Barr Effiong Akwa: 20 things you should know about the immediate past NDDC Sole Administrator
A Profile of Barr Effiong Akwa, Former NDDC Sole Administration, FCA, FCIB, B.L, PhD
President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the appointment of Barr Effiong Akwa as the Sole Administration of Niger Delta Development Commission to replace Pondei amidst relief and positive reactions.
His subsequent swearing-in had generated even more reactions.
Who is Barr Effiong Akwa? We bring you 20 things you must know about the immediate past NDDC Sole Administrator and why his appointment is memorable.
Origin
1. Barr Effiong Okon Akwa hails from Okobo Local Government Area in Oro Nation, Akwa Ibom State.
Education
2. Born in 1966, Dr. Effiong Akwa holds a Doctorate Degree in Law (specializing in International Environmental Law) from the prestigious Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, having earned a Bachelor’s of Law Degree (LL.B) and a Master in Law (LL.M) from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and has been called to the Nigerian Bar.
3. In 2008, Barr Effiong Akwa attended Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, where he undertook a course on International Housing, Finance and Mortgage Securitization.
4 .Similarly, in June 2010, he attended the Global Strategic Management Programme at Harvard Business School, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, and a course on Persuasion/Influencing at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, New York, USA in September, 2015.
5. Barr Effiong Akwa is an Alumnus of the London Business School, London, where he attended the Senior Executive Programme on Strategy, Leadership and Transformation. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, and a Lawyer. He is a merit award recipient of the Year 2022 ICAN Merit Award.
Working Experience
6. Barr Effiong Akwa is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA.)
7. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (FCIB.)
8. Dr. Effiong Akwa had been the Regional Manager in charge of South/South, of CDB PLC ( now FCMB.)
9. He was engaged as the Managing Director/CEO of Akwa Savings and Loans Limited (Mortage Bankers) – a mortgage finance institution owned by the Government of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, from 2007 – 2013, where he initiated and effected turn-around strategies. Dr. Akwa thereafter served as a Special Assistant on Finance, to the Managing Director/CEO of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Port Harcourt.
10. Barr Effiong Akwa was also appointed a Non-Executive Director, at Federal Housing Authority Mortgage Bank, Abuja (Representing Federal Government’s Interest) between January 2015 – August 2020.
11. In April 2009, Dr. Akwa was appointed by the Presidency in Nigeria, to serve in the Technical Working Group of Nigeria Vision 2020, an assignment he brought his wealth of experience to bear; among others.
12. A man of great intellect and deep compassion, Barr Effiong Akwa was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as the Interim Administrator/CEO of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in December 2020, at a time the interventionist agency was in dire need of an administrator and technocrat, strong in character and savvy enough to steady the ship of the organisation, at the height of its forensic investigation.
13. About twenty-four months later, when Dr. Akwa piloted the affairs of the Federal Government Interventionist agency as the Sole Administrator, it was to his credit that the negative perception of NDDC which he inherited had changed to a positive image. Hope was slowly being restored to staff and other stakeholders of the agency. Barr Effiong Akwa later bowed out from the agency at the end of October 2022, when a new fifteen-man board was inaugurated by the Federal Government.
14. Under his watch (as Interim Administrator), The Niger Delta Development Commission had completed and commissioned numerous life-touching projects, including but not limited to; the completion and commissioning of the Niger Delta Development Commission’s Corporate Headquarters Port Harcourt (a project that started almost 26 years earlier); Completion and Commissioning of Ultra-modern 1050 bed space hostel in University of Uyo (a project that was abandoned for over 12 years).
15. Others are building of Nigeria Police Barracks Special Protection Unit Mobile Police Base 6, Omagwa, River State; donation of Gunboats to the Nigeria Army; provision of Electricity substation to Okitipupa community in Ondo State; Donation of Science Equipment/Desks to secondary schools in Delta State; numerous skill acquisition and youth empowerment programs, medical assistance/intervention programs, education (scholarship) assistance programs in all the states of the Niger Delta Region.
16. It is to his credit that the two chambers of the National Assembly approved the 2020 and 2021 budgets of the Commission (an exercise that was suspended for over three years).
17. He successfully engaged the region’s Executive Governors hence strengthening the bilateral relationship between the Commission and the region’s Governors.
18. Barr Effiong Akwa has attended numerous conferences and workshops within and outside Nigeria and has presented numerous papers on Mortgage Financing, Banking, Economy, and Leadership at different fora including the 51st Annual Accountants Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
He is married and blessed with four adorable children.
Political Career
19. Effiong Okon Akwa emerged Executive Director Finance and Administration, EDFA, in NDDC barely four months before his appointment to fill the vacuum left in the office owing to the sudden demise of Elder Ibanga Etang of the blessed memory.
He was sworn in by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
20. Barr. Effiong Okon Akwa worked before in NDDC under Sir Bassey Dan-Abia. The new NDDC Sole Administrator was Special Assistant on Finance to Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, a former Managing Director of the NDDC between 2013 and 2015.
Although none of the trio of Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Barr Effiong Akwa is related to the other by blood, they all had strong working relationship.
Sir Dan-Abia was a former Commissioner in Akpabio’s cabinet when Senator Akpabio was Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
The then Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio nominated Dan-Abia as the Managing Director of the NDDC and sent Barr Effiong Akwa to work with him as his Special Assistant on Finance during this period.
Barr Effiong Akwa’s appointment was seen by some as yet another evidence of Akpabio’s agenda to run the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, as his personal estate, an allegation that was roundly dismissed by a coalition of civil society groups.
