses”, Africa Today, Vol. 63, No. 1: 2-21;
2018: “Bringing ‘Biafra’ Back In: Narrative, Identity and the Politics of Non-Reconciliation in Nigeria”,
National Identities, 20, 4: 379-399;
2018: “Plurality and Disempowerment in an Era of Neo-Liberal Democracy: Nigeria and South Africa Compared”,
Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito da UFC, Vol. 38, No. 1: 441-455;
Peer-Reviewed Chapters
2011: “The ‘Igbo Question’ and the Reinvention of Igbo Nationalism in Contemporary Nigeria”. In Apollos O.
Nwauwa and Chima Korieh (eds.), Against All Odds: The Igbo Experience in Post-Colonial Nigeria. New
Jersey: Goldline and Jacobs Publishing, 2011.
2013: “‘Exit’ and ‘Inclusion’: The Changing Paradigm of Pentecostal Expression in the Nigerian Public
Space”. In Irene Becci, Marian Burchardt, and José Casanova (eds.), Topographies of Faith: Religion in
Urban Space (Int’l Studies in Religion and Society Series), Brill Publishers: Leiden, 2013, pp. 207-226.
2014: (With Cyril Obi) “Nigeria and the Biafra War of Secession: When National Unity Triumphs Over Self-
Determination”. In Redie Bereketeab (ed), Self-Determination and Secession in Africa: The Post-
Colonial State. Routledge: New York, 2014, pp. 180-196.
2014: (With Nedson Pophiwa) “The National Question and Citizenship Deficit: South Africa and Nigeria”. In
Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Muxe Nkondo, Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Moses Sithole, and Francis Nyamnjoh (eds.),
State of the Nation: South Africa 1994-2014, A Twenty-Year Review of Freedom and Democracy.
Human Sciences Research Council: Cape Town, pp. 496-509.
2014: “Is Another Transition Possible? African Transitions to Democracy and the Limits of Praxis”. In Claudio Lara
Cortes and Consuelo Silva Flores (eds.), Democratic Renewal versus Neoliberalism: Towards
Empowerment and Inclusion. CLACSO: Buenos Aries, 2014, pp. 65-79.
2015: “Igbo Politics and the Elusive Quest for Presidential Power”. In Ebenezer Obadare, ed., Nigeria: What is to
be Done? ( http://africasacountry.com/nigeria-what-is-to-be-done ).
2015: “Culture, Identity and the ‘Re-making’ of Political Resistance: The Case of the Neo-Biafran Movement in
Nigeria”. In Kenneth Nwoko and Omon Osiki (eds.), Dynamics of Culture and Tourism in Africa:
Perspectives on Africa’s Development in the 21st Century. Ilishan: Babcock Univ Press, pp. 320-339;
2016: (with Yul Derek Davids, Len Verwey, Ali Bhagat) “Community Advice Offices: Taking Charge in
Marginalized Communities”. In Daniel Plaatjies, Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Charles Hongoro, Thenjiwe
Meyiwa, Muxe Nkondo, and Francis Nyamnjoh (eds.), South Africa 2016: Who is in Charge? Mandates,
Accountability and Contestations in the South African State. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research
Council Press, pp. 257-278;
2018: “Post-colonialism: Theoretical Foundations and Relevance to African Politics”. In Samuel Oloruntoba and
Toyin Falola (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development
(Palgrave Macmillan, New York); pp. 71-82;
2020: “State, Resources and Developmental Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa”. In Samuel Oloruntoba & Toyin
Falola (eds.), Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 621-643;
2020: (with Cyril Obi), “Nigeria’s Oil-Hinged Post-Civil War National Project: A Critical Examination of Past and
Present Challenges”. In Usman Tar, Sharkdam Wapmuk and Efem Nkam Ubi (eds.), Perspectives on
Contemporary Nigerian Politics and International Relations. Kaduna and Lagos: Nigerian Defence
Academy Press and Nigerian Institute for International Affairs Press
2021: “Elite Incorporation in Nigeria: The Case of Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo”. In Wale Adebanwi and Rogers Orock
(eds.), Elites and the Politics of Accountability in Africa. Ann Arbor: UMP, pp. 280-307;
2022: (with Cyril Obi), “'Federalism and Politics in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic', in Toyin Falola, and Matthew M.
Heaton (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian History. (Oxford University Press, 2022). Pp. 599-616.
Occasional Papers/Working Papers (Peer Reviewed)
2008: Local and Global Intersections: Resources, Conflicts and the Politics of Development in West Africa,
Working Paper, No. 8. Graduate School Society and Culture in Motion (SCM), Martin Luther University,
Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, 24 pp.
2008: Resources and Development: The Role of the State in Sub-Saharan Africa, Occasional Paper, No. 58,
Institute for Global Dialogue, Midrand, South Africa. 41. pp.
2018: Memory, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Post-Civil War Southeastern Nigeria, APN Working Papers
Series, African Peacebuilding Network (APN), SSRC, New York (No. 19).
2022: (with A. Bish., K. Madueke., L.D Adamu., K. Iruoma., B. Ogunleye and L. Bird), The Crime Paradox: Illicit
Markets, Violence and Instability in Nigeria, Research Report, Global Initiative Against Transnational
Organized Crime. Geneva, Switzerland. 51pp.
2023: An Overview of the African Peacebuilding Network’s Contribution to the African Peacebuilding Literature,
APN Working Papers Series, African Peacebuilding Network (APN), SSRC, New York (No. 35).
Book Reviews and Essays
2013: Review of Dani Rodrik, The Globalization Paradox: Why Global Markets, States, and Democracy Can’t
Coexist. OUP, Oxford, 2011, 321pp. Kujenga Amani: A SSRC Online forum, November 20.
2013: “African Scholars Finding their Voices”, HSRC Review, Vol. 11, No. 3 (July): 6-7.
2014: Review of Joey Power, Political Culture and Nationalism in Malawi: Building Kwacha. Rochester:
University of Rochester Press, 2010, X + 332pp. £55 (hbk). Nations and Nationalism, 20/1:180-182.
2014: Review of Gaim Kibreab, Eritrea: A Dream Differed. Oxford: James Currey (East African Series), 2009,
XXVI + 420pp. £50 (hbk) Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 20, No. 2: 392-393;
2014 “South Africa: 2014 Elections”, On the Spot Section. Kujenga Amani: A SSRC Online forum, May 5;
2015 “Transactional Politics and Nigeria’s 2015 Elections”, On the Spot Section, Kujenga Amani: A SSRC Online
forum, March 23;