Edo South Senatorial District 2023: Dr Owie Comes With Experience.
When you go through the exceedingly impressive resume of Dr Ese Stephen Owie who will under the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo South Senatorial District vie for a seat in the Senate, one of two things will easily come to your mind; it either you are impressed by his accomplishments or you are envious of it.
But I don’t see why one should begrudge a personal self-developmental journey of a very enterprising young man who started like most of us from the University of Benin studying law before reaching the height of education with the acquisition of a PhD in Public International Law from the University of Oxford, a feat that he accomplished over 16 years ago.
Of course, you will expect some others who viewed his profile with a fatalistic approach without thinking the educational acquisitions were gotten through dint of sheer hard work, not by happenstance.
Let’s not be deceived, in today’s interconnected global economy, knowledge acquisition is a necessary self-evident tool in meeting developmental challenges.
Indeed, without this higher knowledge acquisition, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala won’t have emerged as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) nor would Akinwumi Adesina be the President of the African Development Bank Group.
These two individuals have continued to make Nigerians proud outside the shores of the country. And as a matter of fact, the inimitable Dr Ese Owie is in their moulds.
Come to think of it, for those who said one does not need all in Dr Ese Owie’s profile to be good in governance, I am vehemently opposed to it.
Although he is gunning for an elective position as a senator to represent the good people of Edo South Senatorial District, the likes of Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and Mr Akinwumi Adesina at some point served as appointed technocrats under the Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan-led administrations where they proved themselves worthy of their training and education. So also will Dr Ese Owie bring his robust expertise to bear when he becomes a Senator representing his constituents.
Today, anywhere in the world, advanced educational acquisitions mean so much to the sentient human being in other to be able to solve its growing challenges. Education has become one of the most propulsive elements in human needs just like food, shelter, clothing and fundamental rights enshrined in legal charters and constitutions. Education has become one of the most bloodless revolutions in human history.
Education is one of the best intangible bequests against the definitive argument by some that it is not so important in public service. I thus felt bound to come out strongly to the defence of Dr Ese Owie. In response, I approach the argument from a positive perspective that he didn’t acquire all this education just because of politics, however, the educational acquisitions will undoubtedly help the society he is plunged into, and in this case, politics.
And he does have a sterling track record in public service. Between 2009 and 2011 for example, Dr Owie served as a Special Adviser (Cabinet Rank) to the Executive Governor of Edo State on Policy and Strategic Planning and helped the administration’s strategic policy direction with his wealth of knowledge and education. He also served as Honourable Commissioner/Executive Chairman of the Edo State Board of Internal Revenue and a Member of the State Executive Council, where he functioned as the Administrative Head of the State’s Internal Revenue Service. At the Board of Internal Revenue, he led a transformation of the State’s Internally Generated Revenue institutional framework and grew monthly revenue from approximately 250 million Naira per month to over 1.8 Billion Naira monthly within one year.
As Dr Ese Owie joins the senate to represent the good people of Edo South Senatorial District, he will be bringing his wealth of experience and expertise to bear, this fact has never been in doubt.
