Tribute to a Fallen Iroko - Remembering the late icon of the oil industry icon on the day he would have been 81

BY IKECHI IBEJI

Today marks the 81^st anniversary of the birth of an illustrious son of Nigeria and Awka in Anambra State, who died on June 18 and was laid to rest on August 19, 2018, after a powerful funeral service at St. Paul’s Church, Umuokpu, Awka.

Today is also another celebration of the consummate petroleum reservoir engineer, geologist, petroleum economist, huge investor in education, and mentor par excellence of men and women who have excelled in harnessing and managing the world's hydrocarbon resources in Nigeria, Africa, Asia, the Far East, and the Americas.

Today, friends, former associates, and mentees of Dr. Emmanuel Onu Egbogah are gathering at the Emerald Energy Institute of the University of Port Harcourt for the 12^th Emmanuel Egbogah Legacy Lecture Series, which he personally inaugurated at the university in 2006.

The annual lecture is now managed by the Emmanuel Egbogah Foundation and hosted by Emerald Energy Institute, a graduate school on energy economics and strategic energy policy, founded through a USD1million endowment by Dr. Egbogah - one of several such endowments in some Nigerian universities, including Nigeria’s premier university – University of Ibadan.

The Nigerian petroleum industry and indeed the world’s petroleum fraternity was shocked to learn of the passing of Dr. Egbogah in June 2018, given his outstanding performance in most of the activities he participated in, ranging from attaining the highest level of membership and seniority at the Society of Petroleum Engineers International to national roles in industry, academic mentorship and government policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria, Canada, United States of America, Libya, and Malaysia, among many jurisdictions.

A proud alumnus of the famous Christ the King College, Onitsha, Egbogah studied geology at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, as well as petroleum engineering at Imperial College London. He had PhDs in both geology and petroleum engineering but also played key roles as a top-notch petroleum economist.

Everywhere he went, Egbogah left huge footprints, which is why he is being celebrated today. This was put succinctly by one of his mentees – Emeritus Professor Wumi Iledare during Egbogah’s funeral in 2008: “With Dr. E’s passing, an iroko tree has disappeared from the forest. But the good thing is that this iroko has begotten many other irokos in the forest…”

• ENERGYNUGGETS.NG is reviving the EMMANUEL EGBOGAH DIGITAL MEMORIAL project which was put on hold last year. It will now be inaugurated along with several other initiatives associated with Dr. Egbogah, including the Abuja Petroleum Roundtable, an Award Gala Dinner, and a special publication to celebrate the TOP 50 NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS ICONS – both due in November this year; and release of the revised edition of the book – DR. E! LEGACIES OF DR. EMMANUEL ONU EGBOGAH, which was first published during his funeral in 2018.
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• If you would like to receive a free digital copy of the 2018 book; or contribute/sponsor any of the other initiatives/projects, please feel free to contact me at 234 803 957 5062 or by email at ikechi.ibeji@gmail.com

 

 

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