ANSG Congratulates Mr. Chudi Offodile On Appointment As NIMASA Director

By Ndu Chris Nwannah, ATM Guest Writer

The Anambra State Government has issued a statement congratulating Honourable Chudi Offodile on his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as an Executive Director in the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Offodile was on Wednesday, March 11^th, announced as the new NIMASA Executive Director in charge of Finance & Administration following the reorganization of the agency’s top management team by the federal government.

NIMASA is a federal agency focusing on aspects of maritime regulation, including: safety administration,  labour, pollution prevention and control, search and rescue, cabotage enforcement, shipping development and ship registration, training and certification of seafarers, and maritime capacity development.

In a statement issued in Awka by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C. Don Adinuba, the Anambra State government said that “Offodile is eminently deserving of the appointment. He is, in fact, worth everything in gold.”

Chudi Offodile, a lawyer, politician and author, represented the Awka North/South federal constituency in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2005. In the House of Representatives he was both Chairman of the Sub Committee on Gas and Chairman of the Special Committee on Joint Venture Oil Operations. He later headed the Committee on Public Petitions.

Following his career in the federal House, Mr. Offodile re-engaged his private legal practice in Abuja as the managing partner of Chudi Offodile & Co. The practice specialized in oil and gas, finance, regulatory compliance and international trade. He also served as a Director of the Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre (AIIC) from 2001 to 2015.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Offodile had served a full term in the West African Regional Parliament and the ECOWAS Parliament (2000–2005) where he chaired the Energy, Science and Technology Committee.

In its congratulatory message to Offodile on his latest appointment, the Anambra State government stated: “Although he left the legislature 15 years ago, his colleagues and officials of the National Assembly speak nostalgically about him on account of the brilliance, commitment and vibrancy he displayed.”

“Having discharged his duties with aplomb, he set a standard by which a lot of his colleagues are still judged in matters of transparency, probity and commitment to the common good as well as legislative delivery,” the statement further affirmed.

According to Commissioner Adinuba, “Offodile was one of the first major investors in the state following the restoration of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999 and encouraged many people from Anambra State to follow his bold example of Think Home.”

The Commissioner also stated that Offodile’s “impressive record made Governor Willie Obiano [to] appoint him last December [as] a member of the Anambra State Vision 2070 Committee, a group drawing up a strategic plan to make the state attain the status of a fully developed entity in the next 50 years. The committee is headed by former Central Bank Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, a distinguished Economics professor.”

Mr. Adinuba also noted that Governor Obiano has expressed “the gratitude of the people and government of Anambra State for [Offodile’s new] appointment.”

Continuing, the statement stressed that “Honorable Offodile’s appointment into the leadership of NIMASA, a key parastatal, is obviously in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise during the 2019 electioneering to appoint persons from Anambra State and the Southeast geopolitical zone into strategic positions.

“We still expect more key appointments because all the people the president has appointed from our state and the Southeast geopolitical zone always display outstanding competence, integrity and loyalty,” Mr. Adinuba concluded.