By Cajetan Mmuta
The Nigerian Institution of Metallurgical Minning and Materials Engineers (NIMMME), a division of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Awka Chapter, Anambra State, on Thursday awarded former Minister of Science and Technology, late Professor Gordian Obumneme Ezekwe, with the highest mentorship of the Society.
The award was received by his younger brother, Engr. Romanus Ezekwe, on behalf of his family and the people of the Abagana community, in Njikoka Local Government Area of the State.
The Society said the Minister, had during his service years while life, mentored many prominent Engineers across Nigeria, respective of Tribe and Religion background through the Technological skills that lead him in manufacturing war bombs (Ogbunigwe), war jet equipment, and fuel for Biafrans Soldiers, during the three years Nigeria-Biafra civil war.
He was appointed Minister, during the government of Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, in 1989.
The Mentorship award was bestowed on Ezekwe and other deserving Engineers, Engr. Professor Daniel Oraegbuna Nnamdi Obikwelu and a Greece Nigeria Nationalist, late Mr. Romeo Barberopoulos, who work as an Electrical Engineer with A.G Leventis and Co, in 1958-1966, during the 2022 1st Ezekwe- Barberopoulos-Obikwelu (E.B.O), Honourary Lecture Series, organised by NIMMME, Awka Chapter, which took place, at LaLuna Hotel, Awka, on Wednesday.
Speaking at the ceremony, the National Chairman of the NIMMME, Professor Aje Token, described the honorary award “as the highest ever in the history of the Nigerian Society of Engineers for the past 62 years of its existence”
Token, who was represented by Engr. Akpan-Abia, while congratulating one of the honored, Prof. Obikwelu, who is still alive, urged him to leave up to the expectations of the society.
“Prof. Obikwelu has since dedicated most of his life towards mentorship of Engineering professionals in Nigerian.
He disclosed that late Prof. Ezekwe, was appointed Science and Technology Minister, by President Babagida, for his fast experience during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war.
He urged the Federal and Anambra state government to immortalized his kind contribution to the nation’s peace and development.
The National Chairman, use the event to solicit for greater support and collaboration with the federal government, to enable the Institution realize its mandate and to contribute to the present administration’s desire to diversify the country economy.
In his address, the Awka Chapter Chairman of NIMMME, Engr. Michael Orekyeh, said the lecture series was also designd to simplify the materials engineering industrial processes and profession for the general public. We need to break the MMME disciplines down to simple terms and encorage Nigerians to understand them better, invest in them and developed our country.
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‘We hope the E.B.Os characters, stories, profiles and legacies will inspire a new generation engineers and entrepreneurs and perhaps what we learnt from them and the chosen theme for lectures will produce developments that will puch Materials Engineering to new and positive heights in Nigeria, Orekyeh said.
In a brief biography of Prof. Ezekwe and Mr. Barberopoulos, Engr. Orekyeh, revealed that Prof. Ezekwe, was a key planner and contributor to many inventions, war fare material and products on the Biafran side of the Nigerian Civil war that he became a household name for his genius and management abilities. While Mr. Barberopoulos, in 1958 when the first Television Station in Africa (WNTV Ibadan), commenced operations, he assisted in setting up service workshops in Ibadan, Kaduna and Benin and trained large numbers of Nigerians in the field.
He commend the state governor, Willie Obiano, for given many professionals opportunity to serve the state and understand how Governance works.
