IF there is anything that separates great leaders from the crowd, it is the power of vision. Strategic foresight, the ability to anticipate future events, challenges and prospects and roll out mechanisms for coping with them, is beyond rhetoric: it materializes in lived-in experience. It presents robust evidence of vision. In Hon (Dr) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nigeria’s high-flying, intensely cerebral, visionary Minister of Interior, this quality has captured the national imagination, but the real story about the minister widely hailed as “talk and do” is that he never rests on his oars but tasks his faculties to do much more even when you think he has done enough. That is why on February 2, in a powerful testimony to the abiding power of excellence, the Minister of Interior will be garlanded as the New Telegraph’s Outstanding Minister of the Year 2023. The award is not fortuitous: it has been richly merited. Two events last week illustrate this point very poignantly. First, the minister doubled down on the fresh criteria introduced for passport applications to stop foreigners from exploiting the system. On January 8, the interior ministry had announced the full automation of passport applications for Nigerians at home and abroad.
To obtain or renew the Nigerian passport, applicants are required to have National Identification Numbers (NIN) and tender birth and local government certificates, among others. Speaking on the requirements on Wednesday, January 24, the minister said the conditions were introduced to curb the acquisition of Nigerian passports by non-citizens, as foreigners exploited the inefficiencies of the previous system. Hear him: “We had to introduce this new system to stop those non-Nigerians carrying Nigerian passports. Contrary to reports, the new process is working very effectively and the hiccups recorded are only four percent, which is a significant improvement for a system that is newly introduced and I assure you that in the next one or two weeks, we will have a near perfect system. We have to improve our process of obtaining passports because passport is a security document. This new system has improved accessibility, transparency and efficiency.” Given the widespread security threats that Nigeria contends with, this move is no doubt visionary.
The second event is also a security move, but it has positive implications for the Nigerian economy. Unveiling a new handbook on Citizenship Administration in Nigeria on Thursday, January 25, in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo expressed the Federal Government’s readiness to transform citizenship management and business administration in Nigeria. The gist is that the handbook prescribes conditions for the acquisition of citizenship by foreigners and citizens born outside Nigeria by Nigerian parents, among others. Crucially, it also prescribes conditions for “citizenship by investment,” amongst which is evidence of the required amount for investment pegged at a minimum of $1 million. Imagine if just 10 foreign investors take advantage of this facility next week: that is a $10 million addition to a Nigerian economy grappling with forex shortage and trying to strengthen the naira. The vision is unbeatable, and the minister articulated it so well: “A greater Nigeria is here. You and I are here for a Nigeria that will work for all of us, both the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor. With the Renewed Hope Agenda, what Nigerians are yearning for has come to stay. There is no need for anybody to shake hands before you can do business here.”
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, provides a fitting description of Tunji-Ojo’s genius: “He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion.” The minister is, in comportment and deportment, demonstrably a humble, unassuming gentleman—which is one reason all kinds of shady characters working for criminals have loaded the media space with spurious allegations against him, hoping to draw him into the arena of the absurd—but the firmness with which he approaches the job of revolutionizing Nigeria’s internal security and the astounding results that he has achieved in less than a year enables his portrayal as a lion. This strategy of speaking through phenomenal results rather than engaging in online warfare has thrown the naysayers into a tailspin.
At a time Nigeria’s international image had become severely tainted because of the massive corruption and inefficiency surrounding the passport application process, Tunji-Ojo stunned bookmakers when he oversaw the clearance of a backlog of 204,332 passports in a record-breaking three-week timeline. Nigerians were still serenading this milestone when he unveiled the automation of the system with a view to guaranteeing home delivery of passports starting from February 2024. That was not all: the minister outlawed the pernicious practice of mandating married women to visit the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to have their passport biodata updated. Besides, beyond his dedication to the welfare of paramilitary officers, equitable compensation and plans for a functional pension board demonstrate a commitment to fairness and productivity within the ranks, Tunji-Ojo decongested correctional facilities through the clearance of fines and compensations for 4,068 inmates who were in prison solely on account of financial challenges. That masterstroke reduced the burden on the prison system while enabling the beneficiaries to enjoy their freedom and reunite with their families.
Praise on social media for the man who also emerged the Leadership Newspaper Public Service Person of the Year 2023 has been effusive. On X, Eniola tweeted, “Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo came to national politics underrated but with the little time spent as the Minister of Interior, he has proved that some big wigs are just overrated. Thank you for changing the narrative and giving the youth a new perspective.” The sentiments were echoed by Ben Ovo, another X user who said: “Some of us have forgotten who a public servant is, but thanks to the Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for bringing back to our consciousness what it means to be a public servant. Thank you sir for your commitment and resilience towards positive change.”
On Facebook, Bright Okuta said: “Tinubu’s Interior minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo is perhaps the only performing government official in this administration. He embodies competence, dedication and commitment.” AbuAbdulHameed7 said, “One of the most visionary and impactful ministers in PBAT administration is Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the interior minister. What he has done so far has shown us that indeed Nigeria will be great and will prosper. We have never had a minister like him; selfless and a believer in a greater Nigeria.”
If the new dawn at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), the Federal Fire Service (FFS), and the Civil Defence, Corrections, Immigration and Fire Service Board (CDCIFB) is attracting global recognition, it is because the London Metropolitan University electronics and communication engineering and digital communication and networking graduate who holds 18 professional qualifications in ICT such as ethical hacking and counter measures has chosen to reinvent public service as a problem-solving mechanism for national development. He is clearly one of Nigeria’s most hard-working and most passionate public servants.
- Salako is media consultant to the Minister of Interior
