The pioneer Vice Chancellor, Nigeria Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko, Delta State, Professor (Mrs.) Ongoebi Maureen Orubide Etebu is not an ordinary woman. That she is a woman of substance with an unending positive attributes within and outside the ivory tower is an understatement.
It is on record that she is the first female professor of Mechanical Engineering in the annals of Nigerian history. An insight into her very rich profile, shows that she is engineering personified. From being a staunch figure in Mechanical Engineering, she has headed several positions that are engineering or related to engineering. At various times, Etebu who is fondly called “Mummy” by her close aides and admirers, was the Head of Department, Associate Dean, Director, Institute of Technology Engineering and Management, a professorial chair, El-Rufai Professorial Chair in Engineering Management (a chair well befitting to her pedigree) and, Dean Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Etebu is a technocrat to the core. She has three doctoral academic degrees namely, Ph.D Industrial Engineering, Ph.D Mechanical Engineering, and Ph.D Energy and Power; four masters academic degrees in various fields of engineering and one in Administration.
She has experience and exposure in the academia, private and public sectors. In December 1999, she was called to take charge of Directorate of Special Projects in the administration of Chief Diepreye Solomon Alamieyeseigha. Apparently satisfied with her zeal and the innovations she brought to bear on her roles and responsibilities in the position, she was in June 2001, appointed a commissioner in the newly created Ministry of Special Projects. As the helmswoman in the new ministry, she was in charge of many landmark achievements recorded by the Alamieyeseigha’s government. In all these, the construction of the Niger Delta University (NDU) at Wilberforce Island, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area stands out like a diamond in the sky. Again, in May 2003, she was appointed the Commissioner, Ministry of Public Utilities where she served until January 2006. She is married and blessed with four children.
This proud daughter of Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State was on Saturday June 8, 2024 honoured with a chieftaincy title as the Ebe-Finiere of Ogboin Kingdom by the Ebe-Nanaowei of Ogboin Clan, King Oweipa Jones-Ere, Ogboin 111 in Amasoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
The photographs below depict several aspects and stages of the royal title given to her:
