Tinubu’s youthful Ministers and their laudable imprints.
By Steve Ovirih.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has been in government for two years and analysts and critics alike have said a lot about his administration. You can never win the praise of everyone particularly when ruling Nigeria is not a soft burden or an easy task and when you have not come to government to win praises but to earn it by your visible benchmarked performance. However, performance yardstick shows President Tinubu, the second Nigerian President from the South since 1999, came to government prepared to make his marks and govern to effect socio economic deliverables for the good people of Nigeria.
One thing you can’t take away from the incumbent is that he is a proficient ‘head hunter’ of human resources with skills and a developer of men and women who have all it takes to turn things around. The Lagos exponential leadership structure at Alausa speaks volume of how the President’s binoculars help spot ‘sporting skills in the ‘Eko political firmament.’ That he would bring this to bear on his Presidency was not in doubt. In the political history of this Republic, President Bola Tinubu gets the Trophy for deploying youthful hands as Federal Ministers and this indicated his desire to break the records in giving responsible youths the opportunity to upscale their leadership potentials and by so doing preparing them for their political future.
Among the youthful Ministers in the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu are Hannatu Musawa, 43, Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy, Doris Uzoka-Anite, 42, Minister for Industry , Trade and Investment, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, 41, the super performing House of Reps Member from Akoko, who got spotted by the Presidential binoculars and drafted from the Reps to the Executive, Joseph Utsev, 43, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of State Police Affairs, Shuaibu Audu, Minister of Steel Development and Dr.Bosun Tijani,47, Minister of Communications ,Innovation and Digital Economy. As at the time of their respective Ministerial appointments, they were in their 40s.
Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy came to government and launched the Project 774 LG Connectivity. The digitization project aimed to provide internet connectivity to all 774 Local Government Secretariats across Nigeria by leveraging existing infrastructure from Nigcomsat Limited and Galaxy Backbone. There is no gainsaying the fact that this digitization effort will aid administration efforts at the grassroots. How about Bosun Tijani’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy? Topnotch! Under his watch, a comprehensive AI strategy is being developed for Nigeria as his Ministry collaborates with international partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Nigeria Economic Summit Group ( NESG) in organizing an AI co-creation workshop. Dr. Tijani has also announced plans to facilitate the delivery of 90,000 km of fibre-optic cable which would take Nigeria’s connectivity backbone to a minimum of 125,000km.
The youthful Minister of Interior, proud son of Akoko land, former Member House of Representatives, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo is a huge advertising bill board of benchmarked performance in a Ministry once known for ‘simply declaring Public Holidays … ‘ When Tunji-Ojo came to government as Minister of Interior, Passport application and renewal regime was in a collosal mess. Within a twinkle of an eye, clearance of passport backlog became actively effected, clearing the overbearing , sickening and overwhelming administrative bottlenecks that had impinged passport application process at The Nigerian Immigration Service. What looked like an almost impossible task, clearing the backlog of over 204,332 passports was effected with a stroke of the pen. It is on record that within weeks of his appointment as the Minister of Interior, not less than 50,000 new passport applications were expressly processed and this marked the end of the needless rep tape and frustrating bureaucracy in the area of passport processing in Nigeria. Nigerians will ever be grateful to President Bola Tinubu for drafting this brilliant young man from Ondo State to man the Ministry of Interior.
Tunji-Ojo upped the ante of ministerial performance by introducing e-platforms for visa applications as this laudable stride allows passport photo uploads via the immigration portal and the implementation of home and office delivery of passports. Yes, critics can bloat about performance peer review, but one thing nobody can take away from the Bola Tinubu administration is the fact that in the new passport processing regime under Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nigerians are now singing a new song of relief. Obviously, citizens do not have to feel frustrated over the simple task of applying for or renewing their passport but that was the sad reality before Tunji-Ojo came and his effort has not only eased this psychological burden but has also shown that Nigerians too are capable of doing things the right way per standard without allowing bureaucracy to sink our national psyche.
In the time past, while Nigerians whined and ranted about the headache involved in visa processing, it was worst for Nigerians in The Diaspora as reports showed that regardless of your abode abroad, you can wait for months running into years before your passport can be renewed while you would require some high profile connections in The Foreign Offices to effect passport renewal. The Tunji-Ojo magic wand has ended this headache for Nigerians in The Diaspora! Either in The UK, US, anywhere in Europe or Asia, the Nigerian Passport renewal is effected within days and self delivered to your home or office. This is the power of innovation by one brilliant mind and how this has eased off the burden of an entire nation for both citizens within and abroad , showcasing the fact that with the right set of brainy minds in power things can begin to look up for Nigeria beyond the frustrating business as usual template of the past. What is more? The Minister of Interior has built a1. 4 petabyte Digital Data Center and Command and Control Center at The Nigerian Immigration Service headquarters to enhance national security and streamline passport and visa applications. If this doesn’t deserve an applause by critics, they won’t be motivated to see anything good in governance.
Bunmi Tunji-Ojo’s bold initiative becomes more glaring in the correctional facility decongestion effort of The Ministry of Interior under his watch. He has singlehandedly facilitated the release of over 5000 inmates who had either served out their terms or were convicted with option of fine as this effort has saved Federal Government billions of Naira in inmates’ welfare and upkeep. Minister Tunji-Ojo has also introduced digital inmate profiling and biometric tracking.You know what improvement this brings? It will discourage incessant jailbreaks that was almost becoming three a dime at a period in Nigeria and has improved security across the correctional centers in Nigeria.
Among Ojo’s performance benchmark was the fact that under his watch, not less than 32,361 officers and men across the Nigerian Paramilitary services have gotten their deserved promotion while he has introduced both insurance and housing schemes for personnel as his own measure of advocating equitable compensation.
The list goes on and on highlighting the zeal of the youthful Ministers in driving President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
