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                                POWER OF ATTORNEY


         KNOWN ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each of the undersigned as
directors and/or officers of NATIONWIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, and NATIONWIDE
LIFE AND ANNUITY INSURANCE COMPANY, both Ohio corporations, which have filed or
will file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the provisions
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and if applicable, of the Investment
Company Act of 1940, as amended, various Registration Statements and amendments
thereto for the registration under said Act of Individual Deferred Variable
Annuity Contracts in connection with MFS Variable Account, Nationwide Variable
Account, Nationwide Variable Account-II, Nationwide Variable Account-3,
Nationwide Variable Account-4, Nationwide Variable Account-5, Nationwide
Variable Account-6, Nationwide Fidelity Advisor Variable Account, Nationwide
Multi-Flex Variable Account, Nationwide Variable Account-8, Nationwide Variable
Account-9, Nationwide VA Separate Account-A, Nationwide VA Separate Account-B,
Nationwide VA Separate Account-C and Nationwide VA Separate Account-Q; and the
registration of fixed interest rate options subject to a market value adjustment
offered under some or all of the aforementioned individual Variable Annuity
Contracts in connection with Nationwide Multiple Maturity Separate Account and
Nationwide Multiple Maturity Separate Account-A, and the registration of Group
Flexible Fund Retirement Contracts in connection with Nationwide DC Variable
Account, Nationwide DCVA-II, and NACo Variable Account; and the registration of
Group Common Stock Variable Annuity Contracts in connection with Separate
Account No. 1; and the registration of variable life insurance policies in
connection with Nationwide VLI Separate Account, Nationwide VLI Separate
Account-2, Nationwide VLI Separate Account-3, Nationwide VLI Separate Account-4,
Nationwide VL Separate Account-A and Nationwide VL Separate Account-B,
Nationwide VL Separate Account-C, hereby constitutes and appoints Dimon R.
McFerson, Joseph J. Gasper, W. Sidney Druen, Mark R. Thresher, and Joseph P.
Rath, and each of them with power to act without the others, his/her attorney,
with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for and in his/her name,
place and stead, in any and all capacities, to approve, and sign such
Registration Statements and any and all amendments thereto, with power to affix
the corporate seal of said corporation thereto and to attest said seal and to
file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection
therewith, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby granting
unto said attorneys, and each of them, full power and authority to do and
perform all and every act and thing requisite to all intents and purposes as
he/she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming that which
said attorneys, or any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue
hereof. This instrument may be executed in one or more counterparts.

         IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have herewith set their names and
seals as of this 1st day of April, 1998.



                                                                 
/s/ Lewis J. Alphin                                                 /s/ Yvonne L. Montgomery
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Lewis J. Alphin, Director                                           Yvonne L. Montgomery, Director

/s/ A. I. Bell                                                      /s/ C. Ray Noecker
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A. I. Bell, Director                                                C. Ray Noecker, Director

/s/ Keith W. Eckel                                                  /s/ Robert A. Oakley
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Keith W. Eckel, Director                                            Robert A. Oakley, Executive Vice President - Chief
                                                                    Financial Officer

/s/ Willard J. Engel                                                /s/ James F. Patterson
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Willard J. Engel, Director                                          James F. Patterson, Director

/s/ Fred C. Finney                                                  /s/ Arden L. Shisler
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Fred C. Finney, Director                                            Arden L. Shisler, Director

/s/ Charles L. Fuellgraf                                            /s/ Robert L. Stewart
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Charles L. Fuellgraf, Jr., Director                                 Robert L. Stewart, Director

/s/ Joseph J. Gasper                                                /s/ Nancy C. Thomas
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Joseph J. Gasper, President and Chief Operating Officer             Nancy C. Thomas, Director
and Director

/s/ Dimon R. McFerson                                               /s/ Harold W. Weihl
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Dimon R. McFerson, Chairman and Chief Executive                     Harold W. Weihl, Director
Officer-Nationwide Insurance Enterprise and Director

/s/ David O. Miller
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David O. Miller, Chairman of the Board, Director