Background
Three major events culminated into the formation of Royal Tech International Ltd. and these can be traced to the experience gained from academia as a university professor cum consultant to the military, precisely the Nigeria Air Force. Seond, the service rendered as a resource person to the Head of Service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for Public Sector Capacity Building Programme, precisely Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals. Third, the insight received from the challenge given as a member of Board/Faculty of Engineering Practice Resource Development to craft the firm’s corporate policy and operational strategy.

First, when I was approached in 1972 to join the Nigerian Air Force, I felt like Alice in wonderland and so I declined. However, at the first Engineering Failure Analysis Conference that took place at Lisbon, Portugal in July, 2004 where I was the only Blackman in attendance and to present paper, I experienced a technological wake-up. There were some Air Force officers and professors who made scholarly presentations at the conference. There and then, I made up my mind to interact with the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) with a view to making scholarly contribution. This intrinsic motivation led to my involvement as NAF Consultant for Technical Training Group (TTG) which later transformed to Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna, Nigeria. For successful execution of TTG and AFIT projects, a team of competent professionals in specialized welding, non-destructive testing, foundry technology, electroplating, physical metallurgy, metallography, material selection, manufacturing processes, industrial finishing and human resources development were assembled. We were largely successful in the consultancy to NAF between August, 2006 and August, 2010. The question then was, why can we not form a corporate body?

Second, having been invited as a resource person by the Head of Service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the Presidency for the public sector capacity building programme, a team of experts comprising of geologists, mining engineers and mineral/metallurgical engineers was assembled to prepare e-learning training modules for officers on grade levels 08-17 in the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (Now Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development), Abuja, Nigeria. This was geared towards the attainment of national development goals and objectives. The question again arose, why can we not be a corporate body?

Third, as a member of Board of Engineering Practice Resource Centre (EPRC), I was given an assignment to write the corporate policy and operational strategy for the new firm that emerged from EPRC – Engineering Practice Resource Development. I was later invited as a resource person for Technical Report Writing and Presentation, Engineering Failure Analysis and Post-structure Failure Reactivation (fire, explosion, flood and collapse). The question again resonated: why can we not be a corporate body?

Having served in the civil service for nearly two decades and a resource person to the public service; having been a consultant to the Military and currently a University Professor, one appreciates the traditions of the social structures of our society. The tradition of the civil service is understood to be “your boss is always right”; that of the military is “obey the last command” and that of the academia is “bow to superior argument.” The intelligent blend of these traditions will be brought to bare (in the best or nothing stance) in the Royal Tech International Ltd. – a firm of experts, professionals and scholars whose mission is technology for self-reliance, national development and global competitiveness.

Chairman presenting paper at an International Conference