Bart Nnaji is a wanted man—on two continents.
Nnaji is wanted in the United States, specifically at the University of Pittsburgh, where the Alcoa Professor of Manufacturing Engineering is noted for his expertise in robotics and as the architect for a possible new center in e-design.
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He’s also wanted in his native Nigeria, where members of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) are urging him to run for governor of the southeastern state of Enugu. Actually, urging is too weak a term—members of the political party seemed set to draft him as a candidate.
That is an excerpt from a publication by the University of Pittsburgh official website.
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Now, occupying the seat of a Minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, where he holds sway as the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji is distinguished from his fellow colleagues due to his professional background and his non-interest nor partisan in the Nigerian politics.
As his spokesperson puts it, "He says things just as they are," adding: "if it's bad, he tells you it's bad."
He once reacted to a publication that put him in the line of political affiliation, saying: “the article bears my name, but I didn’t write it, There are people in the All Nigeria People’s Party who are trying to put my name out for the governorship and who wrote the article to portray the type of image they want to project of me as a candidate.”
As the minister of science and technology in 1993, Nnaji advocated for employment of Nigerians by multinationals rather than importing expertriates from abroad and to successfully achieve this, he stressed education as a way to build Nigeria’s economy
According to him, when a new company comes to Nigeria, they should be able to hire Nigerians for the jobs. This is evident in the oil industry, where many of the highest-paying jobs went to foreign nationals who had the expertise, instead of Nigerians.
The 2003 New Year’s Day witnessed a remarkable achievement for the Professor of Energy when a leading national newspaper named him as one of the “50 Leaders Nigeria Needs”.
He is indeed a visionary whose advocacy for the weak has gone a long way to reduce the disparity between the rich and low in the society.
He was once quoted as saying: "instead of just selling bananas, we should be able to process the fruit and sell banana juice … the same for guavas, yams, and palms. Nigeria has the natural resources to produce aluminum. I’d like to see us process aluminum and export sheet aluminum.”
He is the founder, Geometric Power Limited - the first indigenously owned private sector power company in Nigeria.
Geometric Power and Renatech in 2001 financed, designed and built an emergency power plant in Abuja, supplying electricity to the Nigerian Electric Power Authority. Geometric Power Limited is currently completing a 400 million U.S. dollars Integrated Power Project (IPP) in Aba, southeast Nigeria.
Dr. Bart Nnaji, 52, a Ph.d holder hails from Nkanu East, Enugu State, Nigeria, where he attended Elementary Secondary Eductaion. He acquired his Doctorate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States. He is also a tenured professor of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, also in the United States.
Additionally, the rich breakfast we had with him before the interview in which, he once again, expressed his positive belief in overcoming the preponderous and recurrent power failure challenges plaguing Nigeria's development, was indeed a remarkable experience in the minister's mansion in Asokoro, Abuja.
Now, occupying the seat of a Minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, where he holds sway as the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji is distinguished from his fellow colleagues due to his professional background and his non-interest nor partisan in the Nigerian politics.
As his spokesperson puts it, "He says things just as they are," adding: "if it's bad, he tells you it's bad."
He once reacted to a publication that put him in the line of political affiliation, saying: “the article bears my name, but I didn’t write it, There are people in the All Nigeria People’s Party who are trying to put my name out for the governorship and who wrote the article to portray the type of image they want to project of me as a candidate.”
As the minister of science and technology in 1993, Nnaji advocated for employment of Nigerians by multinationals rather than importing expertriates from abroad and to successfully achieve this, he stressed education as a way to build Nigeria’s economy
According to him, when a new company comes to Nigeria, they should be able to hire Nigerians for the jobs. This is evident in the oil industry, where many of the highest-paying jobs went to foreign nationals who had the expertise, instead of Nigerians.
The 2003 New Year’s Day witnessed a remarkable achievement for the Professor of Energy when a leading national newspaper named him as one of the “50 Leaders Nigeria Needs”.
He is indeed a visionary whose advocacy for the weak has gone a long way to reduce the disparity between the rich and low in the society.
He was once quoted as saying: "instead of just selling bananas, we should be able to process the fruit and sell banana juice … the same for guavas, yams, and palms. Nigeria has the natural resources to produce aluminum. I’d like to see us process aluminum and export sheet aluminum.”
He is the founder, Geometric Power Limited - the first indigenously owned private sector power company in Nigeria.
Geometric Power and Renatech in 2001 financed, designed and built an emergency power plant in Abuja, supplying electricity to the Nigerian Electric Power Authority. Geometric Power Limited is currently completing a 400 million U.S. dollars Integrated Power Project (IPP) in Aba, southeast Nigeria.
Dr. Bart Nnaji, 52, a Ph.d holder hails from Nkanu East, Enugu State, Nigeria, where he attended Elementary Secondary Eductaion. He acquired his Doctorate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering, at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States. He is also a tenured professor of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, also in the United States.
Additionally, the rich breakfast we had with him before the interview in which, he once again, expressed his positive belief in overcoming the preponderous and recurrent power failure challenges plaguing Nigeria's development, was indeed a remarkable experience in the minister's mansion in Asokoro, Abuja.
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