THUR 29 JULY, 2021-theGBJournal- Olorogun David Edevbie who hails from Afiesere in Ughelli North Local Government Area was born on December 23, 1963 in Greenwich, London. United Kingdom.
He attended Igbobi College Lagos where he obtained the General Certificate in Education (GCE O’Level) in 1980 and thereafter, proceeded to Federal Government College Odogbolu where he obtained GCE A’Level certificate in 1982.
Between 1982and 1985, he attended the University of Lagos, Akoka where he bagged B.Sc. (Hons) in Economics and upon completion of the National Youth Service Corp programme in 1986, Olorogun Edevbie proceeded to Cardiff Business School of the University of Wales, United Kingdom where he studied between 1987 and 1988 to obtain Masters in Business Administration (MBA) majoring in International Corporate Finance.
Armed with these sound academic qualifications, Olorogun Edevbie joined Barclays Bank Plc in London as a trainee through the Bank’s acclaimed Management Development Program. He passed through the program rapidly and simultaneously concluded the professional qualifying examinations leading to his admission as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers – ACIB (England & Wales) in early 1990. He was simultaneously admitted also as a Member of the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing (MCIM).
Between 1988 and 1992, Olorogun Edevbie rose to the position of Manager’s Assistant, Corporate Lending following his stellar and exceptional performance in completing several other challenging jobs in the Bank.
In late 1992, Olorogun Edevbie joined Hill Samuel, a traditional U.K. Merchant Banking arm of the Bank rising rapidly to the position of Manager, Corporate Recoveries Department by 1995. This position came with the responsibility for the daily management of a £60 million (Approx ₦42 billion Aboki Fx Rate) portfolio of bad and non-performing loans. He was in addition responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring appropriate recovery strategies.
Like a man choreographing a path of destiny, Olorogun Edevbie joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation CDC, UK (now known as ACTIS) as an Investment Officer responsible for the Asia and Pacific Regions. In this regards, he was also following the trail blazed by some other notable Nigerians such as the great diplomat, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and the late Boardroom Guru, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode. His specific responsibilities included appraising new investments, developing and implementing country strategy recommendations in addition to planning and coordinating CDC equity investment realizations.
In 1996, Olorogun Edevbie was promoted Country Head, CDC Phillipines and was responsible for setting up their office in Manilla. In this position, he oversaw the development of new business opportunities and managed a portfolio of loans, quasi-equity and equity investments valued at about US$200 million (over ₦100 billion Aboki Fx Rate). He also represented CDC on the boards of several investee companies in Power, Telecommunications and venture capital businesses.
In March 1998, Olorogun Edevbie returned to the CDC London Office and was subsequently promoted to Investment Manager with brief covering originating new businesses within the solid minerals and Oil and Gas sectors of emerging markets in addition to involvement in managing CDC’s portfolio of existing businesses in these sectors. This job took him to virtually every continent of the world, allowing him to experience operations in very diverse sectors of the economies of both developing and developed countries.
Olorogun Edevbie also acquired significant experience by participating directly in several high profile project finance deals in diverse sectors such as Power, oil & gas, mining, health, telecommunications, financial markets, hotels etc.
This was the immense wealth of experience that Olorogun Edevbie brought to the Delta State public service when he was appointed the Honourable Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning in June 1999 at age 35. His cabinet appointment by the Governor with Finance and Economic Planning portfolio was considered a political masterstroke at the time.
Through the confidence and dynamism that comes with his experience and competence, Olorogun Edevbie transformed work attitudes and increased the Ministry’s efficiency and effectiveness and fully computerized the State’s Financial and Cash Management systems. Within the same period, he ensured the timely preparation and publication of Delta State Government’s annual Audited Accounts (the first State to do so in our country). He also designed and implemented the government’s privatization policy, established the Delta State Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme, and successfully obtained an A+ International Credit Rating for Delta State (again, the first State government in Nigeria to do so). More crucially, he engineered the exponential expansion of the State Government’s annual Revenue that saw the State’s budget grow from ₦6.343 billion (US$75m at the then exchange rate) at inception of the civilian administration in 1999 to N61.82 billion (about US$458 million) by 2003. This formed the bedrock of the State’s infrastructure development of the period.
With the end of the Governor’s first tenure in May 2003, Olorogun Edevbie proceeded to the prestigious Harvard Business School for the Advanced Management Program (AMP) to further equip himself. Upon his return after completing the program, he was reappointed to the Cabinet as Honourable Commissioner for Finance in which he served till November 2005.
Unsurprisingly, Olorogun Edevbie caught the attention of Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who as Presidential aspirant tapped him for the role of his Campaign Director of Finance and Strategy in 2006 where he again distinguished himself as a team player with great interpersonal skills and with his well-honed intellect and as a financial manager. Not only did Olorogun Edevbie assist in the Governor’s victory in the Presidential primaries but notably conceptualized and designed the highly successful “7-Point Agenda” Campaign slogan that saw the election of Yar’Adua as President of the Federal Republic. In addition, he was responsible for comprehensively articulating the policy priorities of the President-Elect in a development blueprint document titled “The Nigerian Project Agenda”.
In July 2008, Olorogun Edevbie was called to play a more critical role in Nigeria as Principal Secretary to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic, replacing the former Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Abdullahi Mohammed. Among his many accomplishments in this position were the restructuring of the State House to reflect the new President’s style and improvement of decision-making speed and monitoring of implementation of Presidential Directives. Typical of this technocrat, he recruited professionals and experts from the private sector to enhance the quality of decision-making process while reflecting Nigeria’s demographic diversity.
Olorogun Edevbie also played a crucial role in developing and implementing several policy initiatives including the Niger Delta Amnesty program, establishment of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the introduction of the Land Reform and Petroleum Industry Bills, dredging of the lower Niger River, National Railway development program, Civil Service and Electoral Reforms among others. He remained in this role until President Yar’Adua’s death in May 2010 when he resigned from the position.
He thereafter joined AvantGarde Financial Consultants; an indigenous consulting firm focused on providing world-class project finance advice and monitoring services as Principal Consultant where he served until August 2015.
In September 2015, Olorogun Edevbie was once again appointed the Honourable Commissioner of Finance, this time, by His Excellency, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. He served diligently in this capacity till the end of the first term on May 29, 2019. And in June 2019, Governor Okowa tapped him again for appointment as his Chief of Staff, a position he held until May 2021.
Happily married to Aderonke and blessed with two wonderful children, Olorogun Edevbie is an Anglican and a passionate family man and loyal friend
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