Senator Umar Abubakar Argungu, OON, OFR 

Tafidan Kabi

Chairman

Senator Argungu was born in Argungu, Kebbi State on the 1st of May 1959. He had his Qur’anic education at a very young age and his primary education was at Tudun wada Primary School, Argungu. His Secondary school education was at Sultan Abubakar College Sokoto between 1968 and 1979.He obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in 1982 and Higher National Diploma (HND) in 1987 both in Purchasing Supply Management from Kaduna Polytechnic. He later attended Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye, where he graduated with M.Sc. in Transportation.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Purchasing & Supply Management of Nigeria and also a Fellow of the Centre for Transportation Studies. He is a recipient of the National Merit Award in Transportation from the Centre of Transportation Studies. In 1992, by way of honour and appreciation towards his contribution in the development of Argungu Emirate Council, the late Emir of Argungu, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Muhammadu Mera, the father of the current Emir, conferred him with a traditional title as the Tafidan Kabi. He is a recipient of two National Honour Awards; the first being the Order of the Niger (OON) from Late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) award from former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Senator Argungu began his Public Service career in 1982 with the then Sokoto State Supply Company (SOSSCO), which was the Sokoto State Government Procurement and Distribution Agency, where he worked as a Senior Purchasing Officer, Haulage Manager, Supermarket Manager and Purchasing Manager.

He transferred his service to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in 1989 as Principal Procurement Officer at the NPA HQ worked as the Assistant Chief Materials Officer at Apapa Ports, Senior Manager Procurement, Assistant General Manager Procurement, Assistant General Manager Monitoring & Inspection and Assistant General Manager special Duties, all at the Ports Headquarters.

He was later promoted and moved to Abuja, as the General Manager at the NPA Liaison office and held the position of General Manager Special Duties until his retirement in 2002.

He has attended several professional and capacity development courses and programs across a few countries in Europe such as Holland, United Kingdom and Belgium.

Senator Argungu brings a very deep wealth of knowledge, experience and overall leadership particularly from his political and public/civil service endearvours into YYCONNECT. Since his retirement in 2002, he has been the Chairman of the board of Hijrah Holdings, a group companies that includes Hijrah Investment, Hijrah Shipping & Marine Services, Hijrah Textile in Sokoto and Hijrah Oil & Gas.

In 2007 up till 2011, Senator Argungu was elected as a legislator of the National Assembly representing Kebbi North Senatorial District.  During his tenure as a Distinguished Senator he functioned as the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport and member of Senate Committees on Communication, Environment & Ecology, Public Accounts, Sport & Social Development, Privatization, Air Force and Constitutional Review.

Akinyemi “Yemi” Okeremi, PhD

MD/CEO

Dr. Akinyemi “Yemi” Okeremi is a dynamic and seasoned Project Management Professional with 25 years of progressive work experience mainly in upstream oil and gas industry. He has an excellent track record as individual performer and leader of high performing teams. Intuitively solves problems and puts structure/process in place, passionate about improving productivity and efficiency. These attributes have significantly helped his organizational leadership. He is self-motivated and result oriented with sound technical background.

On the technical side, he is a Subject Matter Expert in Materials and Corrosion with in-depth knowledge in Asset Integrity Process Safety Management (AIPSM), Materials Selection for sweet and sour service, Quality Control and Quality Assurance, Root Cause/Failure Mode and Effect Analyses (FMEA), Fitness for purpose material evaluations, welding qualifications (including cladding and welding of exotic materials), material qualification for sweet/sour service, novel/cutting edge applications, erosion and vibration assessment using CFD Model and Cathodic Protection design. He has several publications in the field of Metallurgy, Materials and Corrosion Engineering.

In the course of his career, Dr. Okeremi has worked in Deepwater Subsea and Topsides/Facilities. He is currently Vice President (Engineering) for YYConnect Consulting Inc. in Houston Texas USA. He was the Materials and Corrosion Lead for Shell Prelude Project in Australia, Subsea Hardware Lead/Contract Manager for Shell Bonga Southwest Aparo Project in Nigeria. He is endowed with excellent communication, interpersonal and leadership skills with diverse multicultural/multinational experience.

Dr. Okeremi has a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University Nigeria, Master’s degree in Corrosion Science and Engineering from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) Manchester UK, master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Columbia University New York USA and doctorate degree in Corrosion Science and Engineering from University of Manchester, Manchester UK. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Boston Massachusetts USA.

Engineer Tunde Okeremi

Group Deputy Managing Director

Engineer Tunde Okeremi is a highly dynamic and result oriented professional with over 23years of progressive management experience mainly in the oil and gas and IT industry. She has effectively led and managed multi-discipline teams to deliver projects on time and within budget in the America, Asia, Europe and Africa. She continuously utilizes her leadership and communication skills to make sure that the goals and objective of the projects are well understood by all stakeholders and the executive management/client is carried along.

Client satisfaction is of topmost priority, so short and long- term analytical projections and a bird’s eye-view for a successful completion is a must for all her projects.

Engineer Tunde has extensive work experience in Deepwater Subsea, Topsides and drilling controls. She worked in engineering and project management roles in Subsea controls, intervention, surveillance for Shell USA and Nigeria; and as Drilling Controls Consultant for Exxon Mobil and Total in Offshore Norway, North Sea; Singapore and Offshore Brunei where she managed pre-commissioning, commissioning, system integration, startup for new and overhauled drilling rigs.

Engineer Tunde Okeremi has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ilorin Nigeria, Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Houston Baptist University, Texas US and Masters of Science (M.Sc.) in Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering from Nottingham University UK. She is a seasoned administrator and innovative leader.

Engineer Tunde Okeremi is a Member of the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Professional Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Registered Member Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Member, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Member Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Member Women in Energy Network (WEN).

Kelechi Ekugo

Director

Kelechi Ekugo the Senior Country Director of the US-Nigeria Council (USNC). Prior to his current position, Mr. Ekugo served as Technical Advisor to Nigeria’s Minister of Trade & Investment and Technical Advisor to two consecutive Ministers of Finance. He also supported the activities of the Presidential National Economic Management Team (NEMT) under a UK DFID-sponsored technical assistance program between 2009-2012 and was a member of the technical team that created the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). Prior to his work with the Nigerian government, Mr. Ekugo was a financial analyst in equity trading at Morgan Stanley in London.

He worked for LAT Cleveson a proprietary investment firm based in London as its Chief Operating Officer, with portfolio investments in Marine Services, Retail and Agriculture. He received his BA from the University of Derby in Financial Services.

Ejovi Aror

Director

Ejovi is the Group Managing Director of ipNX and has served in this capacity since 2002. He joined the Telnet Group in 1988 and became Managing Director of iTECO (a Telnet subsidiary company) in 1996. He is a director of Telnet,  Techinvest Limited and also of the Interswitch Group.

With over 30 years of business leadership, visionary ICT foresight and experience,  Ejovi has led the charge in solidifying ipNX’s brand as one of Nigeria’s fastest growing Information and Communications Technology companies serving a multitude of needs across enterprises, small businesses, and residents with innovative, world-class services. ipNX has championed various leading edge communications technology innovations across industries and business segments. Under his leadership, ipNX pioneered the roll out of the nation’s first Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) technology in 2013,  which has placed ipNX firmly as a market leader in the industry.

Ejovi received his Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering as a First Class graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife in 1987. He obtained a Master’s degree in Data Communications Engineering from Brunel University (UK) (1993) and an Executive MBA from IESE, Spain (1998). He has promoted the Burian Carew Foundation, which is a CSR/ NGO initiative dedicated to providing STEM educational opportunities for youths from disadvantaged environments. He is the founder of the Bujimi Aror charity program which sponsors indigent students education through high school.

Ejovi is passionate about the technological advancement of Nigeria and is a firm believer in the great potential and indomitable will of the average Nigerian.

Adeniyi Olagunju

Director/Group Head, Government Relations

Adeniyi is a versatile individual with a diverse range of professional exposures spanning from his original forte as a visual Artist, to a Military combat personnel with the British Army and recently as a Public Sector Senior Advisor with emphasis on Social Development.

Niyi attended the Defence School of Aeronautical Engineering, Dudley, UK: School of Photography where he obtained a Diploma of Military Photography. He also obtained a National Diploma in General Art from Yaba College of Technology, Lagos in 2000.

While in the British Royal Army, he enrolled at the  Royal School of Military Engineering, UK for a B2 & 3 Combat Engineering Course with technical training in Military Engineering and developing skills competencies in minefields clearing, marine supply skill, boat operations, health and safety, standards, bridge building, basic construction techniques, cross - country driving and field fortification. He then also attended the Army Training Regiment in Bassingbourn, UK where he underwent Basic Soldiering skills with concentration on ‘Military Combats’.

Niyi served the 38 Engineer Regiment in Ripon, UK between 2002-04 as a Soldier in the Corp of Royal Engineer and was deployed to Iraq on Optelic 2 in Basra, Iraq in 2003. He was part of the 25 Engineer Regiment that served Her Majesty Forces in Antrim, Northern Ireland between December 2003-October 2006. 

He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) Degree from St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, UK with concentrations in Art History, Studio Art and Visual Theory. He was one of the privileged few to benefit from the Oxford University Scholarship between 2006 -2009. Following that he then proceeded to Texas Christian University (“TCU”) in Fort Worth, Texas, USA where he obtained a 2nd degree in 2011 with a Master of Fine Arts with specialisation in Sculpture. 

From August 2011 to 2015, he had the opportunity to expose his skill-set within the public sector as a Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of State, FCT where he was tasked with the responsibility of formulating and implementing Social Development initiatives to strengthen the FCT’s commitment across areas line Arts & Culture/Sports & Youth development.

Niyi brings his wealth of experience, from the military and public service to his new role as the Group Head, Government Relations at YY Connect. He is also a recipient of 2 Military service medals: ODM Iraq Medal 2003 and OSM Northern Ireland Medal 2004.

Olajide Oladimeji

Group Head, Finance & Admin

Olajide is a Fixed Income securities trader and a Finance specialist. He holds a Bachelor of Science, Geography from the University of Lagos.

He joined Access Bank as a Treasury Dealer after his initial training at Access Bank School For Banking Excellence. 

Over his banking career, Olajide attended many finance related courses globally but not limited to 2006 Euromoney training on Credit Management & Debt Recovery in New York, USA; 2007 Euromoney Training on Innovation in Financial/ Money Markets; Dealing Room Attachment with J P Morgan UK in 2009; Goldman Sachs/ London Financial Markets Training Intensive Derivatives Course in 2009 and Strategic Business Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2016.

Olajide worked as a Team Lead in the Corporate Banking Division of Guaranty Trust Bank as Relationship Manager Maritime Group working with Oil and Gas Servicing Firms, Exploration Companies and Shipping Companies.

He was formerly the Chief Operating Officer and the Head of Strategy and Business Development of WealthField Partners Limited, before being appointed as Executive Director of the newly restructured company WFP Global Investment Limited. 

Currently, Olajide is the Group Head, Finance and Administration at YY Connect.

Olajide is married with a daughter.

Oluwole Ajayi

Group Head, Marine & Logistics

Oluwole has over 15 years working experience spanning from the Aviation to Banking and Maritime industries. Oluwole started his career in ADC Airlines before moving to Skye Bank Plc. in 2007 as a pioneer member of the Aviation and Maritime Group. He joined Diamond Bank in 2010 and left in May 2014 as Head, Maritime and Oil Servicing Group to become the Chief Operating Officer of Felz Marine Nigeria Ltd.

During his stint in Banking, Oluwole was involved in various maritime and oil and gas transactions for the purchase of assets in excess of $300m. He was also part of  various financing syndications with renowned multi-lateral agencies like USEX-IM, AFREXIM, International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Oluwole has attended various Oil maritime courses, seminars and conferences in Nigeria, London, Singapore, France and the United States of America including the prestigious Lloyds Maritime Academy UK where he acquired a vast wealth of knowledge required to succeed in the maritime industry.

He brings his wealth of experience, as the pioneer COO of YYConnect Nigeria Ltd. Oluwole is a graduate of Political Science from the University of Ibadan.

Clarks and Moore

Company Secretary