By Jerome-Mario Utomi
Chiedu Ebie, Chairman, Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has, for many positive reasons, engraved his name in the hearts of Ika people in particular and Niger Deltans in general.
To some, the praise, love, followership, and respect he enjoys is attributable to the numerous infrastructural and life-changing projects he has brought to the area while others trace them to his leadership trajectory which is characterized by transparency, professionalism, sound leadership judgement, analytical prowess, dedication and inclusivity.
The people’s virtual deification of Ebie sure befits his sterling personality. He is a man with strong morals and good home training. This was attested in a report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), on the 2019 Merit-Based Teacher Recruitment into Delta State Education Service . The report was championed by Accountability Lab Nigeria and sponsored by The John D. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation and Luminate. The report was published on August 11, 2024. It revealed how the Delta State Government in 2019 achieved a record-breaking and, of course, the most transparent recruitment of 1,000 teachers, posted across secondary schools in the state.
A recent private conversation between this author and Dr Edozie, a former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor (Office of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG), who also served in team that graciously midwifed the project, revealed that the credit should really go to Mr Chiedu Ebie and his team, who, as the then Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education and later SSG, drove the process with unalloyed transparency, and the immediate past governor of the state, His Excellency Ifeanyi Okowa, for providing the needed political will and support for the process.
Edozie said: “We were technocrats behind the scene who provided the needed benchmark that made it credible. For example, everything about item generation and everything about sourcing resource persons for the process was handled professionally. The professors and other members of the academia who did the interview were persons of repute and integrity. Then, all the items (questions) from resource persons for each subject area were harvested from at least three examiners per subject and fed to software that juggled them and created parallel test items. This sealed leakage of any kind.
“So, the software selected all the final ones that came out. Through the Computer Based Test (CBT), applicants got their scores instantly, which also foreclosed any attempt to alter the scores.
“An independent IT firm, Dragnet Solutions Limited, handled the CBT. At the end of the day, rigorous interviews were conducted. And you know, people could not even go to the governor or any highly placed person to lobby. Credit goes to him.
“Credit should go to Mr Ebie, who is IT savvy and engaged Dragnet, who has been performing similar projects for oil companies and multinationals. If you talk to Chiedu about the success of the recruitment, he’ll say the then-governor gave him the leverage and approved the process and funds.
“This one of the greatest achievements of Mr. Chiedu Ebie as Honourable Commissioner and Governor Okowa’s administration. The State Government won a Federal award for this exercise and it was received by the then Chairman of the Delta State Civil Service Commission, Chief (Mrs) Nkem Okwuofu.”
Indeed, while Dr Edozie’s comment on both individuals is celebrated, this piece is, however, not surprised at the Commissioner’s position, transparency, and merit because, aside from the referenced achievement, a generality of broad-minded Deltans that the Agbor Alidinma, Delta state-born NDDC boss, is not only experienced in transformational leadership but amply qualifies as transformation personified.
For instance, after 22 years of impeccable legal practice in the private sector, he transformed to the public sector with his appointment into the Delta State Government as a member of the State Executive Council and Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education. While serving in this capacity between July 2015 and May 2019, he reportedly ensured significant reforms and improvements in the primary and secondary educational sectors of Delta State.
On June 3, 2019, Ebie, in a similar vein, transformed into the Secretary of the Delta State Government. Alluding to his strong qualities and dedication to serve, during his inauguration as SSG, the then Delta State Governor made the following statements about him:. “Mr Ebie is a fine gentleman who served meritoriously as Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in the first tenure of his administration.
“His civility, analytical intelligence, communication skills, and diligence are essential qualities needed for the office of the SSG. “In addition to these, modern statecraft, with all its complexities and challenges, requires team players, proactive leaders, and men with a large appetite for work. Mr Ebie meets these criteria, and I am convinced that he is well equipped to enrich the social, political, and economic narrative of our dear state.”.
Ebie went on to hold the position of SSG until the dissolution of the State Executive Council on May 18, 2021.
Beyond being reputed for good quality public service delivery at any given position, there is yet an accompanying belief that the family he comes from is famous for transparency, professionalism, and the achievement of organisational excellence.
Alluding to this fact is the awareness that his father, the late Prof. John C. Ebie, was the pioneer Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Edo State.
As the pioneer Chief Medical Director of the health institution established in May 1973, he navigated the institution to becoming an enviable world-class health provider. He creatively brought together within the same organisation different people with different experiences, assumptions, values, beliefs, and habits for their work and provided direction, protection, orientation, managed conflicts, shaped norms, possessed the emotional capacity to tolerate uncertainty, frustrations, and pains, and raised tough questions without getting anxious himself.
In recognition of this sterling and selfless public leadership provision, the late Prof. Ebie was on Friday, December 15, 2023, bestowed with a posthumous award of excellence by the Association of Resident Doctors, UBTH Chapter, Benin City.
In a related development, Chiedu Ebie had an uncle, Sir. S.P.O. Fortune Ebie, who was the Chief Executive of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), who planned and executed the building of what is still today the biggest housing estate in Nigeria, the FESTAC Housing Estate in Lagos, Nigeria.
On his part, Chiedu Ebie, has, together with members of the Board and Management of the NDDC proven beyond reasonable doubt and to the admiration of stakeholders, that they are blessed with wisdom for conceiving fresh beginnings and more focused efforts on the development of the Niger Delta region and its people, as they have never been since the inception of the Commission.
Finally, in addition to living a life of integrity and simplicity, shunning the selfishness that has in the past marred much of such positions, Mr Ebie, going by elegant commentaries about him, is chairing the board of the commission with the consciousness that, as a leader, he is being watched closely, that people are noting his every move, and that his followers are learning a great deal about him and what he really believes in as opposed to what he says.
Utomi, a Media Specialist writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He could be reached via Jeromeutomi@yahoo.com/08032725374.
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