Engr. (Dr) Reuben Onwuegbuna Okeke born on the 4^th of August, 1953 holds a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Lagos. He started his professional career as a pupil Engineer in the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in 1978 and maintained a career in the Distribution sector of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). Owing to hardwork, he grew to enviable heights of his profession to become the Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) – the largest Distribution zone in Nigeria, with an asset base of over 30 billion naira and a peak load demand of over 840MW, in 2002.

During his tenure as the CEO of IKEDC, he saw to the design, installation and commissioning of 15 nos. 33/11kV Injection Substations with total capacity of 450MVA within two years (2005-2007) which opened up access to quality electricity to numerous customers. He further provided some panacea to the problems of acute load shedding and losses in the distribution network in the same zone by seeing to the design and construction of 33kV and 11kV feeders as well as the installation of compensators at various location of the distribution network. This resulted to a reduction of losses in the network to less than 10% from 15% level at inception of his office. He further saw to the creation of eight Business Units in Ikeja. He was later appointed the CEO of Enugu Distribution company in 2007 where he also recorded some milestone achievements, very notably is the creation and implementation of six other Business Units which resulted to increase in the accessibility of electricity by millions of Nigerians and rapid response to power outages.

In recognition of his immense contribution to the NESI as an Engineer, District Manager Distribution, Assistant General Manager Distribution, General Manager Distribution, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Okeke was appointed the pioneer DG of the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) in 2009 where he has made the training Institute a distinguished manpower trainer for the power sector. As at date the Institute has trained over 5,000 personnel for the power sector. He also established a framework that has attracted the institute partnership with private National and International reputable organizations/companies. In recognition of his accomplishment in NAPTIN he was awarded ‘Golden award for Quality and Business Prestige’ in Rome (ITALY) in June 2013 and ‘Majestic 5 Continents award for Quality and Excellence” in Geneva- Switzerland in November 2013.

Engr. (Dr.) Okeke has received several awards in his thirty nine years of service in the NESI, one of which is the award of Annual Best District Manager, which he won three times consecutively in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He is a fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, a Council member of COREN, and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM), amongst others. In recognition of his contribution to the field of Engineering and Management, in 2015 he was awarded a Honorary Doctoral Degree in Engineering Management by the Commonwealth University Belize (CUB).

SPECIALIZATIONS

• Power Systems Operations & Planning, Smart Grid & Micro-Grid Computational Intelligence, Optimization Theories & Application and Engineering Education Research