Mr Okafor is a highly experienced petroleum explorationist with over 35 years experience in the Oil and Gas industry. He led a couple of indigenous companies including Atlas petroleum to production as Managing Director. He has worked with Nexen Oil, Oriental Energy and NNPC. He is a graduate of Geology from University of Nigeria Nsukka. Mr Okafor has expertise in the direct detection of hydrocarbon reserves and was one of the pioneer students in this area of study. His experience as an explorationist cuts across the entire Niger Delta, the Chad Basin, and even the west coast of Africa. He has also successfully negotiated several Joint Venture agreements with international companies and governments, and also managed the exploration and the development of oil and gas assets. He joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as a trainee geophysicist in 1979, and rose to the rank of Deputy Chief Geophysicist before voluntarily resigning from the corporation to support the indigenous initiatives in the upstream sector of the oil industry, in the year 1993. Mr.Okafor joined Atlas Petroleum Limited, an exploration and production company, in the same year 1993 as the Chief Geophysicist of the company, and later became the Managing Director of the company. Mr.Okafor has consulted for several companies including Solgas Petroleum Limited, Nexen E&P Services Limited (formerly known as Canadian Petroleum), Oriental Energy Resources Limited, Eurafric Energy Limited etc. He has represented the country via the NNPC in some important international assignments including the seismo-structural and stratigraphic review of exploration and development assets.