The permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Mrs. Monilola Udoh, has hailed the promotion of her technical assistant, Dr. Patricks Oghuma to an assistant director by the Federal Civil Service Commission sequel to the conduct of 2021 directorate level promotion/exercise with effect from January 2021.
The permanent secretary, who confessed to being proud of staff under her supervision, since 2014 on his return from South Korea as a Ph.D holder commended that his promotion resonates with her core values of excellence and professionalism.
Oghuma is now an assistant director and senior technical assistant to the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Oghuma obtained a bachelor of engineering in electrical/electronic engineering (B.Eng) from the Edo State University Ekpoma (now Ambrose Ali University) in 1997 and proceeded to acquire master’s and doctoral degrees in information science and telecommunications technology from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea (2009-2014) in quick succession and with flying colours.
He has articles in journals and refereed conference proceedings to his credit, as well as several tangible research outputs which include technical reports and others. Apart from these degrees, he has several other certificates from the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) UK, Global System Mobile Communication Association (GSMA), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), ZTE University China, Huawei Technologies China, Swedish Programme for ICT Development in Emerging Regions (SPIDER)/ Stockholm University Sweden, among others.
Before his current appointment Oghuma was the technical assistant to the permanent secretary, Federal Civil Service Commission; Technical assistant to the permanent secretary, Ministry of Defence; Technical assistant to the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy; Technical assistant to former Minister of Communications (Dr Adebayo Shittu); Special assistant, technical, to the former permanent secretary (Mrs. Nkechi Ejele), Ministry of Communication Technology and was the head, human capital development and emerging technologies team of the ICT department in the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
Also, Oghuma has achieved a blend of administrative and technical experience in the Federal Civil Service. He has also been a member of several inter-ministerial committees including the Committee on the Establishment of Digital Economy and Digital Innovation and Cybersecurity Departments, Committee on the Performance Evaluation of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Inter-ministerial Committee to Develop a Framework to build Digital Skills in schools, Technical Evaluation Committee for the Implementation of 2020 Capital Project, Digital Transformation Technical Working Group for the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and National e-Government Masterplan.
Oghuma is a recipient of several awards. In 2014, he bagged KAIST Academic Excellence Award in South Korea, KOICA e-Government Instructor Award in 2017 and gged a Presidential EPIC Merit Award of Excellence in recognition of his good character and exceptional contributions in upholding the fundamental ethical values of the public service, in 2019. He is a sought-after e-government instructor at the e-Government Training Centre and was a visiting scholar/ facilitator at the National Open University of Nigerian, Abuja Model Study centre from 2015- 2021.
Also, he is a member of several professional bodies like the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Computer Professionals of Nigeria (CPN), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Nigerian Institute of ICT Engineers (NIICTE), Korea Society of Management Information System (KMIS) and the International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
Oghuma is a member of ICT for National Development Committee under the Nigeria Computer Society and a Fellow, Information Marketing and Management Institute (FIMMI).
