By Ngwu Nw’eze
Honourable Michael Chikosolu Ogbuekwe is a remarkable man. Raised in Jos, Plateau State and trained as a Mechanical Engineer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Mike’s career journey is a rare piece of history that would make anyone blush in envy. Hon. Mike Ogbuekwe is one of the very few Nigerians in recent memory who have served three governors in two different states, back-to-back, at the highest levels. That is historic!
Mike’s highly successful career began in 2007 when he joined the now defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc as a Business Development Officer. He left after one year to work as a field engineer with Baker Hughes Incorporated; a global energy technology company with Headquarters in Houston, Texas and London, UK and an office in Port Harcourt Rivers State.
That career move was Mike’s long-time dream. Happily, it offered him some of the brightest opportunities of his time as an engineer; exposing him to extensive development courses in Aberdeen, Scotland, Houston Texas USA, Paris in France and Seoul in South Korea amongst others. Indeed, Mike had an amazing career spell that prepared him for the rigorous challenges of leadership that lay ahead of him. During that period, Mike picked up some exposure in global best practices and some vital lessons in leadership to prepare himself for his eventual high impact foray into public service.
However, when Hon. Ogbuekwe finally changed his career path to public service in 2014, it came with a little surprise. He joined the Government of Anambra State. Indeed, many people were surprised that a charismatic young engineer from Nkerefi in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State had earned an appointment into the government of Anambra State…a government that was packed to the brim with some of the best human resources the state could assemble at the time. But Mike Ogbuekwe came highly recommended for the job and swiftly justified his appointment when the administration that employed him considered him worthy of occupying several important positions in the government.
In the very year that he joined the administration of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, as a Senior Special Assistant on Agriculture, Mike was drafted into the highly influential Anambra State Economic Think Tank. He was also made the Secretary, Anambra State Land Acquisition and Mediation Team, and Secretary to Anambra State Agriculture Transformation Implementation Team. Thus, in his first year of appointment, Mike Ogbuekwe was considered capable of adding value in four critical areas in the government of Anambra State. It speaks to his presence of mind, street smartness and overall intelligence that a non-indigene earned such a huge trust by the government of Anambra State. The government must have seen something in him!
As would be expected, Ogbuekwe excelled in all the positions and was eventually handed a bigger responsibility, four years later. The administration set up a very important agency and gave him the responsibility to run it. Mike was announced as the Director General of the Project Management and Monitoring Office (PMMO) in 2018 and given the responsibility to monitor all projects in the state to ensure that they strictly complied with the standards. That position turned out to be his most challenging yet, but Mike rose to the challenge and went on to save the Government of Anambra State over two billion naira from monitoring projects, programmes and contracts across the state. It is instructive to note that even as the DG of Project Management and Monitoring Office, Mike Ogbuekwe held other critical positions as the Secretary of Standards and Modernization Committee as well as Secretary, Roads Design Review Committee. That brings the number of positions he had functioned in to 7 (seven) in total. Indeed, Hon. Mike Ogbuekwe’s impact was deeply and thoroughly felt in his five year stint at the highest levels of government in Anambra State. That cannot be mere cleverness. He certainly carried a spark that set him apart from his peers!
A gold fish has no hiding place, they say. So, it was not long before the story of Mike’s exploits got to the Government of Enugu State. The governor of the state at the time, Honourable Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi offered him a position as his Special Adviser in 2019. However, within a very short period of time, Ogbuekwe repeated the same impact he had had in Anambra. He swiftly established himself and was appointed as the Focal Person on Enugu State Non-Oil Export Programme. Rising from that, he was also appointed as a Member, World Bank-driven Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus Committee of Enugu State as well as Member, Enugu State COVID-19 Emergency and Palliative Committee, and finally, Member, Enugu State Public Sector Reform Committee. So, he had five different positions in the government of Enugu State at the same time. All these appointments took place under the regime of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. That is a record!
Against this background therefore, it should surprise no one that Mike’s public service career did not end when Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration came to an end. In fact, he grew in stature and was duly appointed by Governor Peter Mbah as his Special Adviser on Agriculture and as the Chief Executive Officer of Enugu State marketing Company Limited. So, Mike’s blaze of excellence continues in the present dispensation! In fact, Ogbuekwe has pinned both positions down for three solid years with his trademark excellence.
The fact that no one can deny is that Engineer Mike Ogbuekwe is a high achiever, a thoroughgoing professional who is also a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria, and a fellow of the Institute of Credit Administration, Nigeria.
Interestingly, Ogbuekwe has just won the nomination of his party, APC, for the Nkanu East Local Government Chairmanship election. His emergence enjoys the overwhelming endorsement of the party machinery in Nkanu East. His candidacy also enjoys the support of Governor Peter Mbah and the entire party leadership in the state. For the very first time in his illustrious career, Ogbuekwe will be on the ballot in the coming election to test his popularity among his own people.
Considering his overwhelming presence in his community where he holds court amongst the ordinary folks, his regular interventions in critical times amongst his people and his social investments in their well-being, many observers consider him the right man to lead Nkanu East Local Government Area at this moment in time. They argue that his extensive international exposure and far-ranging experiences in the governments of Anambra and Enugu States in the past ten years have prepared him to succeed as the council chairman.
Is this Engineer Chikosolu Mike Ogbuekwe’s finest hour?
Time will tell!
