The work that Prof Sunny Eromosele Eboh does through Mudiame International Limited, Mudiame Welding Institute and Mudiame University is intertwined. It revolves around providing needed skills for technological development of Nigeria.
When he founded Mudiame International Limited over 20 years ago, he was propelled by the absence of quality control mechanisms, quality control being “a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements”, according to ISO 9000.
The company, an ISO 17025-accredited Nigeria-based testing, calibration and inspection company, offers services to the construction, aviation, oil, gas and allied industries at both upstream and downstream sectors with its operations mainly in the area of quality control.
“We started this about 20 years ago seeing the gap in quality control in the country,” Eboh said in an interview in 2021.
Before then, most of the jobs related to quality control, especially testing, were done outside the country, and samples for special calibrations and investigation and others were also taken out of the country.
“So we identified that gap and then we developed a system to close it,” he said.
With the local content law in place in the oil and gas sector, welding technology became another big issue that operators had to send samples of welded coupons out of the country and then had to qualify foreigners to carry out the welding activities in the country because most of the indigenous welders were not certified.
“But then the delay in sending materials abroad and the waste of foreign exchange were part of the reasons we moved in and bridged the gap,” he said.
Today, Mudiame International Limited, whose vision is to be the leader in laboratory testing services, runs a one-stop laboratory that executes a wide range of tests, from destructive test (charpy test, bend test, tensile test, nick break test, marco & micro examination) to non-destructive test (UT,RT, MT, PT, MPI, visual inspection, portable hardness test), corrosion test, metallography test, crack tip opening displacement test (CTOD), calibration services, inspection services, comprehensive chemical analysis, and material investigation – and it does so with international standard.
As a testimony to its expertise, Mudiame International Limited in August 2019 announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for the calibration of equipment, welding and non-destructive testing (NDT) of aircraft and other equipment belonging to NAF and other security agencies.
The company noted then that the partnership, aimed at manufacturing of equipment locally and helping other African countries, especially in the areas of oil and gas servicing and domestication of key skills needed in the Air Force, Navy and allied industries, would help reduce over-dependence on foreign countries, especially Europe and America, and thus save Nigeria foreign exchange spent on importing expatriates, overseas training and maintenance of equipment.
In line with the objective of providing needed skills for technological development, Mudiame Welding Institute Limited (MWI), an affiliate of Mudiame International Limited, was born in 2013 with a vision is to assist the government and industries in achieving local competency and skill capacity building in-country.
Here’s what an entry on https://ebaoxford.co.uk/ says of Mudiame Welding Institute: “Having observed the huge gap in the oil and gas industries where competent Nigerian welding engineers, qualified NDT personnel, inspectors and welders are lacking and the huge cost of attending training abroad, it became a burden for Mudiame to establish this institution in-country to close this gap.”
Mudiame Welding Institute Limited (MWI) is today one of the Approved Training Bodies (ATB) in Africa authorized by the International Institute of Welding (IIW) to provide training on International Welding Engineer (IWE) and International Welding Technologist (IWT) including other IIW diploma programmes in line with the IIW guidelines and practices. It is a member of the American Society for Non Destructive Testing (ASNT), Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW), Oil and Gas Trainers Association (OGTAN), International Institute of Welding (IIW) and American Welding Society.
The Institute, located in Lagos and Port Harcourt, offers welding training and certification on destructive test, corrosion test, metallography test, material investigation, and much more. It produces professional welding engineers and offers training for those who aspire to be international welding engineers and technologists, welding specialists and practitioners, welders, and welding inspection personnel.
But apart from the work he does at Mudiame International Limited and Mudiame Welding Institute, Prof Eboh has positioned Mudiame University, of which he is the Founder and Chancellor, as a world-leading university for technological innovation that addresses the challenges of oil and gas, agriculture, food and safety, energy, health, manufacturing, security and transportation in the immediate and global environments.
Earlier in 2023, a new diesel formula discovered by Mudiame University in partnership with Fuel Technology, LLC, USA emerged the second-best university research at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation yearly exhibition in Abuja.
The diesel formula, aqua-diesel, could help businesses in Nigeria to reduce their operating expenses by over 50 percent and, by extension, reduce the prices of goods and services, Eboh said at the time.
“Today in Nigeria, the cost of energy is over 50 percent of the operating expenses of organisations. This has forced some small businesses to close down while others are struggling to survive,” he said.
Adoption of the aqua-diesel, a testament to the university’s commitment to ensuring that Africa adds value to resources instead of merely focusing on export of raw materials, it is said, would ultimately lead to lower emissions, cleaner carbon footprint, and an improvement in engine performance, thus assisting in ensuring that Nigeria transitions to cleaner energy gradually and sustainably.
In August 2021, at the kickoff ceremony of professional and vocational training of community youths in Assa North-Ohaji South Project, Eboh emphasized the criticality of Mudiame University and the Mudiame Welding Institute to local content development in the country, especially in the oil and gas and other sectors of the economy.
At the time, over 40 students in the university were going to be trained through the institute for Shell Nigeria and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) under a contract anchored by Dorman Long Engineering. It was to be a one-year vocational training covering intensive classroom and workshop practical learning as well as on-the-job training in the areas of Electrical Engineering and Drafting, Quantity Survey, Civil Engineering and Drafting, Project Management, ICT and Telecom, Welding, Fitting Electrical Installation, Scaffolding, Lifting and Rigging, and Carpentry.
Stressing the importance of skills training and development, Eboh said, “Skills development is a currency that will continue to appreciate and today we have sharpened the vision of providing needed skills for technological development in Nigeria by becoming a leading destination for service provision and skill development in the oil, gas, construction and aviation sector to floating the Mudiame University.”
Not long ago, Mudiame Foundation announced an undergraduate scholarships to the tune of N250 million for “indigent students at Mudiame University”. According to available information, the scholarships, part of Mudiame Foundation’s ongoing commitment to contribute to national development, is aimed at financially disadvantaged students who aspire to enrol in any course at Mudiame University located in Irrua, Edo State.
Apart from multiple scholarships offered to qualified Nigerians in an effort to improve access to quality education in the country, there is also in existence an Employment Guarantee Policy, where all first class graduates in the school are offered automatic employment, and possible exchange programme with universities abroad.
It was, therefore, not surprising when, in September 2022, Prof Eromosele was given an outstanding performance award by the Association of Esan Professionals (AEP) for his contribution to growth and development, especially the provision of scholarships for Nigerians. At that event, Eboh said Mudiame University’s priority was not all about providing certificates to students but building market-ready students as well as entrepreneurs, who would push Nigeria and other African countries from import dependency to an export-oriented market.
Much earlier, in 2017, he was honoured with the African Leadership Industry Achievement Award at the African Business and Investment Forum held at the prestigious Imperial College, London.
