As Tunji-Ojo, Honourable Minister Of Interior Marks One Year In Office Tomorrow, Behold Wetin I See!

When Rosalynn Carter said, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A GREATER leader takes people where they do not necessarily want to go, but ought to be”, she may have had President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR in mind. When President Tinubu decided to pull the then Honourable Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, member representing Akoko North East/Akoko North West Federal Constituency from the Green House and name him as one of the members of the yet-to-be-announced Federal Executive Council (FEC), he may have seen what the young Tunji-Ojo did not even see in himself, needless to mention the public. And true to Carter’s submission, President Tinubu as a greater leader took young Tunji-Ojo where he may not have thought of being to where he ought to be. And today, the Honourable Minister has not only lived to his expectations, but has turned out the ‘Poster Boy’ of the Renewed Hope administration.

Akin to what Walter Lippmann described as ‘final test’, President Tinubu, in his determined guts to replicate an army of young ‘Jagabans’, typical of reincarnation of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu – in deeds and actions; Mr. President is proving, in the words of Lippmann that, “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” One of such young Tinubus is the Minister Tunji-Ojo who has shown his capacity and capability in the last one year. Unlike many others, Tunji-Ojo remains on the lips of many Nigerians, a corollary of his milestones in the Interior Ministry. It will take only cynics to undermine the sterling and quality deliverables of the Minister in the last 365 days.
Minister Tunji-Ojo does not look like somebody that is swayed by the tantrums of his adversaries. For him, he believes in the words of John Peter Zenger that, “Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.” Today, his impactful leadership is felt across the country as well as beyond the shores of Nigeria. This write up is not meant to launder the image of the ‘Poster Boy’, a sobriquet he has earned for himself among patriotic Nigerians. Rather, it is meant to speak to verifiable facts on his achievements in the last one year.

What therefore can be described as the score card of the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Interior? This writer appeals that people disabuse their minds, if not for the sake of the country which has since witnessed a possible turnaround since the appointment of this young, agile and promising Nigerian, but for the sake of conscience. It is germane that people embrace open-mindedness in assessing his stewardship in the last 365 days. As these milestones are unveiled, individuals can go on fact-finding mission to confirm the veracity or mendacity of these claims. Facts are sacred and can be controverted with superior evidence. A synopsis of his landmark achievements is hereunder listed based on each of the agencies under his stewardship;

1. Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS)

• Promoted 4,598 personnel from the service to new ranks in 2023.
• Clearance of over 200k passport backlogs in 3-weeks to redeem a national emergency that has been a source of frustration for citizens seeking to obtain travel documents.
• Redesigned the passport enrolment portal to become a seamless and automated system where every citizen has an NIS office on their mobile phone.
• Deployed expertise to commence the upgrade of the passport enrolment portal into a contactless technology.
• Commissioned 30 new patrol vehicles deployed to secure the Nigerian borders.
• Commenced and completed the construction of a command and control centre housing a 1.4 petabytes capacity data centre in the NIS headquarters, Sauka, Abuja.
• Installation of e-Gate facilities as border security measures across all international airports namely: Lagos (21 e-gates), Abuja, Port Harcourt (4 e-gates), Enugu (4 e-gates), and Kano (4 e-gates).
• Activated Document Verification Officers (DVOs) role as mechanism to authenticate persons enrolling for passport at their Local Government Area of origin.
• Cleared over N10 billion in debts to technical partners within the first 6 months of resuming office.
• Constituted a committee to redesign visa enrolment process for short-stay visitors in line with the #RenewedHope agenda to open up the country for tourism, and foreign investment.
• Commissioned the Arrival “E” of MM International Airport as well as the remodelled main entrance/exit gate and Quarter Guard at the Zone ‘A’ Hqs in Lagos.
• Commenced the enhancement of the international passport to meet global standards.

2. Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)

• Promoted 21, 385 personnel from the service to new ranks in 2023.
• Inauguration of a special force, Mining Marshal, under the NSCDC to protect mining sites across Nigeria as government seeks to crack down on saboteurs.
• Commissioned a fleet of operational vehicles for the Service to enhance patrol and surveillance around critical national assets.
• Officiated the ground-breaking ceremony for the CEDOWA Group of Schools to support education of staff children.
• Launched a new camouflage uniform of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
• Promoted and Supported the Safe Schools Initiative in a bid to continue its legacy contribution to the safety of school children.
• Encouraged officers to forge ahead in the quest for capacity development. This has seen many officers enrolling for BSc, MSc, and PhD programmes.
• Launched 10,000 Agro Rangers across 19 Northern states including the FCT to safeguard farmlands and protect farmers from escalating attacks.
• Established Power Rangers to protect power infrastructures countrywide.
• Launched Mining Marshals to reduce vandalism across country’s mining sites.
• Constituted a committee to design a sustainable standard operating procedure for the service.

3. Federal Fire Service (FFS)

• Promoted 1,680 personnel from the service to new ranks in 2023.
• Reduced the emergency response time of the Service to below 15 minutes across the country.
• Commissioned 15 Rapid Response Vehicles and six Firefighting trucks to enhance the operational capabilities of the service.
• Commenced plans to expand the scope of the Federal Fire Service, which will be facilitated by the passage of the Federal Fire and Rescue Service Bill.
• Remodelling and enhancement of the National Fire Academy, Sheda, with an ambition to have it become a central training facility for fire service personnel from the private sector.
• Facilitated the upgrade of the Academy to provide technical and relevant courses designed to equip officers and men of the service with the necessary skills for effective service delivery.

4. Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS)

• Promoted 4,498 personnel from the service to new ranks in 2023.
• Launched the decongestion of correctional facilities by raising over N600M from corporate organisations to pay off fines of 4000+ inmates held in custody over their inability to pay fines. This has potentially saved the government N1bn on feeding of these Inmates annually.
• Commenced further decongestion drive through collaborating with the Ministry of Justice towards the facilitation of speedy trials of inmates awaiting trials.
• Commenced the renovation of the Correctional facilities across the country. 10 has been renovated while 8 are currently under renovation including the Kuje Correctional Centre.
• Constituted a technical team to carry out special Correctional Service audit.

5. Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB)
Since assuming the Chairmanship of the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB), the Minister has achieved remarkable success in revitalizing the system across various areas, including;
• Expedition of promotion exercise to avoid career stagnation of Officers under the ministry.
• Approved the payment of allowance, upward review of salaries and the establishment of the Paramilitary Pensions Board.
• Approval of training and welfare packages for staff under the ministry.
• Approved the promotion of 32,361 personnel across agencies under the Ministry of Interior, setting a new record for the board as its all time high.
• Introduced a streamlined recruitment workflow that is transparent and effective.
• Timely decoration of deserving officers into new ranks including CGs, and DCGs.

6. Office of the Minister

• Timely responding to emergency situations, including paying visits to incident sites to ascertain the magnitude of the challenge, or issuing press releases to the public by way of explaining the scope and relevant steps taken to remedy the situation.
• Conducting routine inspection of all projects under the ministry.
• Invitation of technical partners to pitch relevant ideas towards the enhancement of internal security, visa enrolment process and the localisation of the production of international passports.
• Exploring various Inter-Ministerial and Inter-Agency collaborations to beef up internal security, going on to formalise working partnerships with ministries including defence, finance, foreign affairs, mine and steel development, justice, trade, industry and investment, as well as institutions such as the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), and the Department of State Services (DSS), amongst others.
• Mandated periodic briefing from CGs to promptly address challenges faced by officers under their leadership.
In conclusion, Nigerians can therefore go on investigation to fact-check all of these stated footprints never witnessed in the history of the Ministry since its creation. If for nothing, one can conveniently conclude that the Honourable Minister, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has proven that the Renewed Hope agenda is NOT a fluke after all.

OMOGBOLAHAN L.A. BABAWALE
Public Affairs Analyst
Convener/Lead Resource Person
The Think-Tinubu Initiative (3TI)
riches.babs@gmail.com/officialczar2@gmail.com