After 36 years of service at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), then NEPA, and rising to become a General Manager, Engineer Godfrey Oragunye retired in 2002 as Executive Director, Generation. Running his show now as a Power Systems Consultant, Oragunye recently turned 70 and used the occasion to reflect on life, career and the seemingly intractable power challenges of the country, proffering solutions.FOR several years, Engr Godfrey Oragunye held sway in various capacities as a senior executive at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. And his career which began in the late 60s blossomed over time. Now in old age, Oragunye believes the grace of God and a rich dose of contentment that characterized his life has enabled him to live a largely successful life in the same measure as he has experienced careerwise.The eldest in a family of three children ' two boys and a girl, Oragunye went through CMS Primary School, Onitsha, which was one of the most popular at the time. It was the school attended by the late Nnamdi Azikiwe. He went to Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, finishing with a grade 1 in WASC. From there, he moved into Federal Emergency Science School in 1962, got his A'Levels which helped him secure a scholarship from Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) to study Mechanical Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1963 and 1966.Before going to University, however, he had to work in the Federal Ministry of Service as an Assistant Technical Officer. He had no money to sponsor himself and refused to allow anybody to bear the burden. While he worked there, he saw an advertisement for the scholarship and just responded. Fortunately, he got selected.Before graduation, ECN had written him a letter offering temporary employment pending his final examination and depending on the grade he finishes with. That was followed by another letter, giving a temporary appointment. It meant he would not have to look for job. On graduation in 1966, the civil war was about beginning and everybody returned home. He started work immediately as a Grade 1 Engineer and was posted to the Ijora Power Station. But the civil soon broke out fully and everybody were moved to states of origin till the end of the war. 'I was moved to Afam Power Station until we were driven out by the Nigerian Army,' he recalls.When the war ended, Oragunye was posted to Oji River Power Station. In 1974, he got married. And by 1975, he became the station manager. By December, 1978, he was transferred to the headquarters in Marina, Lagos as Ag. Chief Engineer, System Generation and confirmed in March of the following year. He was later promoted Director of Operations in 1983. Afterwards, he was posted to Kainji as Director of Operations. There he was till July, 1989 when he got promoted as Assistant General Manager (AGM), Generation and posted back to the headquarter. At the time, there were only seven AGMs in the management of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) ' AGM Generation, Transmission, Distribution, Admin, Finance, Accounts and one other. There was only one General Manager (GM). He was part of the system that started the re-organisation and expansion of NEPA in order to make it more efficient.Much later when there were now GMs, he became GM, Generation in charge of all the power stations in the country, he followed up with being the GM at Egbin Thermal Power Station and finished up with being Executive Director, Generation before retiring from service.In his years of engineering experience practice in the power industry, Oragunye was involved in operation and maintenance of power plants and systems, design and implementation of new power plants, management of power plants and systems.He was also involved in appraisal and negotiation of major contracts, policy formulation for the Authority and personnel management. He introduced and implemented maintenance management systems during the utility partnership programme with British Electricity International.Considering his contributions to the sustenance of the generation capability of the industry, he reflects on some of his experience and decisions taken on the job. 'Oji River Power Station was shut down in a hurry and abandoned without proper storage during the civil war. The shutdown lasted for over 30 months. We had the privilege of resuscitating the power station to link up with Afam and supply the Eastern states after the war in 1970. By that time, the machines were already obsolete and spare parts were difficult to come by.'With time, it was discovered that the breaking system of the kainji units was no longer effective. When a unit was shut down, we had to drop the gates to stop the unit from creeping. The 105 p.s.i pressure provided was considered marginal for the system after a close study. 150 p.s.i pressure was determined as adequate and modification as appropriate was carried out providing for independent compressors for this system to provide the required pressure. With this modification carried out in 1987, the station service compressors were relieved of the duty of supply breaking air for the units and it no longer became necessary to drop the head gates to stop units from creeping,' he said.The main goal of the Generation Division, which he headed is to provide at all times steady, adequate and good quality electricity for Transmission and Distribution. Though he agrees that goal was not met, he maintains that his leadership enhanced the goal during his three years at the helm. 'During this period, a number of generating plants that had been out of service for years were repaired and returned to service pending major overhauls/inspections, which were already overdue. But in the meantime they performed satisfactorily. As a result of in-house repairs, they were made available for operation for several more years before breakdown. In Kainji, Units 6, 7 and 12 were repaired and returned to service, raising Kainji capability from 200 MW to 500 MW. In all, about 1000MW capacity was returned to service within my three years in that capacity.'Oragunye served in various committees set up by Management to investigate and recommend appropriate solutions to various technical problems. He also attended several courses and seminars, among which are Training and Re-orientation on commercialization and privatization of NEPA, senior management courses at Scottish power, Scotland, Northern Ireland electricity Board, Ireland, National Power, UK and the Cranfield School of Management, Bedford, England.When he was made the General Manager at Egbin Thermal Power Station, Lagos, he effectively administered and managed the Station for steady availability and output of 880 MW of power into the National Grid. During the time, he also contributed immensely towards the planning and programming of the rehabilitation of all power stations.In May 2000 when he was appointed acting Executive Director (Generation), he assumed full responsibility for continued planning and implementation of all approved programmes designed to improve generation availability in the short and medium terms.Oragunye holds membership of a number of professional bodies. He was a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), he is a registered Engineer with the council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN), Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers, member, Nigerian Institute of Management, member, Cranfield Management Association, and member, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, U.S.A (MIEEE), amongf others.An experienced hands-on manager and engineer, Oragunye was also a member of a number of special committees. He was Chairman, NEPA Assets Disposal Board between 1989 and 1995, member, Ministerial committee on disposal of NEPA unserviceable vehicles in 1990, Chairman, utility Partnership Program NEPA/British Electricity International from 1991 till the end of the partnership in 1992; delegate at the Inter-ministerial committee meeting on Natural Gas Pricing for NEPA; and represented NEPA in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Meeting in the ministry of Petroleum Resources.
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