By Uche Amunike
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Chukwuemeka Woke, as Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
This was after the pressure mounted on the federal government by Nigerians when Chukwuemeka Woke, who was former Chief of Staff to former governor of Rivers State and present Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was announced as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.
Nigerian protested vehemently that it was not proper to appoint somebody who is not from the southwest region to that position.
His redeployment was announced, through a statement, signed and released by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, Wednesday.
He also announced the appointment of Dr. Adedeji Ashiru as the new Director-General/ Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority.
Engineer Chukwuemeka Woke, who is also known as an accomplished, environmental expert and politician, obtained his Bachelors degree in Chemical/Petrochemical engineering and has served within the Environmental, Safety, and Operations departments of the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He served as 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 a long period of time.
On his path, Dr Adedeji Ashiru is a Doctorate degree holder in engineering from the Commonwealth University, in the United Kingdom. Apart from earning many medals in his professional endeavour, he has played the role of leader in a consortium of blue-chip companies.
Ngelale, in his statement, said that the president has high expectations that the newly appointed executive officers will put their competencies to the two critical agencies assigned to them for sustainable gains and repositioning of the sectors, while maintaining transparency in the course of their work.
His words: ‘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.’
Chukwuemeka Woke is known for being proactive in the field of politics, especially when it comes to protecting the image of the Rivers State government. This could be seen during an incident that happened, a few years ago, when one Chief Gani Toba, went on air, at a radio program, in Rhythm FM, to blackmail the governor and government of Rivers State on unfounded allegations of non-performance, believed to be sponsored by detractors and enemies of the governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, who was serially acclaimed best performing governor in Nigeria, and received several awards to that effect.
On that day, Woke stomped into the studios of the radio station with hard evidences of facts and figures. He debunked the lies and challenged Chief Toba to either withdraw his unfounded claims or face legal action. People who listened in to the program were held spellbound as Toba was embarrassed, just as his frivolous allegations were completely destroyed without much fuss. The government of Nyesom Wike was vindicated after that incident and the courageous and spontaneous reaction of Chukwuemeka Woke, sent strong signals to their political enemies.
It was the last time anybody in the state cooked up lies against the governor or government with unconfirmed allegations. It became clear to all, that the Chief of Staff was a no-nonsense man that will not entertain misguided, ill-advised, deliberately fabricated lies that are intended to discredit his boss, the governor or his administration.
