Dr. Okon Mfon Amana

Dr. Okon Mfon Amana was a Nigerian Aeronautics and Astronautics engineer, businessman and public servant. He is widely remembered as a doyen and icon of the ICT evolution in Nigeria. As an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr Amana had approached Bill Hewlett during an MIT Alumni Event and the discussions led to the appointment of his company, Management Information Systems Company Limited as sole representatives for Hewlett-Packard computing, printing and enterprise solutions in the Nigerian market in 1983.

Dr. Amana was born in Ebughu, Oron in what is now Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria to Bidiak and Arit Amana, a teacher and homemaker respectively. Dr. Amana excelled in his academics at every level. He completed his West African School Certificate (WASC) Ordinary and Advanced Levels at the Methodist Boys High School, Oron, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1966. Having been offered a Shell scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, and with the breakout of the Biafran War in 1967, Dr. Amana made the courageous decision to travel by canoe to the neighbouring country of Equatorial Guinea in order to take up his scholarship position, or risk been forcibly conscripted into the Biafran Army.

Dr. Amana completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering at Imperial College, London, with First Class Honours and as Best Graduating Student in the School of Engineering in 1971. Thereafter, he moved to the United States, where he completed a Master of Science, as well as a Doctor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1973 and 1975 respectively. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Northeastern University.’

Dr. Amana was an accomplished Aeronautics and Astronautics engineer, as well as a professor in the United States of America. At General Electric’s Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, he was a Project Leader heading the Heavy Fuels Research Program where he conducted research in the area of Gas Turbine Engineering for both Aircraft Propulsion and Power Systems. This Program was critical to General Electric Company winning a US$1 billion pipeline project in Saudi Arabia where a pipeline laid to carry crude oil several thousand kilometres required pumps along its length to boost the pumping pressure.

The pumps were powered by gas turbines fuelled with crude oil from the pipeline, which had several impurities which could corrode the blades. Chemical additives were specified to counter corrosion and the turbine and chemical environment were designed to achieve a certain number of hours. The economics were then compared with having a diesel engine and having to deliver fuel to the pumping stations over time.

Dr. Mfon Amana received a Patent Disclosure Award from General Electric, USA in 1977.

At a time when Nigerian Professionals abroad opted to deploy their intellect in the service of other nations and there was an exodus of those already resident at home, Dr. Mfon Amana chose to come home. He relinquished his position in General Electric and came back to stake his future in Nigeria seeking to add value through spirited public service and his entrepreneurial endeavours.