Professor Okafor was born on  3rd November 1957 in Ogidi, Anambra State. He attended BOYS SECONDARY SCHOOL, OGIDI (1973-1977) and passed the WASC in Grade 1 (distinction). He held all of his three degrees from the University of Lagos: a B.Sc. (Hons.), Electrical and Electronics Engineering (1984), M.Phil.  (1987) and Ph.D in Power and Control Engineering (1993).

He started his career at the University of Lagos as Graduate Assistant between 1985-1988 during which he developed Computer Aided Control System Design Tools for Research and Training. At the peak of Grid collapse in the 1990s, he developed a two-area control structure for the Nigerian Power System and deployed a robust non-linear controller for Automatic generation Control (AGC) to improve grid stability.

He was a German Research Foundation Post-doctoral Fellow at the Technical University (TU)   Chemnitz, Germany, 2000-2001. While there, he designed the fully Controlled Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) for Wind Energy Conversion and Small Hydro Power Stations for low, very high wind speeds and emergency situations. A foremost Power Software development Company, DigiSilent GmBH, deployed the scheme as the first standard model for variable speed constant frequency (VSCF) generating Plants based on DFIG. On account of his works, he was appointed staff of Electrical Engineering Faculty at TU Chemnitz for a brief period due to home call. Prof. Okafor was appointed professor (visiting) at  TU Dresden, Germany (2003) with focus on High Voltage Test Techniques for power components.

On return, he was appointed pioneer Scientific Coordinator, High Voltage Technology Centre (HIVOTEC), a Public-Private Partnership devoted to High Voltage Testing and Power Quality Engineering. In this new position, he successfully developed modules for Type Tests for locally produced high voltage components notably, Polymeric Insulators (up to 132kV), Fibre Cross Arms (up to 33kV) and Routine Tests for conductors (up to 132kV). In 2006-2007, he was appointed Project Manager (System Studies) for the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) where he led an in-house team to successfully perform Integration and Evacuation Studies for the 10 NIPP power Plants. The three-volume report was implemented and impacted on the rating of circuit Breakers, the reality that the existing transmission infrastructure can only evacuate the phase 1 NIPP power plants under N-0 condition and the discovery of low frequency oscillatory modes.

He was head of Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department Unilag, from 2008 to 2010 when he was appointed Director General (DG) of the HIVOTEC project, a position he holds till today. He has edited several books and conference proceedings and has over 60 publications in learned journals and conference proceedings. He is an accredited consultant in Evacuation Studies, Power Quality and Environmental Impact Assessment.

Prof. Okafor’s several awards include the German Research Foundation Fellowship (2000) and Best PhD Thesis Award in Engineering (2011) with his student from National Universities Commission (NUC). He is a registered Engineer, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (2003) and member of IEEE-USA and German Society of Electrical Engineers (VDE).

SPECIALIZATIONS

• Power Systems Design and High Voltage