By Akpohdoma Michael Mikoko
2023 In View: A world bank study supervised by Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University has recommended the Anambra model of governance under Peter Obi administration for the rest of Africa and other developing countries.
Anambra is our next doorstep neighbour, Buhari bridge and old Niger Bridge is what separating Delta and Anambra respectively.
Who is Prof Paul Collier?
Sir Paul Collier, CBE, FBA is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government and the director of the International Growth Centre
Who is David Edevbie?
He is British peculiarity, an alumnus of the University of Lagos, where he took a degree in Economics 1982 – 1985, most of Edevbie’s training is birthed in elite education.
He had a masters degree in Business Administration MBA from Cardiff Business School, the United Kingdom with proficiency in International Corporate Finance 1987 – 1988, culminating in advanced management training in Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA.
His world-class tutelage would launch him into multinational corporations.
Beginning in 1988 in Barclays Bank, London rising as Manager’s Assistant Corporate Lending, Hill Samuel Merchant Bank 1992, Investment Banking Executive and subsequently Commonwealth Development Corporation (now known as CDC Group) also in the United Kingdom as an investment manager. To his credit, he was the head of Asia and Pacific Regions and later established the Philippines office, garnering high profile finance expertise.
Edevbie made a dramatic entry into Nigeria’s political space in 1999 when he flew home to assume office as commissioner for Finance and economic planning under the administration of Chief James Ibori in Delta state.
By the time his tour of duty ended in 2003, he had transformed a lethargic civil service from a slow outmoded bureaucracy weighed down by dusty files into a vibrant technological- savvy, computerized institution, leveraged by speedy and efficient operations in fiscal management.
His pedigree propelled him to national reckoning when he received an invitation to be the Director of Finance and strategy in the campaign of the then PDP presidential candidate, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua now late.
He was later appointed principal Secretary when Yar’Adua was elected president in 2007, serving until April 2010 after the death of the head of state, to establish his consulting firm, Avantgarde, reputed with tested portfolio in Power, Oil & Gas, Mining, Health, Telecommunication, Financial Markets and Hotels.
Delta state already have a Peter Obi model among us, before other Africa states will benefit from Prof. Paul Collier recommendation. Let’s collectively take
advantage of his service to the betterment of all Deltans.
