By Oghenekevwe Laba
LAGOS SEPTEMBER 26TH (URHOBOTODAY)-It is no news that Delta State Governor, Dr ifeanyi Okowa recently swore in thirteen new commissioners to swell the numbers of member of his executive. What is news however is the announcement of Olorogun David Edevbie as Delta State Commissioner of Finance.
There was thunderous ovation in the hall when the name of this gentleman and a financial guru was pronounced as the one who will oversee the finance of Delta State for the next four years. The people of Delta state heaved a sigh of relief in the sense that the control of their fund will be in the safe hand of a credible and experienced financial manager in the person of David Edevbie.

While swearing in Edevbie and other twelve Commissioners, Okowa reiteration that his priority is to grow the economy of this state and ensure that every person has a chance to pursue his or her dreams of success and achieve their full measure of happiness is not however misplaced with the choice of the person of Olorogun David Edevbie.
According to the Governor, “The situation we find ourselves calls for drive, innovation, prudence and above all, ingenuity and resourcefulness in managing our assets and in our internal revenue generation process, because, we are confronted with serious economic challenges and it is incumbent on us all, especially, the political appointees, to rise up to the challenge with courage, determination and selfless service.”
Thus, the appointment of Edevbie as the financial manager of the state no doubt is the solution to the last statement of the Ifeanyi Okowa.
Edevbie past records speak for him and I guess that was what attracted him to our amiable Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.

It would be recalled that in June 1999, Edevbie was appointed Commissioner for Finance in Delta State. During his tenure, he transformed work attitudes and increased the efficiency of the Ministry and at the end of his first tenure in office in 2003, he took a break to attend the prestigious Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme to prepare himself for higher responsibilities.
Late in 2006, he was invited by one of the PDP Presidential Aspirants, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to join his small campaign team as Director of Finance and Strategy. The prudent management of Yar’Adua’s finance Presidential campaign team by David Edevbie no doubt resulted in his successful election as President of Nigeria in April 2007.
In recognition of the significant role Edevbie played in the Presidential Campaign Organization, President Yar’Adua, in July 2008, appointed him as Principal Secretary to the President (PSP) to take over the responsibilities of the out-going Chief of Staff. He remained in the Presidency until President Yar’Adua’s death in April 2010.
Beside the aforementioned, David Edevbie wealth of experience as a financial manager as revealed in his curriculum vitae is of great assurance that the control of Delta State fund is in a safe hand.
As a young graduate, he joined Barclays Bank Plc, UK as a trainee through the bank’s Management Development Programme. Between 1988 and 1992, he rose to the position of Manager’s Assistant, Corporate Lending.
In late 1992, he joined Hill Samuel, a U.K. Merchant Bank, as a Corporate Finance Executive. A year later, he transferred to the Commercial Banking arm of the bank and by 1995, he had risen to the position of Manager-Corporate Recoveries Department.
In late 1995, he joined the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), UK (CDC Group) as an Investment Officer responsible for Asia & Pacific Regions. In 1996, he was promoted to Deputy Country Head, and was responsible for setting up the CDC Philippines Office.
In March 1998, he returned to the CDC London Office and was promoted to Investment Manager. During his time with CDC, he acquired significant project finance expertise by directly participating in several high profile project-financing transactions.
After sojourning in financial corporate organizations and government establishments, he established Avanrgarde an indigenous consulting firm which focused on providing world-class project finance advice and monitoring services in late 2010.
He equally has significant project finance expertise having directly participated in several high profile project-financing transactions in varied sectors such as Power, Oil and Gas, Mining, Health, Telecommunication, Financial Markets and Hotels among.
Thus, the background at which Edevbie is coming from it is rest assured that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s commitment to creating the enabling environment for micro, small, and medium scale enterprises to thrive and flourish the heartbeat of Delta State economy will be successfully steered by Olorogun David Edevbie.
The people of Delta State are confident that with the deep thinking, creativity, fiscal discipline and with the cooperation of all and sundry Edevbie will put the current financial challenges facing Delta State behind and lay a solid foundation of financial prosperity for the generation of Deltans and the on coming ones.