Tinubu Succumbs to Pressure, Reassigns Wike’s Ex-Chief of Staff to NOSDRA

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Chukwuemeka Woke as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency.

Woke, a former Chief of Staff to a former Governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was on May 9, 2024, appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.

This was met with backlash from Nigerians who protested the appointment of an MD who is not from the South West region.

The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, however, revealed the redeployment in a statement on Wednesday.

Ngelale also announced the President’s appointment of Dr. Adedeji Ashiru as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer
of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.

Apart from being an engineer, Woke is also known as an environmental expert and a politician.

He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical/Petrochemical Engineering and has worked within the Environmental, Safety, and Operations Departments of the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Woke served as the Chairman of Emohua Local Government Area in Rivers State and held the position of Chief of Staff at the Government House in Port Harcourt for an extended period.

Meanwhile, Ashiru holds a Doctorate degree in Engineering from the Common Wealth University, UK, and has led a consortium of blue-chip companies, in addition to earning many stripes in his professional endeavour.

The statement read in part, “The President expects the new Chief Executive Officers to deploy their competencies to these critical agencies for sustainable gains and turnaround while maintaining utmost transparency in their operations.”