Engr. Joseph Oyeyani Makoju, was born on the 13th of July 1948 at Okene, Kogi State. He began his formal education at the Roman Catholic Primary School, Okene in 1954. Engr. Makoju was a Shell Scholar and graduated in 1972 with a B.Sc Honours (First Class Division) in Mechanical Engineering, and a Master of Philosophy Degree Programme (M.Phil) in Mechanical Engineering in 1976.

He started his career as a Petroleum Engineer with Shell in Port-Harcourt. Engr. Makoju was employed by WAPCO, Nigeria’s then leading Cement Manufacturers in 1975 . He joined the Board of WAPCO as Assistant Managing Director on 1st January 1990 rising to the position of Managing Director/Chief Executive on January 1st 1991. He held this position till September 12th 2000 when he was invited by President Olusegun Obasanjo and appointed to the position of Managing Director/Chief Executive of  NEPA, on secondment from WAPCO.

According to President Olusegun Obasanjo, the decision to recruit Engr. Joseph Makoju from the private sector was to assist with giving NEPA the leadership it lacked and to shape up the entire NEPA structure and change their attitude and orientation.  The aim was to sanitise and reposition NEPA to perform its roles, functions and duties to the nation.

As Managing Director/Chief Executive of NEPA, Engr. Joseph Makoju successfully implemented a change management programme, culminating in the successful complete internal unbundling of the authority by December 2004, as part of the reform program of the power sector. He has the honour of being appointed consecutively by three Presidents of Nigeria as Special Adviser on Power serving under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan between 2007-2011. On the 20th May, 2011, after almost eight years of service to the FGN in various capacities, Engr. Makoju disengaged honourably.

He was the Pioneer Executive Chairman of the Board of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) (2006- 2012) for six years and remains today an Honorary Member of the Board.

Engr. Joseph Oyeyani Makoju sadly died on April 11, 2022.

The conferment of this Posthumous Award is in recognition and celebration of the immeasurable contributions and achievements by Engr. Joseph Makoju to the Power sector. May His Soul rest in Peace.

This Posthumous Award was sponsored by MOJEC International Limited and New Hampshire Capital Limited.