The Nigerian senate has confirmed the appointment of Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, as the new Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC.
President Bola Tinubu had recently appointed the Edo-born Certified Public Private Partnership tactician alongside some other heads of parastatals, describing it as one that is well deserved.
In his assessment during the screening exercise, Senator Sadiq Umar, chairman Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, urged the new ICRC boss to put Nigeria and the Nigerian people first in his activities to further boost investment opportunities in the country. "I think it is exciting, we need the best man, the best skill to really negotiate," he said.
Former governor of Edo State Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, who is the chairman Senate Committee on Interior also hailed Dr. Ewalefoh's appointment. Oshiomhole lauded Ewalefoh's wealth of experience in Public Private Partnership matters and promised to avail the new ICRC DG with the appropriate legal framework needed to attract necessary funds into the country.
"You have everything it takes to bring a new life to the whole question of regulations, appropriate negotiations that will make it possible. This is why people like you who have grown from the system are needed, given the nature of service. I'm fully impressed by this background, said Comrade Oshiomhole.
The President, while making the appointment, charged Dr. Ewalefoh to bring his wealth of experience to bear and demonstrate absolute dedication and probity in the management of the ICRC and in pursuit of its strategic objective of accelerating investment in national infrastructure through the innovative mobilisation of private-sector funding.
So, for the newly appointed ICRC DG, it is time to reposition the Commission. And as a strategic action plan, the erudite PPP professional emphasised the need to boost investors' confidence and work towards enhancing private investments into the country is paramount.
"The first thing we want to do is to instil confidence in the investors. Businessmen are not moved by what we say of mutual risk, they are moved by safety and the return on investment on whatever funds they are bringing. So that is one of the things I'm going to do," he told the media.
"Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people. There is no way the investors will not want to come. I see people who want to come," he added.
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Prior to his appointment, the new ICRC DG was the Director in charge of the public private partnership resource department, ICRC).
Dr. Ewalefoh has over two decades of experience in Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Concessions & Privatisation, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) development & deployment, Innovation, Project Management, Procurement Processes & Procedures, Organisation & Strategy, Process Improvement, Public Policy Reform and Development, Leadership and Governance.
He is an academician of no mean repute. He has a PhD in Development Studies from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Master Degrees in Economics (MSc), Management Information Technology (MIT), Public Administration (MPA), Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BSc) from the University of Benin.
His passion for knowledge also took him round several other leading academic institutions across the globe, some of which include the Harvard University, Brookings Institute, University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina, Lagos Business School, Wharton Business School, Duke University, Lagos Business School, Institute of Public Private Partnership, among others.
This is wishing the new DG, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission a successful tenure in this all-important national assignment.
