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| Olorogun David Edevbie |
Project finance expert-turned politician, Olorogun David Edevbie is back on familiar grounds as Delta state’s Commissioner for Finance. It is the same position he held so creditably under the administration of Chief James Ibori, with a performance that shot him to national political limelight.
Edevbie, who hails from Afiesere in Ughelli North LGA of Delta state, is in the last batch of Commissioners appointed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa last month.
His appointment is significant in many ways. As a knowledgeable finance expert on familiar terrain, he is a round peg in a round hole. At a time of severe national economic recession, Delta state could not have desired for a better man to superintend her financial resources. More importantly, it is a show of political magnanimity that Okowa rose beyond personal political animosity by appointing to such position, his major rival in the 2014 governorship contest within the state PDP.
Edevbie brings to the office years of experience garnered at international and local finance environments. Before he was appointed Delta state commissioner for finance in June 1999, he had worked in Barclays Bank, UK where he rose to the position of Manager’s Assistant in the Corporate Lending department.
In late 1992, he joined Hill Samuel, a UK Merchant Bank, as a Corporate Finance Executive from where he transferred after a year, to the bank’s Commercial Banking arm, from where in 1995, he attained the enviable position of Manager in the Corporate Recoveries Department.
In late 1995, he left the bank for the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC Group) as an Investment Officer responsible for Asia & Pacific Regions. Later in 1996, he was promoted to Deputy Country Head, responsible for setting up the CDC Philippines Office. In March 1998, he returned to the CDC London Office and was promoted to Investment Manager, a position in which he acquired considerable project finance expertise by directly participating in several high profile project-financing transactions.
His first tenure as Commissioner for Finance, Delta State, is remembered for his far-reaching policies that ensured prudent management of the state financial resources. During the period, he transformed work attitudes and increased the efficiency of the Ministry. It will not be immodest to say he instituted most of the economic management mechanisms that has sustained the state’s relentless march to economic development since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
In late 2006, then PDP Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, invited him to join his small campaign team as Director of Finance and Strategy. On his subsequent election as President in April 2007, Yar’Adua had appointed him as Principal Secretary to the President (PSP) in recognition of the significant role he played in his Presidential Campaign Organization.
As Principal Secretary to the President, he took over the responsibilities of the out-going Chief of Staff. He remained in the Presidency until President Yar’Adua’s death in April 2010. The same year, he founded Avantgarde, an indigenous consulting firm focused on providing world-class project finance advice and monitoring services.
His return to the state’s finance ministry, also underscoreshis humility. For a man who until recently had his eyes on the state’s topmost position, he proves that no position is too small to contribute to the progress of Delta state. For Edevbie, an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme, it is an opportunity as usual, to further his impeccable public service record.
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