Ghazali Ajijolaiya

Yemi Ghazali Ajijolaiya hails from Erin-Osun, Osun State, Nigeria. He attended A.U.D. Primary School Erin-Osun, and St. Charles' Grammar School, Oshogbo. He graduated from St. Charles' in 1982. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and graduated in 1988; earned an MBA degree from The University of Houston, Victoria Texas USA (2005), and M.Ed. (Educational Leadership) from North Central University, Prescott Valley, Arizona, USA (2013).

Yemi joined Shell Oil group in 1991, and worked in various Drilling Engineering positions in Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC), Port Harcourt, Nigeria and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO), Lagos, Nigeria between 1991 and 2002. He was transferred to Shell International Exploration and Production Company (SIEP), Houston, Texas, USA in 2002 where he worked on world class Deepwater Exploration and Development projects, including Bonga and Bonga SW/Aparo projects. He left Shell group in 2007 after 15 years of meritorious services and joined Chesapeake Energy Inc. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. While at Chesapeake, he contributed to the success of several Oil and Gas projects across different Shale plays in the United States; including Permian Basin in West Texas, Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, Niobrara Shale in Colorado and Wyoming, and Bakken Shale in North Dakota. He left Chesapeake Energy in 2012 and went back to Nigeria to join Addax Petroleum Development Company, Victoria Island, Lagos as Well Operations Superintendent.

Yemi left Addax Petroleum in 2015 and founded GS Drilling (Oil & Gas) Services LLC. The company is based in Houston, Texas, USA and provides Oil & Gas Well Construction Engineering and Operations services to upstream energy companies.

Yemi is married with children and loves poultry farming. He is a volunteer at the Oklahoma Food Bank, and sponsors several educational programs in Osun State, Nigeria.

Yemi was the General Secretary of Charleans in Diaspora from 2010 – 2014, the Vice President (North America) of Charleans in Diaspora from 2014 – 2016, and the current President of Charleans in Diaspora since July 2016. Charleans in Diaspora is an association of students that attended St. Charles Grammar School, Oshogbo living outside Nigeria.