Group photo of Speakers and energy experts at the 13th Emmanuel Egbogah Legacy Lecture Series, EEI auditorium, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
…A great mentor, philanthropist and a unique Nigerian who impacted the lives of many people.
…An international petroleum and energy consultant from Africa.
-Felix Douglas
The 13th Edition of Emmanuel Egbogah Legacy lecture series was held at the Emerald Energy Institute auditorium, University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) in Rivers State.
The Emmanuel Egbogah Foundation (EFF) was established in 2019 to honour the legacy of renowned Petroleum Engineer, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah. EEF has championed the legacy lecture series for thirteen years. The series is dedicated to advancing the legacy which is built on the principle of prosperity for posterity.
The 2024 series was done in collaboration with the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Council with the aim to promote sustainable development and innovation within the energy sector. It was another forum to inspire dialogue between the academia, research, government, policy makers and civil society.
In his welcome address, the Emmanuel Egbogah Chair in Petroleum Engineering of Uniport and Vice Chairman Board of Trustees, Professor Joseph Ajeinka, referred to Dr. Egbogah as a distinguished Nigerian and a great friend of the university. He was a great mentor and a unique Nigerian who impacted the lives of many people. Dr. Egbogah was a philanthropist and could be described as one of the most international petroleum and energy consultants from Africa.
He was an Adviser to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Malaysia petroleum industry. He was a great benefactor to Uniport.
Ajeinka asserted: “we need to continue to celebrate people like Dr. Egbogah so that many of us will learn from his example and contribute our quota to the development of this country.”
Chairman of the occasion, CEO of Oil Data Energy Group and BoT Chair of SPE Nigeria Council, Mr. Emeka Ene, said younger generation may not fully appreciate impacts that Dr. Egbogah made in the oil industry and gas perspective.
He appreciated the efforts of Professor Wumi Iledare, Executive Director of EEF for moving it forward. SPE supports the programme and “stands on Dr. Egbogah’s shoulders in many ways and the industry does.”
Ene stated that “we walk backwards into the future and many times we don’t recognise that those who have gone before us pave the way for our future.” He said the theme: “Framework for Utilizing Petroleum Wealth for Sustainable Development” is quite apt.
“If we’re going to look into the future of how we’re going to have sustainability in the nation and people, we can do that by looking backwards to see where indeed we are coming from.”
According to the Chairman, firstly, there is need for power of a vision to be able to envision the future and development that is desired. Secondly, there is need to have a scarcity mindset. The fact that there’s so much in short supply, we begin to develop scarcity mindset to be able to embrace sustainable development for an abundance mindset.
The Third is sustainability. It goes with resilience which is the ability to sustain something. Things will not continue to be rosy rather it requires efforts and struggles with strife.
Taking a quotation from Proverbs chapter 13 verse 11 which says that “wealth gotten hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.”
There is need for a framework and methodology to implement things in a systematic and consistent manner. “Wealth is not money. Wealth is a combination of factors of things put together, whether it is produced as human, financial or social capital. Ultimately, our overall well being depends on how much we’re able to translate that wealth.” The petroleum sector is an incubator of wealth.
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