AV AWARD PROFILE NO 6:ENGR. (CHIEF) JOSEPH CHIAZOR OKECHUKWU (OMEROHA I OF AKEGBE UGWU)








Engr. (Chief) JosephChiazor Okechukwu was born on Friday, October 29, 1954 to the family of Chief Okechukwu Ude (Ude UdeEwo) and Mrs. Chikaodili Ude (nee Aneke) in Umuokwuo, Akegbe Ugwu, Awkunanaw in Nkanu West L.G.A. of Enugu State. He is the first child of his mother and the 9th child of his father in a family of eighteen (18) children from six wives. He started his primary school in 1962 at St. Francis Primary School, Umuatugbuoma, while living with his elder brother, the late Chief John Okechukwu who was the Headmaster of the school.  He was always the first in his class except for once when he came second and got the beating of his life from his Guardian who was a legendary disciplinarian.

His primary education was disrupted in the final year when the Nigerian civil war broke out in 1967, but not before he got admission into the prestigious Christ the King College (CKC), Onitsha.  However at the end of the war in 1970,he enrolledat the nearby St Patrick’s College, Emene, where in 1974 he passed the WAEC school certificate examinations with Distinction (Aggregate 9), one of the best results in the school, up till today.  This result earned him a Federal Government scholarship to study Mechanical Engineering in Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan in 1975.  He graduated in 1980 with B.Sc. Honours, again one of the best in his class, and later obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1993.

Armed with his first degree he did his engineering pupillage in the then NEPA and worked a couple of years with a private firm, Keystone Valves Limited, as a Sales Engineer, before joining the then Nigerian Industrial Development Bank Limited (NIDB), now Bank of Industry (BOI) in January 1986.  He rose through the ranks and retired honourably as Asst. General Manager and Head of Operations in October 2014 on attaining the statutory age of 60 years.  Earlier, he had worked at the Bank’s offices in Kaduna and Aba and headed the regional office in Aba for three years.  He was instrumental to the movement of the Bank’s Aba office to Enugu, following the spate of kidnappings in Aba area and the killing of one of the Bank’s staff.  He represented the Bank on the Board of several companies. His footprints in industrial development cover the nation’s six geographical zones and include the present day industrial success stories like Innoson, Emzor, May& Baker etc.

He is the founder of Lily Hills Schools and Lily Hills College, Enugu, foremost educational institutions that cater for children fromCrècheto Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools and prepare them for university matriculation. He is also the Managing Director/CEO of Chyfour Associates Limited a company specialized in industrial, finance and management consultancy.  He is a Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Member of Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) and Fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA). He was one time Chairman of the Awkunanaw Welfare Association (AWA), Lagos Branch, and is currently a member of the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

A loving husband and caring father and grandfather, Engr. Okechukwu got married to former Miss Lily Moka from Ozubulu, Anambra State in December 1986 and the union is blessed with three childrenand a grand child.A kind and generous man, Engr. Okechukwu has contributed immensely and cheerfully to the development of his community.  He single handedly rewired the entire Amechi Okwuo electricity lines, changing the rickety and problematic wooden poles and single coated wires to standard concrete poles and three phase aluminum wires, thus bringing an end to collapse of poles and consequent blackouts during harmatan fires.  He also contributed generously to the building of Amechi Okwuo Hall and the Catholic Church in his community.  In addition, he has given numerous scholarships and assisted indigent students of tertiary institutions in the community and beyond, pay their way through school.

For these acts of kindness and generosity, the Enugu Catholic Diocese decorated him with the Ambassador of Peace award, while the Akegbe Ugwu Community conferred on him the title of “Omeroha I of Akegbe Ugwu”.

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