By Chukwudi Enekwechi
It was towards the end of the year 2000 that I visited Professor Bart Nnaji at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, where he was already a senior professor in Robotics Engineering. As
I was heading to New York city in search of
the American dream, I decided to pay a courtesy visit to Professor Nnaji whom I had known back home in Nigeria.
As a young news reporter in the mid 90’s I had written about Professor Nnaji as a distinguished Nigerian scholar making waves in the United States of America and globally. So as I boarded Greyhound, my favourite bus company, I put a call across to
Professor Nnaji that I will like to pay him a courtesy visit if he will be available and he gladly accepted.
Behold as our bus pulled up at the Greyhound bus station in the University town of Pittsburgh and I alighted, a young white lady walked up to me and said she was sent by her boss, Professor Bart Nnaji to welcome me and drive me. My
consternation was that even a white lady could be working under a black man as secretary and the literal meaning was that such a black man must be a star and one in a million, especially in a country like America where blacks play a reverse role in what was unfolding before me.
We drove into the University and I met Professor Nnaji seated behind his executive table. I could see him very busy on his laptop, and after exchanging pleasantries, he took me to
where I had to wait till close of work when Professor Nnaji drove me along with his son Chike (May his soul rest in peace) to a restaurant for dinner. After the sumptuous dinner they dropped me at the Greyhound bus station to continue my journey to New York.
Lest I forget as the eminent Professor got up from his professorial chair to drive us to dinner he conducted me round the floor where his faculty was located and it is one of the most prominent professors of the university and with a ‘’Professorial Chair” dedicated to his honour.
Indeed he is such a great and accomplished Igbo man that he proudly hung his traditional title hand fan ‘’Akupe Ozo”
on the wall of his office. I recall that
on the same day I visited he had informed me that Chief Nnia Nwodo (Former chairman of Ohaneze) was on a visit to him and had just left his office.
This is the brief encounter I had with the eminent Professor Nnaji that I began to wonder why Enugu State and indeed the South East will have such personage recognized globally for his brilliance in Robotic Engineering and other scientific
areas and fail to invite him to contribute to our renaissance as a people. As a technocrat and scientist he is sought for across the globe to help solve some of the most intractable scientific puzzles, yet in Enugu State and the South East as a whole we choose to relegate our best to the background but elevate deadwoods as leaders.
This is a man who has excelled in the academia, business and sports and one wonders why we are still in search of the next governor of Enugu State.
Definitely, if he is given an opportunity to
govern Enugu State he will bring his global experience and contacts to bear in the development of the state.
He will tap into his extensive knowledge of the world and how economies work to attract major companies to Enugu State which was once and still remains the capital of the old Eastern Region and once famously described as the fastest growing economy in the world.
He is one of the inventors of the E-Design concept contents. A scientist and inventor and the creator of the modern Ministry of Science and Technology. He was a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
Alcoa Foundation Professor of Engineering at University of Pittsburgh, William Keptler Whiteford Professor of Engineering and First African Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, Centre of Excellence.
He was a member of organisations like Department of Defense, Boeing, Kodak, General Electric (GE), IBM, Ford Motor Company, Alcoa,
Pratt and Whitney, Raytheon, BAE and Lockheed Martins.
I believe that a state like Enugu that is still grappling with developmental
challenges requires a leadership that can proffer workable solutions to the problems.
This is not the time for leaders who will learn on the job or depend on hired hands to deliver the good.
As oil revenues continue to dwindle Enugu State must ensure that the
next set of leaders will be innovators, inventors and achievers like Professor Bart Nnaji who has practically proved their competence across the world, and whose ingenuity are being sought after by many Hi-Tech and global organizations
as mentioned above.
If this is done, then the state would be well positioned to compete favourably with other modern states and reclaim its former leading position as the capital of
the former Eastern region of Nigeria.
Chukwudi Enekwechi
Kwechis19@yahoo.com
(ThisDay)
