Dear Region 8 members,

It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the passing away of David Okorafor, IEEE Nigeria Section member and dedicated young volunteer.

I would like to share with you his obituary prepared by Rapahel Onoshakpor, IEEE Nigeria Section Chair.

Please join me in conveying our condolences to his family and his Section.

Sincerely,

Magdalena Salazar Palma

IEEE Region 8 Delegate and Director

DAVID TOBECHUKWU OKEREAFOR

IEEE NIGERIA SECTION WEBMASTER

(December, 1990 – April, 2019)

 

IEEE Nigeria Section has lost a rare gem: David Tobechukwu Okereafor who was an exceptional IEEE volunteer and the youngest mentor. He was born on December 31, 1990 at Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria to late Mr Eugene Ozoemela Okereafor and Mrs Georginia Chijioke Okereafor. He was the youngest of five (5) siblings. He died on April 17, 2019, at the National Hospital, Abuja.

 

David graduated in 2014 from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) with B.Eng (Second Class (Hons), Upper Division) degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Communication Engineering Option). He was a skilled Engineer, Embedded-Systems developer, Internet of Things (IoT), robots and unmanned ground vehicles.

 

David was an IEEE volunteer starting from his first year at university. He was the Chair at FUTO Student Branch (SB) from 2011 to 2013. He nurtured the FUTO SB till his graduation in 2014. During his time at university, he organised student paper contests, programming tutorials and encouraged students to participate in Extreme Programming competitions and made many other notable contributions. David was the curator of the IEEE Nigeria Section students’ robotics competitions. Until his demise, David was the IEEE Nigeria Section Webmaster and the Secretary of the Robotics and Automation Society, Nigeria Chapter. He was also the webmaster for the IEEE/PES Power Africa 2019 website. He designed and maintained websites for numerous IEEE Conferences organised in Nigeria, in addition to building conference paper submission portals and more. His work and personality will be dearly missed.

 

He was laid to rest on Friday 26th of April 2019. May his soul rest in peace.