Shey George Forgwei; the Geoscientist/Petroleum Engineer, Civil Servant and University Guru.

You are among the finest of professionals in your domain and even after retiring from Public Service you are still doing your thing. Our readers would like to know who you are and those first steps that you took.

Shey George Forgwei

People call me George Forgwei but I prefer to be called Shey because when your people have honoured you traditionally you need to respect them. I was born in the middle of the fifties in Noni, Bui Division in the North West Region of Cameroon to my old man Pah Timothy Nfi and to my mother Elizabeth Kisum. I was the second in a family of eight and a first son. We struggled and I had a good education and with good university degrees I spent a good career in the Public Service in which I ended up as the Regional Delegate in the North West. After leaving, I had so many opportunities to do other things but I preferred to teach and I was the sole lecturer in Petroleum Engineering in the Cameroon Christian University in Bali and also in the Catholic University CATUC in Bamenda. But at the same time, I had other callings and that’s why I am a consultant also working for Kendelly Constructions in Bamenda.

Can we take a look at the educational trajectory of Shey George Forgwei?

Yes my primary education was in Kumbo at the Cameroon Baptist Convention Primary School, CBC. My Secondary Education was at the Joseph Merrick Baptist College, JMBC Ndu. My High School Education was at the Cameroon College of Arts Science and Technology CCAST Bambili; one of the most prestigious destinations at the time where you had to pass an interview before gaining access into the establishment. After that I went to the university in Nigeria where I did my first degree at the Ahmadu Bello University where I obtained a Bachelors Degree with Honours in Geology. I came back home and was ready to work but at the time, our former President Ahmadu Ahidjo had this idea of sending young people to go out and study to feel the new professions that were coming up at the time and that’s how I found myself again in Nigeria in the University of Ibadan sent there to do Petroleum Engineering. I did a Post Graduate Diploma in Petroleum Engineering and after that I did a Masters Degree in Applied Geophysics and then I came home. My educational career did not end there because the British Council felt that I could become a total petroleum guy so they gave me a Scholarship which took me to the United Kingdom where I did a Masters Degree again in Petroleum Engineering.

One would be tempted to ask what you consider to be the peak moments in your career.

 What I find as the most important thing in my career as a civil servant was the fact that I was on the team of international scientists who spent two months working at Lake Nyos to de-gas the lake to make the place habitable again. That was not only going to be useful to Cameroon but also helped people to live in peace in Nigeria because if Lake Nyos had another problem like the one we had in 1986 or if the dam gave way, not only will there be heavy floods in Benue State in Nigeria, there were also going to be floods in Cameroon. Having been chosen to be on that team of experts from Germany, Japan, the United States of America, France, Holland and Cameroon for two months constituted the most important thing I did throughout my career. I served Cameroon and I served humanity.

What is that political undertone that must have been an aspect of your life as a civil servant?

I am a political animal and as such have taken part in all the political movements that have gone on in the past years. The CPDM Party being the one in which I have interest has always sent me home as a Charge des Missions (Head of Missions), and I always try to do my best. If you remember, we just did the reorganization of party’s basic organs and I would want to say I was selected as one of the Vice Presidents to re-organize the party in Noni and I ended up being the President because the President and the other Vice President didn’t come and so I did the work all alone and I think that Noni people are happy with the re-organization that took place. I also worked in collaboration with Charge de Mission literally translated as Head of Missions in the likes of  Dom Anthony and Lambert. I thank the party for thinking that even though I am retired I can still be useful. 

Culturally speaking, who is Shey Forgwei George? 

Well I know that you are talking and looking at my bare head (laughs…) but I will tell you that if I step out of this office and went to my car you will not recognise me anymore. I was given the title Shey by our late Fon of Mbin in Nkor Noni some 25 years ago and he called Shey Ntvu which means if you translate it literally I am supposed to be the treasurer of that palace. I love  it and when I get out of here and go towards home  I become the true traditional person. I make sure that I move with my hat and bag and attend the Mfuhs to let my children grow up and know that we have a culture. Some people feel that being a Shey, a Tantoh or a Nform is paganic but I don’t think so. It’s simply our culture and shows the way our people lived in those days. I am happy that I am one of those who have been chosen to represent our culture.

What exactly is Shey doing with his time now?

Right here at Kendelly Construction, I am Director of Industries. Kendelly Construction Company is a young bustling company which is very up-coming and we have a platform of companies and the owner has decided that I should head this platform of companies. We have quarries around the country in the South West and some in the Centre Region. We have a cement factory that is going to be coming up soon. We have a ceramic factory that will be coming up soon. We also have a mighty block factory that provides almost half the blocks that are used in Bamenda right now. We have an iron factory which is also going to be coming up soon. I think that the work I do here is quite full and I draw from my experience in the public service to see how I can help to coordinate the activities of all these companies that are under Kendelly Construction Company.

As a lecturer, I am a full time lecturer at the Cameroon Christian University even though of late I took a leave. I am also a part time lecturer at CATUC the Catholic University of Bamenda and at both places I teach Petroleum Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, Drilling and Production Engineering. 

What is your take on the practice of Petroleum Engineering and the teaching of it in our higher institutions of learning?

The sector is growing because the records that I saw when I worked for the Sub Department of Hydrocarbons in Yaounde the first barrel of oil was sold in this country in 1977 and at that time we had just Elf Serepca producing and Golf Oil exploring, we had Tepcam exploring. Time has passed and the companies have changed. We got to a stage where were producing more than two hundred barrels a day. Production eventually got down but we are still struggling. We have new Cameroonian Companies that have just come up like Euroil which is fully a Cameroonian Company doing fine. Euroil is the leader in gas reserves in Cameroon. Generally, Oil Fields Mature then they decline. It is true that we are now on the declining side and then coupled with the fact that oil prices have fallen of late, investment in research will slow down too. That’s the way it is in the petroleum sector in Cameroon right now. But we have moved forward since we are also in the gas sector. The Gas Project in Douala which actually supplies gas by pipeline to big companies in Douala. We also have Gas Plant in Kribi which turns gas into electricity and so I think the petroleum sector is moving forward. 

Our Higher Education Sector doesn’t seem to be oriented towards training Cameroonians in the field..

Yes, one would have expected that since we have been in the exploitation of petroleum since 1977, we should have had state universities offering courses in Petroleum Engineering. But I know that of late there is a school of mining that has come up in Ngoundere and I don’t know about the Petroleum Engineering part of it in that university. That’s why we thank the Private Sector for instituting first degree courses in Petroleum Engineering at the Catholic University of Bamenda CATUC and at the Cameroon Christian University. We also hear that there is Mining and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Dschang. I also hear that they do things in Petroleum too maybe the downstream sector in the Douala University but I think with time things will move forward. The Government knows that they need to train our children in the upstream, midstream and downstream sector of the Petroleum Industry.

You certainly have a message first for the Noni person which is where you come from and for Cameroonians in general.

I will like to tell my brothers and sisters of Noni extraction that where ever they are and wherever they work, they should know that they have to prepare for their retirement. They should think about training their children so that they could replace them. This gives me an opportunity to talk about my children. I have a first daughter who is a Magistrate, a second daughter who is a pharmacist and a first son who is in Medical School. I have another son who is preparing to get into the Polytechnic. The last two of my six children are preparing to go to High School. I think that by giving them a good education you are passing on the baton so that tomorrow. It is not only you who will be remembered for having been a good professional. The children should takeover and let the story go on. I remember that as a young man we looked for young girls in Noni to marry and we couldn’t find because the girls were not going to school. Now we have many of them who have gone to school and that is very good. I believe that professionalism will grow as time goes on.

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