AV Personality Profile: ENGR. (CHIEF) JOSEPH CHIAZOR OKECHUKWU (OMEROHA I OF AKEGBE UGWU

ENGR. (CHIEF) JOSEPH CHIAZOR OKECHUKWU
(OMEROHA I OF AKEGBE UGWU)

Engr. Joseph Chiazor Okechukwu was born on Friday, October 29, 1954 to the family of Chief Okechukwu Ude 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.  At the end of the war in 1970, he entered St Patrick’s College, Emene, where in 1974 he passed the WAEC school certificate examinations with Distinction. The 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 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Armed with his first degree he did his engineering pupillage in the then NEPA Power Station, Sapele and later worked for 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.  He worked at the Bank’s offices in Kaduna and Aba and headed the regional office in Aba for three years. He has 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 and Director of Lily Hills Schools Enugu, a foremost educational institution that caters for children from Crèche, Nursery/Primary to Secondary school. 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 a 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 children and a grand child. A kind and generous man, Engr. Okechukwu has contributed immensely to the development of his community. 

He single handedly installed three-phase electric wires and poles in his community, Amechi Okwuo, changing rickety wooden poles and single coated wires to standard concrete poles and three phase aluminum wires, thus bringing an end to collapse of poles during harmattan fires. 

He also contributed immensely to the building of Amechi Okwuo Hall and the Catholic Church in his community.  In addition, he has given numerous scholarships to indigent students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.

In appreciation of his numerous contributions to his community and the church, the Enugu Catholic Diocese decorated Engr. Okechukwu with the  “Ambassador of Peace” award.   He is also the “Omereoha I of Akegbe Ugwu” a chieftaincy title bestowed on him by the paramount ruler of Akegbe Ugwu, Igwe Chikaodili Agwa (Ezedirioha III). 

He was recently awarded a “Certificate of Honour” by the Igbo Biographical Research and Documentation Centre (IBRADOC).  His guiding principle in life is “to do good to the greatest number of people”.