On Monday, Alhaji Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji resumed duties, following his appointment as the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Inland Waterways Authority ( NIWA) by President Bola Tinubu, with a clear mission to implement the strategic vision of his principal, Minister of Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, on whose strong recommendation he was so appointed.
NIWA, previously known as Inland Waterways Department from 1956 to 1997, was established in 1997 but commenced operations fully in 1998. Its mandate are to regulate, plan and manage all inland waterways activities. The agency issues licenses for inland navigation, jetties, vessels, ferries sand dredging, pipeline construction and construction of inland river crafts. With 15 departments headed by general managers, NIWA is positioned to contribute immensely to the economic sufficiency programme of President Tinubu to the country if the warehoused potentials are harnessed.
Graciously, the maritime industry is no strange turf for Oyebamiji, having provided top notch services to big players in the sector, many of whom were his customers, when he was principal manager and held sway as head of Lagos region of a commercial bank in the early 2000s. This decent private sector experience coupled with his enviable public sector record, first, as Managing Director of an Osun state-owned investment company, Omoluabi Investment Limited, then as a two-term Commissioner for Finance in Osun state, is an indication that NIWA is about to experience a big leap in its operation.
When Oyebamiji joined the cabinet of former Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the tail-end of that administration, in 2017, (after his stellar performance as the head of the then moribund Omoluabi Holdings where his interventions led to an unprecedented growth in the fortunes of the organisation), his responsibility was to enliven the comatose finance ministry which was facing ruination on account of awry economic decision of previous drivers of the ministry.
Oyebamiji became Osun finance commissioner at a time the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) performance was at an abysmal low of 8.6%. However, by 2021, under his stewardship, the revenue performance of the state had risen to 84%. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world’s economy was near collapse, the state recorded 97.7% IGR performance. Under him, the half-salary pejorative description for which the Aregbesola government was known became a thing of the past as by the time the administration eclipsed in November 2018, the state had re-activated full-salary structure and had begun to pay complete salary to all her workers, an activity that was last done July 2015 when modulated salary regime (half-salary) was enacted in the state.
When he returned to office during the tenure of Ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, he brought more finesse to the financial administation of the state. Comprehensive and commendable governance reforms such as Bank Verification Number ( BVN) in payroll administation, activation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and enactment of procurement laws designed to impact domestic revenue drive were instituted to free up resources for the use of the government. The state operated a single account for IGR and federal transfers and linked 97% of the BVN data of civil servants and retirees in the payroll.
A prominent civic advocacy group, BudgIT, explained in its 2022 report that “Osun State has, over the past three years, improved cash management and reduced revenue leakage.”
Given this intentional fiscal re-engineering, it was no surprise the Federal Government/World Bank SFTAS named Osun best in domestic revenue mobilisation. Governor Oyetola equally received a personal award for his efficiency in public expenditures.
The state IGR which was barely N10b when Oyetola took the baton of office in 2018, leaped to N25billion as at 2022 when he exited. Not only did the administration implement the N30, 000 national minimum wage, the state became one of the first 5 states in Nigeria to do so. Oyebamiji, under the mentorship of his boss, Oyetola, captained a finance ministry that did not borrow money, did not owe workers salary and pension. And there were appreciable resources to fund bold and ambitious capital projects of the state government.
No doubt, Oyebamiji comes to NIWA with profoundly inspiring credentials spanning over 36 years in banking and government. One can only hope that he would be further motivated to record another first in this new role by initiating quality regulatory reforms and also foster the needed collaboration with stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of NIWA’s operations and Ease of doing business.
