Vanguard Personality Of The Year: Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Making The Impossible Possible

Perhaps, Hon. Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, current minister of interior, an accomplished business management and consulting executive with over seventeen years of public and private sector experience in project and strategic management, may have read the book.

Discussing how structures drive vision, Forbes and Prevas insist that it is not just enough for a leader to have vision, but he must put in place structures to effect it.
They compared Cyrus the Great and Jack Welch and John Chambers and how their modern businesses were built.

No matter what anyone says about the present administration, Tunji-Ojo stands out as one minister who got to office and hit the ground running. In a nation where obtaining something as basic as an international passport had become nightmarish, with the attendant deliberate scam and hardship, it looked something like magic when the interior minister ordered that within a specific timeline, he wanted all backlog of passports being processed to be done with.

Nigerians merely took his order as a public stunt not until long queues at passport offices began to disappear and ever-pessimistic Nigerians started making public revelations on social media of how the minister’s order has been yielding results. Yes, there were issues, but it had to take a man of vision, courage, and a good heart to drive the process.

In fact, never in the history of the debates and processes leading up to the acceptance of a nominee for awards has any received the instant acclaim and endorsement Tunji Ojo did.
Once nominated, editors started reeling out instances of impressive showing by the minister since he took over.

His attitude to work and readiness to engage were attributes which pronounced him in good stead.

With his exposure and deep knowledge of critical sectors of the economy especially the Oil and Gas, Information Technology, as well as expertise in policy making and development in Agriculture, Research, Finance, Management Consultancy and Manufacturing industries, he has made a mark for himself in the executive branch of government, having been a two-term member of the House of Representatives.

His résumé is rich. He consulted for the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) (Management) Board, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Nigeria Gas Company (NGC), National Petroleum Investment and Management Services (NAPIMS), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), World Bank, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), National Health Insurance Scheme, Abuja (NHIS), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education among others.

A Certified Ethical Hacker, CEH, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has a Masters Degree in Digital Communication and Networking (2006) London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering (2005) London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom; Bachelor of Science in International Relations (In View) University of London; Certification in Ethical Hacking and CounterMeasures (2006) Britannia Training Academy, United Kingdom.

A member of many professional bodies, Hon. (Dr) Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is Vanguard’s Federal Public Sector Icon, 2023.