The chairman of Tatcha Farms in Delta State, Chief Alfred Mrakpor, has bagged an award from the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Tatcha Farms, with head office situated near Osubi Airport, Warri, Delta state, is the main part of Tatcha business arms and one of the leading indigenous agricultural production companies in Nigeria.
The NUJ award was presented to Chief Mrakpor by the NUJ Delta Broadcasting Service Warri Chapel in recognition of his philanthropy and community development.
Mrakpor was among the award recipients at the Chapel’s lectures and awards ceremony which was held on Friday, December 3, 2021, at Casa de Pedro Hotel Annex on Refinery Road, Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State.
The ceremony was part of activities lined up to mark the Chapel’s maiden Press Week but Mrakpor was unable to attend due to a serious engagement on the same date.
His award was eventually presented to him at his Osubi residence on Friday, December 24, 2021, which was Christmas eve by a delegation led by the chairman of the Chapel’s Press Week Planning Committee, who is a two-time chairman of the Chapel and current Assistant Secretary of the NUJ Delta State Council, Comrade Felix Ekwu.
Others were the incumbent Chapel chairman, Comrade Sonia Unobunjo, former Secretary, Comrade Patrick Edema, former Auditor, Comrade Peterson Itiowe and Secretary of the Press Week Planning Committee, Comrade Johnson Obasedje.
Presenting the award, Comrade Unobunjo, encouraged Chief Alfred Mrakpor not to relent in his commitment to job creation and humanitarian gestures adding that the NUJ recognises his contributions so far to society.
Responding, Mrakpor thanked the NUJ DBS Warri Chapel for finding him worthy of the award which according to him will spur him to do more humanity.
Below is the rich profile of Chief Alfred Mrakpor:
Chief Alfred Mrakpor is the chairman of Tatcha Farms and the General Manager of Evomec Global Services Limited. A seasoned engineer by career and a productive farmer born by passion.
Chief Alfred has over 16 years of experience in the construction industry cum oil and gas services with extensive project portfolios as well as experience managing large, complex development projects. A team player who possesses an excellent track record of strong working relationships with project owners, engineers, other professionals, resulting in successful construction experiences. His introduction to the construction industry came early in his career in 1995 where he joined Daewoo Nigeria Limited as a pipe coating helper and rose to the position of Site Manager.
Chief Alfred journey up to the management level was not magical but from a passion-driven by a determination to be at his best, which fostered the decision to further his education in the prestigious Ladoke Akintola University Ogbomosho, where he bagged B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering in 2003. Within the course of his training as a mechanical engineer, he worked as a trainee engineer with Effeluc Services Limited to execute the Nigeria Gas Company rehabilitation project, Otorogun in 2002, where he was directly responsible for dismantling and assembling of superior engines and gas compressors, overhauling of superior carburettors, to mention but few. From 2003 to 2004, he worked with Delcon Engineering in the position of Field Engineer/ Site Control Officer to achieve the construction of 16’’ Associated Gas Pipeline and 24’’ Export Gas Pipeline from Yorki Flow station to CCP. In the same 2004, he traced his step back to Daewoo Nigeria Limited where he earlier muscled the determination to become an engineer and assumed the position of Construction Engineer for the EPC for NAOC 24’’ Gas Pipelines for swamp gas gathering project, completed in 2008. Chief Alfred resilience, hardworking nature and timely project delivery capability in a challenging environment of the Niger Delta region as at the time militancy was at its peak, earn him a continued position as construction engineer in Daewoo’s subsequent projects like the EPC for T-B 18’’ X 11.2km pipeline project (2008- 2009), EPC for Eastern Gas gathering system phase-2, 40 X 58km project Gbaran to Soku (2009- 2010).
Chief Mrakpor has successfully nourished his passion to become great by gaining vast knowledge from the scratch and cutting across a wide spectrum of complex multi-million dollars projects in oil and gas services, which transitioned him into the managerial position in the same company (Daewoo Nigeria Limited) in 2010. He actively managed and completed his delegated sections of the Utorogun to Ughelli Domgas project and Southern Swamp Gas gathering Pipeline project respectively between the period of 2010 to 2015. Within this period, he displayed a notable skill and approach to a challenging situation of excavation through clusters of buried flowlines in the Benisede river at the Benisede flow station approach to enable the river crossing and hook up of the 12’’ Tunu- Benisede gas pipeline, smart innovative deployment of Pneumatics Hydro Excavation counted to the success.
Chief Alfred joined one of the leading indigenous construction, oil and gas servicing companies (Evomec Global Services Limited) in 2015 as a Construction Manager to invest his wealth of experience in driving further the company’s management philosophy. Since his arrival to this dynamic organization, the company has witnessed significant progress by emerging as a major indigenous EPC provider for major industry players in sub-Sahara Africa like Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), Seven Energy Groups & ACCUGAS Nigerian Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations (NNPC) and many more. Taking over the position of Construction Manager to proffer solutions for timely delivery of the ongoing 24’’ x 31km Eastern Pipeline Project as at that period, having five major rivers crossing with the widest being the Oron sea measuring 3.2km which remains the widest in Nigeria and second to the largest in west Africa to be crossed using Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), His professional skills and managerial strategies enhanced timely, safely and successful completion of the project between 2015 and 2016 which earned Evomec a niche in the oil and gas sector both nationally and internationally.
He was promoted to the position of Project Manager for the 37km Oron Gas pipeline Right of Way Reinstatement Project in 2016, his unrivalled managerial qualities were equally demonstrated in completing the project timely without compromising quality. Within this short period, his pivotal role was seen projecting the company in a positive direction and he ascended to the position of the General Manager of Evomec Global Services in 2016 till date.
In his role as General Manager at Evomec, Chief Alfred fosters an environment of teamwork and ensures that strategy is clearly defined while overseeing performance and maintaining morale. His strong communication and client service skills and sound understanding of the construction/oil and gas industry have driven Evomec to a greater height. Under his managerial leadership, the company has become ISO certified and as well won and delivered several multi-million dollars projects like the Train 7 project Preloading and site preparation worth above eighty (80) million US dollars, CFA Foundation Pile Installation at Flow-Stations for Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, NCS Gantry project- Nigerian Ports Authority, Jetty Rehabilitation Project- Takwa Bay Lagos.
Chief Alfred has acquired several internal and external professional training in construction, oil and gas services as well as management. He is versatile with multi-dimensional experience in mechanical and civil Structural, pre-construction planning and construction management services for projects of all sizes. He has a broad background in construction contract scenarios, bids, project pricing and planning, front end engineering design. Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to work with clients such as Shell Petroleum Company Limited (SPDC), Nigeria Agip Oil Corporation (NAOC), Saipem, Nigeria Gas Company (NGC), Seven Exploration and Production Company, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Notore Chemical Industries.
Outside the construction, oil and gas industry, Chief Alfred is the chairman of Tatcha Farms, one of the leading indigenous agricultural production companies in Nigeria.
At leisure, he enjoys being indoors with his family. He can find peace and happiness in making others happy. He is a titled Chief and a conferred Justice of Peace.
