[chapter-delegates] Cerf-Kahn Appreciation May 10 2005 -- Remembrance for Prof. Nwodo

[Gene Gaines]

All,

An important part of the May 10, 2005 Appreciation Evening
for Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn was the reading of a remembrance
statement in honor of the late Prof. Thomas Chukwuemeka Nwodo,
founder and President ISOC Nigerian Chapter.

It was read at the beginning of the program, following the
introduction by Steve Crocker (author of the first working paper
released through IETF) and a welcome by Dennis Doughty
(President, Booz Allen Hamilton Worldwide Technology Business).

The remembrance is at:
   www.dcisoc.org/remembrance_t_c_nwodo_nigeria.pdf.
   www.dcisoc.org/remembrance_t_c_nwodo_nigeriadoc.

The text of the remembrance in ASCII is below.

Gene Gaines
VP, Washington DC USA ISOC Chapter

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Remembrance
Late Prof. Thomas Chukwuemeka Nwodo
President ISOC Nigerian Chapter

The Internet and ISOC – the Internet Society – meant much to
Prof. Nwodo, and we will take a minute to tell his story.

He was one of the five persons that founded the Internet Society
Nigerian Chapter in June 1998 and became is first President – a
position he held until his death on 29th April 2005.

Let us go back to the beginning.

The idea to set up a chapter of the Internet Society in Nigeria
was mooted by a group of friends in July 1997. It was born out
of an urgent necessity provoked by the doctoral thesis of an
Electrical Engineering student -- Thomas Chukwuemeka Nwodo.

As a PHD student in the Electrical Engineering Department of the
Rivers State University of Science and Technology, he urgently
required some data/bibliography/documentation for his research
programs. He hit a dead end in his search for these vital
materials. A school friend referred Thomas to another friend
already exposed to the Internet. Using the Internet, he was able
to reach out to different sources for the vital materials he
badly needed for his research.

Thrilled by this discovery and the realization that life could
be made much easier in various fields of human endeavor if many
more people come to know about Internet and take advantage of
it, the friends decided to organize and popularize Internet in
Nigeria. The product was the birth of Internet Society Nigeria
Chapter. Dr. Vint Cerf of ISOC in USA, co-inventor of the
computer networking protocol, TCP/IP, which has become the
language for Internet Communications, was contacted and much
encouragement was received for the formation of the chapter.

The new Internet Society Nigeria Chapter, under his dynamic
leadership, was able to host an international conference at Port
Harcourt barely one year after its charter. Following that early
conference, regular free Internet awareness seminars were
mounted for educational institutions and other establishments.
In order to help people get to Internet, the society made
facilities available to some educational institutions for both
the staff and students.

Professor Nwodo was on the faculty of the Rivers State
University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, as
an adjunct Professor to assist in the postgraduate program of
the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was a member of the
permanent staff of the Enugu State University of Science and
Technology where he rose to be the Vice-Chancellor.

Through late Prof. Nwodo’s vision and intervention the IT Jon
Postel’s Centers, located in Nigerian Universities and
professional bodies, were initiated and at present five IT
centers have been established and are fully operating. Two more
centers are on the pipeline and soon will be opened.

Late Prof. Nwodo was an exemplary leader, a tireless and
dedicated worker and a loving father to all.



Remembrance for Prof. Nwodo based on text provided by
Giandomenico Massari, VP ISOC Nigeria Chapter.
Read at the “Appreciation Evening for Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn,”
May 10, 2005, McLean, Virginia, USA.
An event organized through the cooperation of ISOC Chapters
throughout the world.
Host DCISOC – Washington DC USA Chapter of the Internet Society.