Dr Nwakanma Okoro belonged to the first generation of Nigerian lawyers, having been engaged in law practice since pre-independence. Nwakanma belonged to the second set of lawyers elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The first set had only two persons – the late Chief Rotimi Williams and the late Dr Nebo Graham Douglas(1975).
He was of the 1978 set and his contemporaries were the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo (SAN), Chief Remi Fani-Kayode (SAN), Prince Tanimose Bankole Oki (SAN), Mr E.A Molajo (SAN), Mr Kehinde Sofola (SAN), Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) and Chief Olisa Chukura (SAN).
Others of the 1978 set are Chief G. O. K. Ajayi (SAN), Dr. Mudiaga Odje (SAN), Mr. P. O .Balonwu (SAN), Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), and Dr Augustine Nnamani (SAN), who later became a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
He was the President of the Nigerian Bar Association between 1976-1978.
He was the first National Secretary of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) that later produced Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, from 1979 to 1983.
Dr Nwakamma Okoro later resigned his position as NPN National Secretary to contest the vacant gubernatorial position in Imo state then but lost to Chief Sam Mbakwe of the Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe-led Nigerian People’s Party (NPP).