Why I’m Committed to Nigeria’s Technological Development

Can we have an insight into your background?

I was born to James Nwanze and Helen Nwakuso Esogbue of Umuafene Village, Isieke, Umuekea, Ibusa in Delta State. I was born in Kaduna, the then capital of Northern Nigeria on December 25th, 1940, but of Delta origin. By that time, my father was working with the engineering department of the Public Works Department (PWD). My mother was a nurse. In a way, I am from an educated setting. Coming from such setting no doubt exposed me to an early education and a disciplined family. The family was loving but tough. My father always emphasised excellence because he believed no matter what you achieved, he wanted you to achieve more.

What are some of your childhood memories?

Looking back, I remember the eclipse of 1947 when I was about seven years. And as kids, we thought the world was coming to an end. Everywhere was dark and we were afraid. In fact, we said to ourselves please let’s have our last supper because we would not be able to eat anymore. Also, I remember when we had just come from Enugu to Ibusa, my home town, the local people looked at us as people who had come from abroad and thought we were lazy. During the native festival, there were a lot of drums, wrestling and the young men would show their manhood and all that. So I came with my sisters and they (the young men) came to embarrass me. I didn’t want to wrestle because I didn’t want to dirty my dress on the sand. But this particular guy walked away, picked some sands and poured it on my clothe. I got so upset that I took off my cloth and began to wrestle with him. I picked him up and threw him to the ground and broke his right hand and the bone came out. People ran and started screaming because they never saw such a thing. It was amazing and scary. I was not rascally as a boy. I was a Catholic and a Mass server. We had to confess our sins if we did anything wrong. And we were so scared to embark on rascality. Again, I was always first in classes and didn’t think because I was smart; (it was) by God’s grace. Also, my father said if I didn’t keep the first position he would not pay my school fees anymore and I would then go and become a farmer. I didn’t want to be a farmer so that kept me on my toes to act smart. But while in the high school in Kaduna I fought a lot because I was the smallest in the class and was always coming first. The bigger boys would pick on me. Somehow, they thought I was being favoured by the teachers.

What about schooling?

I attended primary school at Sacred Heart, Ibusa before going to St. John’s College, Kaduna for secondary education. I was among the first class selected to take advantage of the Federal School of Science, Lagos, which was founded to speed up the system in the science and technological field. Prior to that, Nigeria had only University College, Ibadan and Nigerian College of Science and Technology in Zaria. Luckily, there was a programme called African Scholarship Programme of American Universities, which opened their doors to African students. There were about 25 students that went in 1960s. These set of students excelled and because they did very well, those schools got encouraged to broaden it not only for Nigeria but for most of African countries. My former engineering training was crystallised, earning degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles where I got Bsc in Electrical Engineering, U.C. Berkeley Option, and Minor in Mathematics in June 1964.

I went on to acquire more degrees with an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Operational Research from Columbia University and PhD in Engineering – Operations Research and Control Theory from the University of Southern California in June 1968. Additional studies were taken at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, leading to a Certificate in Advanced Health Systems Dynamics Modeling in 1974, and the University of California at Berkeley. With modesty, I was the first PhD graduate of the celebrated world renowned mathematician, Professor Richard Bellman at the University of Southern California (USC).

Can you mention some of your achievements as an academia?

My first formal academic tenure track appointment was as an Assistant Professor of Operation Research and member of the Systems Research Centre at Case Western