A first class graduate of Petroleum Engineering, Gabriel Eze, who used plumbing work to train himself through college has opened up on his plans.
CorrectNG reported last December that the young man emerged the best graduating student from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) Imo state in 2023.
Eze said that whether he bagged a first class or not, he would alway be a plumber, and his decision would never have been based on his academic performance.
He said; “Not graduating with a first-class (degree) doesn’t mean failure. Even people with third-class degrees are still working with it, provided they’re focused, diligent, and can prove their worth, though I will always be a plumber.”
On what motivated him to pursue a degree in Petroleum Engineering, Eze said; “When I was in primary school, I was good at mathematics. I grew up in a small town. I had older siblings who were in the university and some were graduates as of that time. So most often, in December, most of them came back for Christmas and made us understand that for one to be successful in engineering, one had to be good at Math.
So being good at Math made me interested in engineering, it was my passion. I made enquiries about engineering and discovered that there were different branches of engineering, like mechanical, electrical, chemical, and aeronautics engineering. Nobody even mentioned petroleum to me at that time. I found interest in Aeronautics (Engineering); I did my research about which schools offered Aeronautics Engineering and I found out that it was just one school which was Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, so that discouraged me from pursuing the course.
When I was in Primary five, there was a discussion in my class and we were told that Nigeria’s economy depended on petroleum but I can’t remember the particular subject. The teacher who said that further explained that most people who are involved in petroleum exploration and production were petroleum engineers, so that was how I gained interest in petroleum (engineering) knowing that Nigeria is a crude oil producer and exporter, which means there will be enormous job opportunities in the petroleum (industry). That was the first excitement I got about studying Petroleum Engineering. So when I entered secondary school, I became good at Organic Chemistry and that was how I chose Petroleum Engineering.”
