Paul Mgbuku Onyedim died at Plateau Hospital, Jos, Nigeria, on 14th July, 1961, at the age of 38.
A Nigerian of the Ibo tribe, Mr. Onyedim had an elementary and secondary education locally before his employment by the Northern Nigeria Ministry of Works, where he studied surveying, and later by the Mines Department. He attained Cambridge School Certificate level and came to the United Kingdom in 1949 to take a full-time course in mining engineering at the Treforest School of Mines and Technology, Glamorganshire, doing practical work in South Wales, Cornwall, and Cheshire during the vacations. He obtained the School diploma in 1952.
He had been receiving practical training in alluvial mining and surveying at Jos under Mr. A.F. Jones since 1945, and on his return to Nigeria in 1952 Mr. Onyedim was re-employed by Mr. Jones, as manager in charge of ore dressing and prospecting for tin and columbite. He rose to the position of manager and director of Athol Jones Mines, Ltd., in 1954, and was the first African on the Plateau — and probably in Nigeria — to become a managing director of a limited mining company. He was welcomed as the first African representative on the Nigerian Chamber of Mines.
Mr. Onyedim was elected to Studentship of the Institution in 1951, and transferred to the class of Affiliate in 1958. He was also an Associate of the Institution of Mining Engineers.
Vol. 71, Trans IMM 1961-62, p.500
