Pio Tikoduadua

Lt Col Pio Tikoduadua (born 12 September 1966) is a Fijian politician, Member of the Parliament of Fiji, and former cabinet Minister. He is a member of the National Federation Party.

Early Life and military career
Tikoduadua was born in Namalata, Tailevu and raised by his single mother, Senoveva Ranadi. He attended primary school at Natovi and Saint Vincent College as well as St John's College in Levuka. He joined the Republic of Fiji Military Forces cadet training school with the current RFMF Commander, Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga. He also worked as an interpreter in the local courts to gain experience. He was educated at multiple universities including University of New South Wales, the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, reaching the rank of Lieutenant colonel after graduating from the Australian Defence Force Command and Staff College in 2006. As a military officer, he has served in Lebanon, Egypt, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He has also held several leadership roles before becoming Chief Of Staff: Operations at the RFMF. He was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's office after the incumbent, Parmesh Chand was transferred to Public Service Commission.

FijiFirst and Cabinet
In June 2014, Tikoduadua resigned as permanent secretary to pursue a career in politics, joining the FijiFirst party. He was elected in the 2014 election, in which he won 3,611 votes. He was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in September 2014. On May 11, 2015, he resigned as Minister due to his failing health as he suffers from an advanced form of cancer and wanted to spend time with his family and his people in Delasui, Tailevu. Assistant Minister for Education, Vijay Nath was then appointed as the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

National Federation Party
In April 2017, he made a comeback to politics but this time, he joined the National Federation Party and claimed that he resigned from FijiFirst because of the Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama after a former Member of Parliament, Dr Neil Sharma was forced to resign following his vote with the Opposition members in regards to a Parliament motion relating to health issues and he gave his opinion to the PM that they should show flexibility and forgiveness as this was an opportunity for the Government to listen and learn about why one of its MPs had felt so strongly about an issue that he would vote with the Opposition. He said that the PM initially accepted his recommendation and he informed the MP that the matter was resolved but then he took advice of the Attorney-General and changed his mind. He went back to argue his case again but was informed that his opinion did not matter. In June 2017, he was appointed the NFP President.

He ran as a candidate for the NFP in the 2018 elections and was elected, winning 2684 votes.