Government College Ughelli Old Boys Association (GCU OBA) has congratulated Engr. Alfred Irabor Okoigun, an alumnus of the College on the conferment of an Honourary Doctorate Degree by the Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Delta State.
In a statement released by Arc. Charles Majoroh, President-General Worldwide, GCU OBA and Dan. Ekoko, President, GCU OBA, Lagos branch, the old boys association described the honorary degree conferred on Engr Okoigun as an award well-deserved.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Government College Ughelli, founded in 1945, has been known as a centre of moral formation and academic excellence. Old Boys of College have over the years excelled and led as shining examples of excellence in all spheres of life globally.
“Okoigun is a dedicated mariner, a quintessential innovator who continues to fly the flag of excellence through his many achievements in the field of engineering, and Oil and Gas. His outstanding support, dedication and commitment to our alma-mater remain examplanry and legendary.
“We congratulate and celebrate him on this prestigious Honourary Doctorate degree award and wish him more heights in all his pursuit to positively impact humanity through his humanitarian and philanthropic activities to mankind,” the statement reads.
Born in Ewu, Edo State Engr. Alfred Irabor Okoigun attended Holy Trinity Catholic School, Ewu and Government College, Ughelli.
Thereafter, he studied Mechanical Engineering at the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun. He also attended the Senior Management Programme (SMP) at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland and several other management development programmes locally and overseas.
He founded Arco Petrochemical Engineering Company Limited to provide maintenance engineering and consultancy services to the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry. He was granted agency representation by Nuovo Pignone – a 100% owned subsidiary of the ENI Group (now owned by General Electric) in 1980, when he was only 25.
Under his able leadership, Arco Petrochemical Engineering Company Plc metamorphosed into Arco Group Plc. Engr. Okoigun serves as the Group Managing Director of Arco Group Plc. His vision is to build a successful and sustainable company that would outlive its founders.
An ardent scholar, he has written and presented several technical papers at both local and international fora. He is a strong believer in the development of engineering services in Nigeria. Through ARCO, he has sponsored engineers, technocrats and energy correspondents for training programmes and facility visits to Oil and Gas equipment manufacturing firms and to exhibitions/ seminars on energy matters in Italy, Switzerland, USA, Brazil and Argentina.
Also, to demonstrate his support for The Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE), he recently inaugurated a Joint Committee known as the NAE-ARCO Group Academia and Industry Linkage with the objective to identify viable engineering innovations by Nigerians and to assist in translating them into scalable commercial activities.
In recognition of his invaluable contributions to the Nigerian Oil & Gas sector and society at large, Engr. Okoigun has been honoured with the conferment of Fellowships of a number of organizations namely: The Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Warri; The Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers; Honorary Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Honorary Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (NAE). Engr. Okoigun has also been designated as a “Role Model” by the Engineering Society of the University of Lagos.
He has endowed scholarships to best Engineering students in both PTI and UNILAG. In 2001, he organized the Nigerian Excellence in Science and Technology (NEST) Award in UK, to showcase bright, excellent and hardworking Nigerians.
“We enjoin all lovers of humanitarian and community services globally to join us as we congratulate Engr. Okoigun on this prestigious award of Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State,” the statement added.