David Edevbie
At 57, Olorogun David Edevbie, the current Chief of Staff to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, has gone full cycle in the orbit of service. Public service. Private sector technocrat. Philanthropy. A man fated to greatness.
And he still has more to give in the womb of time. On December 23, 2020, he marked his 57th birthday. It was not marked with pomp and vain lavishness. It was a birthday marked with sobriety but much more with a deeper connection with humanity through charity.
Edevbie is a fine cut. A well-built being, framed like an all-conquering sporting champion. Handsome, Debonair. Dapper dresser. And walks with a kingly gait. But his life is not much about his cute looks. It’s so much in his intellectual acuity, dazzling brilliance, administrative elan and a measured sure-footedness to engage every moment with assured confidence.
And if you wonder why he has remained a recurring factor in Nigeria’s public service from state to federal even when he’s not the typical Nigerian mudslinging politician, wonder no more. Edevbie is endowed with result-driven skills in public finance management and administration. He’s sought after.
An alumnus of the University of Lagos where he bagged a degree in Economics from 1982 – 1985, he also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Cardiff Business School in the United Kingdom with specialisation in International Corporate Finance from 1987 – 1988.
He would proceed to add another feather to his blooming academic quiver with an advanced management training in Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA. Academically rounded and primed for the global market, he could easily walk into jobs at multinational corporations. And he did. His first perch was at Barclays Bank, London in 1988 where he rose to the position of Manager’s Assistant, Corporate Lending. Then followed purposeful stints at Hill Samuel Merchant Bank 1992 as Investment Banking Executive and later at Commonwealth Development Corporation (now known as CDC Group) also in the United Kingdom as an Investment manager. He was later to head the Asia and Pacific Regions. His resounding success at his station led to the establishment of the Philippines office. A true cosmopolitan Trojan. He’s also truly loved at home. From the palace princes to the poor, he’s at home with humanity.
Armed with a rich raft of experience in global economics, investment banking, corporate re-engineering and multi sector accounting complete with the dialectics of strategic fiscal management, he was drafted into Delta State public service as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning by the Chief James Ibori Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, government in 1999. He proved a worthy recruit to transit the state public finance management architecture from its military days shabby ledger into a scalable and flexible balance sheet. He held forth till 2005. The old saying that the reward for hard work is more work played out. By 2008, his skill took him to the zenith of power: the Presidency. He was rewarded with the position of Principal Secretary to President Umaru Yar’adua (June 2008 to May, 2010).
A common denominator among Nigerian politicians is that most of them have no second address outside the corridors of power. Not so, this Dave. After his stint at the Presidency and upon the demise of President Yar’adua, he returned to his first love; the private sector as Principal Consultant at Avantegarde Project Finance Advisory and Monitoring Consultancy, Lagos.
Fate would return him again to Delta State to serve as Commissioner for Finance from September 2015 – May, 2019. Currently serving as Chief of Staff to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Edevbie has remained a loyal factor in the G-3 (Group of Three) triumvirate of Chief James Ibori, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and Okowa. A bridge between the old and the new. On his 57th birthday, Governor Okowa wrote: “I appreciate the professional advice and direction that you have provided for the government and I urge you to remain unrelenting in your service to the state and country.”
Without a doubt, Edevbie has not only provided professional advice for various governments in the state at different times, he also played an avant-garde role in the quest for resource control, birthing fresh ideas and innovativeness as the former governor, James Ibori, pushed through the veil of federal resistance to the struggle. It’s easy to hear the stentorian voices of Ibori and the late governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the duo who were also persecuted for their roles in the push for resource control. But behind the towering frames of these resource-control fighters was the silhouette of Edevbie, providing a compass, steadying their hands and providing them with intellectual armoury to ossify the force of their argument.
The urbane Dave has given much to the service of man. And he still has the fire of service burning in his bones. The real unravelling is only a matter of time.
Author: Ken Ugbechie
