By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Anambra State Government has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing one of its own, Hon Chudi Offodile, as a Director of the Nigerian Maritime Administrators and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Offodile, a lawyer, political analyst and author, represented Awka Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005 and served as chairman of the Sub-Committee on Gas and Chairman of the Special Committee on Joint Venture Oil Operations, simultaneously. He also headed the Committee on Public Petitions.

In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr C. Don Adinuba, the State Government described Offodile as eminently deserving of the appointment.

The statement issued Thursday in Awka, the state capital, reads in part: “Honourable 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 campaign to appoint persons from Anambra State and the Southeast geopolitical zone into strategic positions.

“Though 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.

“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.”

Adinuba recalled that Offodile was one of the first major investors in the state following the restoration of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999.

While urging Anambra indigenes to follow his bold example of Think Home, the commissioner noted that Offodile’s impressive record made Governor Willie Obiano appoint him as a member of Anambra Vision 2070 committee last December.

The committee with a target of drawing up a strategic plan to make the state attain the status of a fully developed entity in the next 50 years has former Central Bank governor Chukwuma Soludo as its chairman.

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