Women in Business: Ebele Okeke (CFR, OON)

Ebele Ofunneamaka Okeke CFR and OON was Born 14, June 1948 and is a Nigerian Civil engineer and former Head of Nigerian Civil Service. She was born at Nnewi North, Anambra State, Nigeria. She had her secondary education at Arch Deacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School Elelenwo, Port Harcourt, where she obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1965.

She proceeded to the University of Southampton, England where she obtained a Bachelor of science (B.SC) in Civil engineering (1971). She holds a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in groundwater from Loughborough University. She also obtained a Post Graduate Degree (PGD) in Hydrology and Hydrogeology from the University College London in 1979. She then returned to Nigeria to obtain a Master of Business Administration, an MBA degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2001.

On March 2007, she became the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and after months of service, she became the Head of Nigerian Civil Service, making her the first female to serve in that capacity from the history of Nigeria.

She held this position until 2008 when she finally retired from the Nigerian Civil Service. As a Civil engineer, she has contributed tremendously to engineering development in Nigeria. She founded the Association of Professional Women Engineers, (APWEN) in Nigeria. She was one of the six delegates that represented the retired civil servants at the 2014 Nigeria’s National Conference.

She has an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Engineering Technology Management awarded by Tafawa Belewa University Bauchi and worked in both the private and public sector. As a public health engineer, she worked at Sandford Fawcett Wilton and Bell, Consulting Engineers, London. She worked as Highways and Transportation Engineer, Obiukwu Okeke Associates, Enugu and as Highways Engineer, Gifford and Tolefe, Consulting Engineers, Ibadan.

She was awarded two national honours of OON (Officer of the Order of the Niger); CFR (Commander of the Federal Republic) and a Fellow of the different engineering Societies/institutions.

As long as Ebele is concerned, the work of nation-building is for both men and women. It should not be gender-biased. In her words, “People think that only men have to build the nation. It is not true. Women start building the nation from home. It is most unfortunate that elections in Nigeria do not involve a lot of women and that is why we don’t have anybody sponsoring us. We see that election in Nigeria is mostly for men, but if you will put in your quota and I put in my quota, we will go places.”

As long as Okeke is concerned, “Any woman working in the civil service is developing the nation or building the nation from her own angle, and if they are lucky to be in politics and become one of the ministers in any ministry, they can as well contribute more to the building of the nation. All the women who work with civil service are targeting the nation. But if you enter into politics and you become a minister like I was in the civil service and I put in my quota while I was there, then if every one of us put in their quota, the better for all of us.”

On retirement, she accepted to carry out humanitarian assignments with two international organisations. Appointed the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Ambassador for Nigeria by Water Supply And Sanitation Collaborative Council, an agency within the UN system. She was elected a leading spokeswoman on the Sanitation and Water For All (SWA) Steering Committee. Ebele has handled several international assignments and is currently in private practice as the CEO of Chantaly Engineering Services.

She was honoured on the 7th of November 2019, at WIMBIZ annual conference as a female achiever for blazing the trail and who has made significant impact in the civil service and has contributed to the growth and sustainability of the public sector.