By Alex Chukwuma

South-Eastern Nigeria is critical to the growth of Nigeria’s economy. That is why the likes of Peter Mbah, who was born half a century ago to the family of Chief Gilbert Mbah in Owo, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State is in the business of creating indigenous firms.

Named Peter because his parents believed that, like the biblical Peter, he would grow to be a rock upon which great things would be anchored.   

Living up to his name, he foraged through life with an uncommon focus and determination.  He displayed courage, perseverance, resilience, conscientiousness, and passion.

These attributes have catapulted him to the pinnacle of relevance and ensured his position in national and global affairs.

The international maritime lawyer and business magnate, guided by these lifelong attributes among his other business engagements, founded the FOCUS International Schools in Lagos, even at a teething stage of his entrepreneurial drive, in recognition of the role of education in national development.  

Today, he is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd, an indigenous Oil and Gas company.  Rising from a modest beginning, Peter’s journey through life has been fruitful, and full of impact.  Peter’s education commenced at the Army Children’s School, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt, from where he obtained his first School Leaving Certificate with distinction.

After leaving school, he wanted so much to be an international merchant; thus, he engaged in commercial training/trading, simultaneously pursuing his academic studies. He later enrolled at Owode High School, Owode Egba, Ogun State, where he sat for and obtained his Senior Secondary School Certificate in 1992.

It was while trading that he realized the importance of Legal Education. He applied to and was accepted to study Law at the University of East London, (UEL) in the United Kingdom from where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) degree, in the Upper-Class Division in 2000.

While at the University of East London, his Leadership and Organizational skills came to the fore.   He returned to Nigeria to study for his bar examination. He was later called to the Nigerian Bar and awarded the Barrister-at-Law (BL) at the Nigerian Law School.  

Subsequently, he proceeded to acquire a Master’s degree in Maritime and Commercial Law from Lagos State University in 2004.  In addition to these academic achievements, he has continued to expand his boundaries of knowledge. Mbah’s academic records and grasp of administration, even in his student days, could be gleaned from the testimonials of his leadership given by his former lecturers and tutors at the University of East London, as well as here in Nigeria.  

Since leaving school, Mbah has distinguished himself remarkably. Aside from founding Pinnacle Oil and Gas from an almost zero base worth and nil reckoning in the corporate world, he also sits atop the board and management of Pinnacle Pointers, a real estate and hospitality company. 

As diverse as his career in the oil industry has been, its consistent underpinning factor has been his passion for organization, corporate governance, and the perpetual search for knowledge. Before Pinnacle Oil and Gas, Mbah had earlier founded the Peter Mbah Investment Limited, a trading firm that served as the Nigerian representative to International Oil Corporation (IOC) based in Fresno, California, USA.

He was the sole agent of IOC in Nigeria.Mbah also founded GILPEL Industries Ltd., a trading company involved in the import and sales of domestic electrical appliances, as well as Focus International Schools, a world-class Primary and Secondary school based in Lagos.   In addition to the huge strides he has made in the areas of business, human management, and public service, Mbah is passionate about community development and service to humanity.  

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While Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited started operations in 2008, the company has since reached its peak in the Nigerian Oil and Gas downstream sector.  This rise is probably best illustrated by the company’s successful launch of its ultra-modern Offshore Petroleum Products Intake and Off-take Facility in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, the first of its kind in West Africa. The facility, in the first of a planned three phases, currently boasts of one offshore mooring system and 300,000,000 litres of petroleum storage.

In subsequent phases of expansion, which have already commenced, the facility will extend to two offshore mooring systems, the largest capable of mooring vessels of 150,000 Tons capacity, and up to one billion litres of the storage facility. This would make it Africa’s largest liquid bulk terminal.

In the area of public service, Mbah made a significant impact while serving in Enugu State as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development under His Excellency Governor Chimaroke Nnamani.  

As a testament to the uncommon contribution he made to the state’s fiscal operations, through the strategy document he evolved which became the operating template for Enugu State government’s development programmes, the NewsWatch magazine’s special publication of July 3, 2006, described Peter as “a man ahead of his time.”As the Commissioner for Finance, he was a member of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (Nigeria’s highest fiscal allocation body), Chairman of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee’s Sub-Committee on Legal Matters, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Enugu State Insurance Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Enugu State Finance and Investment Company.

He had earlier also served as Chief of Staff to the Governor in 2003, and courtesy of the role, he was Chairman of the Enugu State Tenders’ Board; member of the Enugu State Executive Council (highest decision-making body in the State) as well as member of the State Security Council.

*Chukwuma, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos

Vanguard News Nigeria