Nigerian Journalist, Ismail Omipidan Writes on Marine and Blue Economy Minister’s Methodical Governance at 70

Oyetola and his methodical approach to governance: A tribute

He may not be loud. That is his nature. No one can change him. Achievement responds to strategy, not rhetoric anyway. He has always excelled in every position he finds himself, including the current one as the minister of Marine and Blue Economy. His Excellency, Adegboyega Oyetola, since becoming the minister of the Federal republic of Nigeria about a year ago, has proven that the accolades he got while he served as Osun Governor from 2018 to 2022, was no fluke.

Although it is not about brick and mortar, the minister has shown tremendous commitment to positioning Nigeria as a premier maritime nation by utilising the potential of its blue economy to diversify revenue, ensure sustainable development, and cultivate environmental stewardship. And so far, Oyetola’s efforts at changing the narrative in the Marine and Blue Economy are gradually yielding results.

For instance, the minister has completed some of the projects he inherited. Some of these projects are: the Funtua Dry Port, Port Access Roads in Onne and the rehabilitation of some access roads in Tin Can and Apapa ports, including putting an end to the multi-billion naira yearly loss to Lagos ports traffic gridlock, and launch of Water Transportation Code after several years of dilly-dallying among several other major interventions. Specifically, the new regulatory code is part of measures put in place by the ministry, through the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to significantly standardize water transportation, minimize accidents, and provide a structured environment for potential investors.

So far, he has raised the bar than he met it. He has improved the revenue-generating capacity of the agencies under him, as he has achieved an increase in revenue by over 90 percent. His strategy focuses on blocking revenue leakages, enhancing revenue generation from established sources, and identifying new blue economy revenue streams. The increase in revenue performance has largely been due to increase in the number of vessels calling our ports due to strategic investments in port infrastructure in the last one year. Some of these infrastructures include mooring boats, pilot cutters, bollards, fenders, patrol vessels, dredging of the port’s channels, and the tightening of revenue assurance by deploying technology.

Today, there is a reduction in both the vessel and truck turn-around times. The vessel TAT went down from an average of 6.5 days to an average of five days, while truck TAT went from an average of 10 days to a few hours. All these and more, made the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to adjudge the Ministry along with its agencies as the overall- best-performing ministry in the Ease of Doing Business ranking. I make bold to say that any time the Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Policy & Coordination and Head, Central Delivery Coordination Unit, Hadiza Bala Usman decides to make the performance of the ministers against their targeted deliverables public, Oyetola would certainly stand tall among his peers, as all the agencies under his leadership have been up and doing with regard to the deliverables contained in the Performance Bond signed by the minister.

As a politician whose principles are driven by his private sector background, Oyetola will never lie about what he has not done. He has been very consistent about that and that is why every attempt at throwing mud at him has refused to stick.

In Osun, it was the same story. We were to respond to the LAUTECH Ogbomoso issue. I was barely two weeks old on the job as his Chief Press Secretary (CPS) at the time and needed to issue a statement on the contentious Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) matter. I had gone to see him on the need to respond to certain misinformation in the public space concerning the issue at the time. He reluctantly accepted that I do the statement. His initial hesitation was borne out of the fact that he detests controversy, no matter how little.

As I reached for the exit door, he called me back, and said, “CPS be sure of your facts. Do not lie about what we have not done. Don’t say things that will embarrass us. Say only those things we have done.” That day, he made a strong impression on me. As I made to leave his office, I knew my job was simple as I wouldn’t struggle to communicate the policies and programmes of the administration to members of the public. Here is a fine gentleman who doesn’t expect you to cook up fallacies to serve the public.

Again, barely two weeks after the above incident, his draft speech ahead of a function was sent to me. But as we were reviewing it together, we got to a stage and he said: “CPS, some of these claims are overdressed. Remove those paragraphs.” By the time we were done reviewing the speech, more than half of the body was gone. Many a public official would certainly have gladly read the speech to the public as it was and still feel good. But not Oyetola. All these happened in August 2019. If you think they were done to win me over, then, wait for this: We had travelled together to Abuja and he was one of the last persons who had contact with the late Chief of Staff to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari. We were barely in Osun when we heard news that Abba Kyari had tested positive to Covid-19.

As a result of the veracity of the incident, all of us who travelled were subjected to test and we all tested negative. While that was on, we had a visitor who came into the State from the UK who tested positive. That became our first case in Osun. While I was working on a speech he would read for the announcement of the first Covid case and to appeal to the Osun people to make themselves available for test, a commissioner from the state took to his social media page to announce that a case had been detected in Osun. I was livid and I told him to his face that he had no such right to make such announcement because he was neither the Commissioner for Information nor the Spokesperson to the Governor and that it did not matter even if the FG had made their announcement.

Before I got to the Government House, the issue had been discussed and the governor did not take it lightly with the commissioner. Once I appeared at the Government House still looking furious, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Adeyanju Binuyo, pleaded with me not to raise the issue again because even the Governor had blamed the commissioner.

We prepared the Governor for the outing where he announced the first case. Subsequent cases were recorded but we were able to manage it effectively amidst false claims from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) machinery.

After that case, then came the Ejigbo 127. Reports stated that they were from Osun State; but after we subjected them to tests, we realised that we needed to rise up to saving Nigeria as a country from a major pandemic because we had people from Anambra, Edo, Ogun, Rivers, Enugu and Lagos in the group who tested positive. Majority of the indigenes of Ejigbo at the beginning did not appreciate what the government was doing. The PDP also played politics with the issue. I was at my apartment when a former colleague from Daily Independent newspaper reached out to me, inquiring whether the patients had escaped. I responded to him that I was just hearing about that. On my communication with the Commissioner for Health, Dr Rafiu Isamatu, I learnt that something close to that was happening and that two Ejigbo indigenes escaped but they were working to get them back. I reached out to the governor for him to update the state on the matter. By the end of the day, we recovered one out of the two. At a critical stakeholders’ meeting, virtually everyone except the governor contended that we announce that the last person had been recaptured. I knew I was not going to do such, especially when the one person was still missing. After the meeting, he called me behind and told me “CPS, at my age I can’t begin to lie. Don’t mind them. Speak the truth as it is”. As God would have it, we eventually found the missing person the next day and we issued a statement to state the fact as it was.

Oyetola is one of the disciples of Chief Bisi Akande’s politics of prudent management of scarce resources to deliver positive results that people hardly expect from such a challenging situation. I see Osun’s current situation as a lesson to all and sundry. Oyetola remains an open book for any public official desirous of selfless service to the people. He became governor at a time when some public affairs analysts proposed the merger of Osun with any buoyant State in the region to rescue it from insolvency. But Oyetola, within four years, changed the Osun narrative positively, building the IGR from N10 billion to N20 billion.

Yes, he is calm. A state like Osun needs a calm and calculated leader because if you have a leader that is unnecessarily excited, you run into problems. Governing Osun requires a cool, calm and calculated human being that will think outside the box to be able to ensure the state is kept afloat. He paid salaries and pensions as and when due. He did that for four years without borrowing a dime from any bank. Yet, he built infrastructure and revolutionised the health sector in the State. He got his priorities right and did not bite more than the resources of the state could carry. It is on record that he paid N97 billion from the debts he inherited from his predecessor. Just imagine the additional wonders he would have performed were he to have access to huge funds.

He introduced the monthly feeding of 30, 000 vulnerable persons. Just imagine if the scheme was sustained. It would have fitted in perfectly in this time of palliatives to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.

I went this far so as to assure Nigerians that what they will get from Oyetola’s leadership at the ministry of Marine and Blue Economy will be an enduring legacy that would not only stand the test of time, but will be remarkably different and which would remain a reference point, long after he would have completed his tour of duty.

Your Excellency, sir, as you mark your 70th birthday anniversary, I pray to Allah to grant you the tolerance to deal with all the trials and travails that will be coming your way.

May Allah open His various ways of blessings and favour for you, and protect you from all the evil tricks that emanate from Shaitan and his forces among men and jinn, overlook your shortcomings and show you grace and mercy. Amin.

Happy 70th birthday to you, Sir!

Omipidan, is the spokesperson to Oyetola.