Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE confers fellowship on Dr. Agunbiade, 65 others

The Nigerian Society of Engineers held its 17th Fellowship Conferment Ceremony at the NSE Auditorium, Nigerian Society of Engineers Headquarters in Central Area, Abuja, on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.

The event witnessed the conferment of the prestigious fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE) on Dr. Babajide Agunbiade FNSE, a Director at National Oilwell Varco, the world’s largest Oil and Gas equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Houston, Texas, alongside 65 others who were inducted into the highest grade of the engineering profession and duly recognized as fellows of the revered engineering body.

The Guest Lecturer of the day, Mr. Jelani Aliyu, spoke on the “Development in the Automotive Industry and Opportunities for Engineers and Engineering Firms in Nigeria.” He called on engineers across Nigeria to take full advantage of new developments, and emerging opportunities in the Automotive Industry as Nigeria depended on engineers to attain national growth and development.

The conferment of this well-deserved Fellowship by his peers is in recognition of his dedication, discipline and industry-wide contribution to engineering in both Nigeria and globally. It marks a new height for Engr. Dr. Agunbiade who started his Engineering career in Nigeria with Industrial Measurement & Control Limited, Lagos, Nigeria, upon graduation with a combined honors degree in Industrial and Production Engineering from the University of Ibadan in 1996.

He was to continue his career at General Electric Houston, Texas, where he was Principal Engineer for the $4billion Duke Energy Edwardsport IGCC (Integrated Gasification in Combined Cycle) project that built the first-ever IGCC plant in Edwardsport, Indiana. The gasification process involves converting coal and other carbon-based feedstock with carbon capture and sequestration into syngas used in a combustion turbine to generate electricity.

An accomplished Engineer, Dr. Agunbiade attended the GE Edison Advanced Engineering Development Program (EEDP) in Crotonville, N.Y., and gained a master’s degree in Systems Engineering. He is G.E green, and black belt certified and holds a master’s degree in Organizational Management and an MBA from the prestigious American Intercontinental University (AIU) in Houston, Texas, as well as a Ph.D. in Leadership and Business from Higher Place Christian University (HPCU) Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. Dr. Agunbiade is also a Ph.D. scholar in Environmental policy at Texas Southern University.

A registered Engineer, Dr. Agunbiade has been an active member of the following professional bodies; The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN), Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), Society of Underwater Technology (SUT), National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).

An ardent scholar, Dr. Agunbiade has written and presented several technical papers at both local and international fora. Some of his papers include – Product-Mix Problem: A case of a Paper Manufacturing Industry; System dynamics applied to engineering management: a survey, assessment, and directions for future research, Leadership in Multi-Leadership Business Organizations: Where are we Faltering? Ph.D. Dissertation; and Impact of gas flaring on air quality: A Review. Ph.D. Research work, Texas Southern University, Department of Urban Planning & Environmental Policy.

Engr. (Dr.) Agunbiade is currently a Director at National Oilwell Varco, the world’s largest Oil and Gas equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Houston, Texas, with 600 locations in 5 continents worldwide. In that role, he has been involved at a significant level in virtually all the shallow and deep-water production projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. He has completed over 2billion USD offshore production projects over the last decade.

A Philanthropist par excellence, Engr. (Dr.) Agunbiade is a businessman, prolific Investor, energy consultant, and subject matter expert in Subsea Production Systems. He has attended and presented papers at several Conferences, Seminars, and Workshops worldwide. He is the founder of Jide Agunbiade foundation, MDS LLC, and has interest and ownership in several enterprises.

Some of the other conferees are Engr. Professor Aluyo – Vice-Chancellor, Edo State University; Engr. Abiola Amodu, an Air Vice Marshal; Engr. Ibrahim Alhassan Musah, Chairman board of Nigerian Railway corporation; Engr. Lawrence Ozoemene Ezeh, CEO of Promat Coating Company Limited; Engr. Professor Kazeem Adebiyi, Rector Polytechnic Ibadan and Engr. Dr. Adedeji Ashiru, CEO of Contec Global Energy Limited, to mention a few out of the many distinguished fellowship conferees.

In his closing remark, the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. Babagana Mohammed FNSE urged the fellowship recipient to use their well-deserved honor to spur them to contribute more to the growth of the engineering profession and the nation at large.