Chinedu
A brilliant woman and a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, cousin, niece, friend, and colleague, Chinedu Maureen Ohakanu (nee Nwachukwu) left this world unexpectedly to join the Saints Triumphant
on September 10, 2021, at the age of 34.
Born on December 23, 1986, to the family of Moses Chukwuemeka Nwachukwu and Edith Nneka Nwachukwu {nee Akpa), of Umualo, Awomukwu, lkwuano Local Government Area, Abia State, Chinedu was a precocious child with soft manners and a radiant smile that endeared her to many. She was the first of two children, and excelled in the many roles she played in her early years - as a first child and daughter, especially after the passing of her father in 1990, and as a big sister to her brother.
She was also an excellent student, garnering prizes and distinctions during her time at Ronik Primary School, Ejigbo, and then at the renowned Queen's College, Yaba, Lagos from 1997 - 2003, where she obtained her secondary education and aced the West African certificate exams (WASSCE) with flying colours. She was also passionate about extracurricular activities - dance, acculturation, field trips - and was generally liked by her peers, planting seeds for lifelong friendships.
From a young age, Chinedu was inquisitive about the order of things, so it was natural that she chose to study Physics and Materials Science at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri in 2004. One of the few young women in her faculty, she more than held her own, excelling at her studies but also participating in student associations, most notably with the Nigerian Federation of Catholics Students (NFCS).
During that time, she also interned with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASDRA), as well as the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), which deepened her interest in a life of research. She graduated with honors in 2008, and proceeded to join the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps program, where she was posted to Kano and served as a Technical Assistant with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria from 2009 - 2010. True to her passions for education and social services, Chinedu also spent her service year volunteering as a Mathematics teacher for adult students at St. Rita's Catholic Church, Sobon-Gari, Kano in their Adult Literacy program.
After her service year, from 2011 - 2012, Chinedu was employed by lnterra Networks, an Information Technology company in Abuja.It was during this time that she met the love of her life, Stephen Chimezie Ohakanu, who had just moved on from the same company. After her time at lnterra, she worked for a short while in a strategy and business development role at SMEFUNDS/Carbon Credit Network, and also obtained a Certificate in Energy Innovation from Stanford University. Around this time, Chinedu and Stephen had decided to spend their life together, and got married in September 2013 following traditional, civic and Catholic rites. A few weeks later, Chinedu gained admission to the University of Groningen in the Netherlands for her Master's programme.
Chinedu enjoyed her time and studies in Groningen, where she was a member of the University of Groningen Centre of Entrepreneurship (UGCE), RuG Energy Academy Club, the African Student Community, and was chosen as an International Alumni Ambassador in 2015. She made friends from different parts of the world, mastered the art of cycling and graduated with an M.Sc in Energy and Environmental Sciences in 2016, followed by a research internship with TATA Steel Europe, where she specialized in Energy Efficiency. However, her Groningen sojourn was crested with the birth of her first child and daughter, Chikamara in 2015.
She returned to Nigeria and continued to build family life with her husband Steve and her daughter, Chikamara, while working in short stints as a lecturer for the Federal University of Technology, Lafia as well as a researcher for Nextier Power, Abuja. Her passion for education and the environment intersected with her professional capacity for research when she was offered a position at the Lulea University ofTechnology, Lulea, Sweden in 2017. She began her doctoral research there in the Department of Engineering Science and Mathematics, with a focus on Energy Systems, while teaching students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She focused on the use of biomass in the iron and steel industry for her work as an Early Career Researcher and had obtained her Licentiate degree in Energy Science in 2021, while pregnant with her son, Chinedum, in pursuit of her Ph.Din the field.
Beyond her academic and career accomplishments, Chinedu was passionate about cycling, reading, languages (had working proficiency in French and Swedish, with some knowledge of Dutch), enjoying good and dissecting bad movies, travel, extra-terrestrial science and law. As a young woman, she enjoyed the music of Coldplay and Dido. She liked beaded jewellery, print dresses, natural hairdos, and cat-shaped eyeglasses. She loved to laugh, had the widest and most beautiful smile, and was quite playful. She was funny and vivacious with her quirky jokes and dances, but she was also introverted, introspective - and above all, enjoyed engaging people. She was fiercely loyal, and her family and many friends attest to her qualities, and her ability to always check-in and follow up on her relationships, regardless of distance or time
She was a wholesome and loving daughter, sister, niece and cousin, but above everything, she was a wonderful, devoted, doting and caring wife to Steve and mother to Chikamara and Chinedum. The life she built with Steve was intentional and full of love, despite the physical distance between them in the early parts of their marriage, when Steve worked in Abuja and she was in Groningen. Steve supported his wife in all her endeavours and made sacrifices to ensure her dreams were fulfilled, while also making regular visits to his family. Chinedu built an unbreakable bond with her daughter Chikamara, forged of a love and dependency they shared living in Groningen and Lulea, where Chinedu had to finely balance raising a daughter and meeting the demands of her academic career.
She also had to contend with the demands of being pregnant in the last year of her life in addition to her family and professional work, but her love for her son Chinedum and the way she glowed in expectation were apparent to all. Her nuclear family - Steve, Chikamara, and Chinedum - were her whole world, and Chinedu wanted nothing more than for the family to have a wonderful life. Hence, the love the family shared and the activities they undertook created memories of pure joy to last lifetimes. Chinedu was really ardent about service in the communities she lived. She sacrificed her personal time to volunteer as a teacher and study guide and was appointed as a mentor with the DENMP EduNergy Mentorship Programme for early researchers in the Energy Sciences in 2021. She was a fierce advocate for equity and fairness at work, in the community, and in society.
Despite her short sojourn on earth, Chined lived a purposeful life. Her impact on those she left behind - Steve, Chikamara, Chinedum, her mother Edith, her brother Nnaemeka, in-laws, her cousins, her aunts and uncles, her friends and colleagues - is undeniable and she will live on in their individual and collective memories. She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her. May her gentle and peaceful soul rest in perfect peace.
