By Felix Ekwu
Former Executive Director, Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Engr Dr Samuel Adjogbe, FNSE, his wife, Juliet, and 37 other Rotarians from across the globe have been inducted as members of the Arch Klumph Society (AKS) of The Rotary Foundation.
Adjogbe, a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a native of Okpahwa community in Evwreni kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, South-South, Nigeria.
The AKS membership dates back to 1917 when it was introduced at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta, by the then-late Rotary International President, Arch C. Klumph, who planted the seed for today’s Foundation, proposing an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.”
His vision gave Rotary Foundation members the ability to imagine all they could accomplish with a fund dedicated to supporting their efforts. Over one hundred years later, his dream is a reality that fuels the critical projects Rotary members take on in communities around the world.
The current AKS member honorees’ induction was performed on Saturday, October 15, 2022, during a three-day event which was held from October 14 to 16, 2022, at the Rotary International headquarters, Evanston, Illinois in the United States of America.
The distribution of honorees across the world this year has 11 Taiwan track honorees; 7 People of action track honorees; 7 African track honorees with 6 from Nigeria and 1 from Kenya; 6 Service above self-track honorees; and 7 Doing good in the world track honorees.
The 38 newly inducted AKS members cumulatively have brought about 1303 AKS members worldwide.
From the latest induction in the US, Samuel Adjogbe, who is currently at the Trustees’ circle level which is the first level of the AKS membership recognition levels becomes the first AKS member to be produced by Rotary Club of Ughelli Metropolis, which was chartered on March 3, under District 9141 and the second in Delta State.
Adjogbe, who joined Rotary Club on September 3, 2018, was in 2021 honoured for his community service by Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta, during his visit to Nigeria.
In his acceptance speech at the event on behalf of his wife, Juliet, Adjogbe said they are both passionate about justice, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, basic education and literacy, community economic development, and environmental protection programmes and projects.
According to him, “They support The Rotary Foundation because of the opportunities it offers to assist and partner with others, who might not be able to reach out on their own to create a global impact.
“I would like to recognize the immeasurable support of my wife, Juliet Adjogbe towards achieving this feat of being here today, as an AKS member honoree.
“My Rotary involvement transcends various aspects of supports for programs and projects in relation to world peace and conflict prevention or resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, and economic and community development.
“As the co-founder & chairman of the Samuel Adjogbe Foundation in 2019, I have set up a secondary school scholarship award program in conjunction with Rotary Club of Ughelli Metropolis, where my Foundation provides the financial donations while the Rotary Club provides the administrative support. Currently, this collaboration has 33 scholars still in school and 3 that have graduated from their senior schools, which gives a total of 36 beneficiaries.
“My passion for Rotary’s mission is to dedicate my life to the causes that would build international relationships, improve human lives, and create a better world to support the peace efforts and end some of the highly contagious diseases forever, especially the end–polio effort across the globe and the interest towards eradication of malaria disease in the near future.
“It is worthy to mention that my reason for supporting The Rotary Foundation is to providing humanitarian services to both local and international communities by financial donations and participation at some of the programs and projects’ execution events. This is perhaps, the best reason for me to becoming a Rotarian, which is, the chance to do something for somebody else and to sense the self-fulfilment that comes in the process and return of that satisfaction to one’s own life is very enriching. It is greatly rewarding to me and my family that we are positively impacting other people that may not have to meet with us in our entire lives.
“Being part of the over 100 years of Rotary Foundation’s involvement in different humanitarian programs and projects across the globe is a huge life satisfaction experience. Therefore, I pledge to remain a Rotarian all my life, while imagining a world where everyone is a Rotarian, preaching peace and supporting peace initiatives across the globe”
“Finally, congratulations to my co-honorees and thanks to RI President, Jennifer Jones, Rotary Foundation Vice Chair, Larry Lunsford, all our special guests of honour, especially PAG Chief Judith Enamuotor, DG Mightyman Dikoru, both of D9141 and every other support staff of Rotary Foundation, for making this event a success.”
