Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo is one of the most performing Ministers; probably, the best, in the cabinet of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Starnews NG takes a look at his timeline – the performance and successes recorded by the 41-year-old Minister of Interior who was sworn-in on August 21, 2023.
His Achievements As Minister of Interior
The Ondo born politician politically known as BTO, has been touted for his yeoman’s job within a brief stint spaning about five months in the ministry. It was believed that his inimitable performance when he was a Federal Lawmaker easily earned him the Ministerial appointment.
Clearance of backlog of international passports
He started work by changing the narrative in the Interior Ministry when he orchestrated the clearance of an overwhelming backlog of 204,332 passports within a record-breaking three-week period, rescuing the nation from the grip of a dire national crisis.
Contrary to the three months of waiting to get passport, the Minister made the process overly seamless such that applicants can now get the document within two weeks.
He didn’t stop at that, Tunji-Ojo also collaborated with the Comptroller General of Immigration and provided different phone numbers (08028320751, 08067761196) to the general public to report misdemeanors by Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) personnel in order to put an end to unprofessional conducts and racketeering in passports offices across the country.
Launching of automated passport application process
As a digital expert, Starnews NG reported on January 8, 2024 that the minister launched a ground breaking automated passport application process of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to expedite passport acquisition for Nigerians.
This move alone has garnered undiluted praise for Tunji-Ojo, as many Nigerians had not only been extorted, but unhappily passed the night at Immigration offices to get their passports.
Some immigration officers had milked some desperate Nigerians in dire need of the travelling document. Some NIS officials would demand lump sum of money as a bribe before the passport could be fast-tracked.
Decongestion of correctional facilities in Nigeria
Starnews NG reports that Tunji-Ojo decongested correctional facilities through the clearance of fines and compensations worth N585 million for 4,068 inmates. Intriguingly, a dime was not spent from the Government’s vault, instead, the effulgent Minister reached out to corporate organizations who donated the aforementioned amount to decongest the prisons nationwide.
Promotion Exercise
In the same vein, the Minister revitalised the lost hope of workers when he announced the promotion of 32,361 personnel of the agencies under the supervision of his Ministry. These personnel had been denied promotion for umpteenth years.
To nurture loyalty, enhance motivation, and ignite morale within the four agencies under him, Tunji-Ojo saw to the promotion of 4,498 personnel of the Nigerian Correctional Service, 4,598 personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service, 1,680 of the Federal Fire Service and 21,385 workers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps by the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board (CDCFIB).
Allocation of 30% employment slots for women
Added to this was his recent announcement to review employment rules and guidelines to allocate 35 percent slots for women in the four agencies under his Ministry. The decision was lauded by coalition of women’s groups across the nation.
Clearance of 2.5M NIN Modification backlogs
Starnews NG reports that the clearance of 2.5m National Identification Number Modification backlogs was also part of the achievements of Tunji- Ojo, in his few months as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It may interest the public to know that the National Identification Number (NIN) is a unique set of numbers assigned to a particular individual upon successful NIMC enrollment in the country. It is an essential number in Nigeria required to perform numerous operations and applications.
Lunching of safe school project initiative
Tunji -Ojo was also behind the launching of the ‘Safe School Project Initiative’ aim at addressing the menace of criminal attacks on schools in Nigeria. According to him, security operatives attached to schools across the country must be proactive rather than being reactive to criminal occurrences.
He said during the announcement of the initiative in Abuja recently that, “at every point in time, the security agencies must be ahead of the criminals. If we are creative we will always give these criminals a hard time for them to figure out what our strategies are.
“Proactive has a lot to do with intelligence. I want to see schools in the most turbulent places secured as those in the Federal Capital Territory.
“NSCDC cannot carry out this safe school initiative alone. For me, to secure our schools, we must leverage on intelligence because it makes planning preside and actions quite direct”, he added.
Other achievements
Other achievements include improved security of the Nigerian borders and enhancement of operation of the Nigeria Fire Service with the acquisition of 21 latest Fire Fighting trucks to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in providing safety to Nigerians.
The performing minister believes that the operations of the Fire Service must go beyond fire fighting, tasking the service to forecast for impending fire out break and other disaster. He said attention must be given to prevention, rather than fire fighting. He directed the Fire Service in the country to plan and be able to forecast danger to prevent occurrence of disaster.
Delving into his days as a Lawmaker, Starnews NG can report that Tunji-Ojo facilitated the rehabilitation of virtually all the roads in his Constituency. He bought cars in each of the Police Stations, he also bought Computers for Secondary Schools, gave out employment letters to many constituents, empowered market women, gave out scholarship for students and provided free Jamb forms to thousands of students; amid numerous outstanding achievements we cannot mention.
His profile
Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, born on May 1, 1982, is a Nigerian engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and politician. The Minister, previously a federal lawmaker, who represented Akoko North East and North West Federal Constituency, resigned from the green chamber after he was appointed to man the Interior Ministry of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tunji-Ojo pursued his higher education in the United Kingdom, attending London Metropolitan University from 2002 to 2006 and Britannia Information Technology Training Academy from 2004 to 2006.
He completed a program at Smith Health Care in the UK from 2002 to 2003. Prior to his time in the UK, Tunji-Ojo obtained his undergraduate degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife between 1999 and 2002.
His secondary education took place at FUTA Staff Secondary School from 1993 to 1999, where he excelled in the Senior School Certificate Examination.
Tunji-Ojo’s academic achievements include certifications in Ethical Hacking and Counter Measures (2006), an Advanced Diploma in Project Management and Organization (2005), a Diploma in Information and Communication Management (2004), as well as certificates in Load Management and Client Handling (2003) and Client Care Assistance (2002).
He holds memberships in prestigious organizations such as the Royal Council for Commerce and Industry and the E-Commerce Council in the United Kingdom. Additionally, he is affiliated with esteemed bodies like the Computing Technology Industry Association, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and the British Society of Instrumentation and Control.
Tunji-Ojo is also actively engaged as a member of the Electronic Consultancy Society and the Digital Communication Network in the United Kingdom.
Starnews NG opines that Tunji-Ojo is not only the most performing Minister, but one of the best brains that has caused President Bola Tinubu’s administration to be loved by Nigerians.
It is our editorial opinion that if the Minister gets more support from the President and Nigerians, he will unveil more life-changing initiatives that will turn around the fortunes of the country.
Starnews NG urges Tunji-Ojo to remain focused and unperturbed in his quest to help humanity and do more for Nigerians.
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