*Gender advocacy groups commend President Tinubu for appointing, Youths and Women
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Since the announcement of Hon Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete, 39, from Delta State on the floor of the Nigerian Senate among the 28 Ministerial lists of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, lovers of youths and women in governance have been ecstatic.
In the much-awaited list containing 28 names, Hon Stella Hon. Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete stands out from the pack, particularly for her youthfulness, gender and vast experience in public service.
Her appointment and those of other youthful Nigerians as Ministers-nominee have been hailed as an indicator that President Tinubu is not only a fisher of talents but would run an administration poised to accommodate youths with proven records of performance in his government and give them a place in the leadership of the Nigerian state.
Temitope Abbas, the National Coordinator, of the Youth and Women Advocacy Group hailed the inclusion of Hon. Stella Okotete and other youth in President Tinubu’s first batch of Ministerial nominees as a signal of a clear departure from the perennial practice of recycling older politicians and alienating the youth from participating actively in governance and political leadership.
Stella Okotete who will be 40 years by April next year and born in Delta State, is a human rights activist, philanthropist, and active APC politician and has garnered very rich experience in public service.
She was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari, on April 20, 2017, to be the Executive Director, Business Development of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM).
Okotete has extensive experience in the formulation and execution of public policies, international development and general administration, the management of public-private partnerships, company development, and export finance.
Temitope Abbas in a press statement said President Tinubu must be commended for accommodating the youths and women at the Ministerial level in the first instance.
” This implies that it is healthy to hope and expect that more youths and women will be considered in subsequent batches of the Ministerial list and other notable positions of public trust.
He pointed out that the appointment of Hon. Stella Okotete as a Minister nominee elicits great excitement amongst Nigerian youths and women across the nation and represents a glimmer of hope to the teeming youthful population.
However, the group regretted that “some persons who are seeking to perpetuate themselves in government and preserve the old order have resorted to their usual antics and stratagems of mudslinging and sponsored smear campaigns against Stella Okotete’s nomination in a bid to arm-twist the President to reconsider his position and succumb to their positions and preferences.
The group went further to state that these old-fashioned antics and attacks aimed at impeaching the character of Hon. Stella Okotete and projecting an unsavoury representation of her personality are not only uncalled for but a strong demonstration of the plot by some elements to deny the youths a viable representation in Stella Okotete and other youthful appointees.
The Gender Advocacy group said that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, we are witnessing a fair number of youths and women in the first batch of a 28-man list of Ministerial nominees and we are not about to allow fabricators and sponsors of falsehood deny the youths this lifetime opportunity to serve our nation and further demonstrate our competence and abilities in governance and leadership.
The group lamented that for this same reason for denying the youths that the social and print media are inundated with several fabricated and sponsored smear campaigns against Stella Okotete one of the youngest of the entire Minister nominees.
“Her subsequent confirmation as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will place her in history as one of the youngest Ministers ever appointed in the nation.
Hon Stella Okotete has amassed years of experience in political and public leadership, having served as a Councilor (2009-2011), Special Assistant on Millennium Development Goals to the Governor of Delta State (2011 – 2015), National Women Representative of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC (2020 – 2022) and currently the Executive Director, Business Development Nigerian Export and Import, NEXIM Bank, a position she has occupied since 2017. Stella Okotete demonstrates unmatched expertise in policy design and implementation, international development and general administration, public-private partnership management, business development and export financing.
Her records of achievements in the various positions of trust she has held and within the periods from 2017 till present, she embarked on strategic reforms of the Nexim Bank, which invariably resulted in increased profits, favourable returns on capital earnings, reduction in non-performing loans and an increase in the total assets of the Bank.
Following remarkable performance, Hon. Stella and the entire Executive Management team were re-appointed by President Muhammdu Buhari in 2022 for another 5-year tenure.
Hon. Stella continues to champion the development of the Export Sector in Nigeria, expanding the frontiers of NEXIM to other areas for growth, strategic collaborations, and lines of credit for the Bank. In her role as the Executive Director of Business Development at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), she has led initiatives to support entrepreneurship, facilitate trade, and diversify the nation’s export sector. Her vision for job creation, industrialization, and foreign exchange generation has led to the introduction of innovative products such as the “Women and Youth Export Facility” and the “Small and Medium Export Enterprise Facility,” which have catalysed economic development and empowered entrepreneurs across various industries.
During her tenure as the National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress’ Hon. Stella Okotete demonstrated exceptional leadership, in her quest to engender women’s visibility and inclusivity in governance, business and politics, which constituted her “tripartite approach” in line with the 35% affirmative action for women’s visibility, activism and inclusion in all governance processes. Under her leadership, the first-ever large gathering of women in politics – Progressives Women Conference – that canvassed over 600 women was held in January 2022.
On the academics front, Hon Stella Erhuvwuoghene Okotete is a graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy from the Benson Idahosa University with a Diploma in Law from the Rivers State College of Arts and Sciences, a Master’s degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the National Open University of Nigeria and an ongoing Executive Master’s in Business Administration (EMBA) from the esteemed University of Abuja (Nigeria), Hon. Stella has shown exceptional hunger for growth and development which she brings to bare in her roles and responsibilities in public office. She is a strong believer in continuous learning as is evident in the numerous certificate programs she has acquired from globally renowned institutions such as Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (USA), the University of Virginia (USA), INSEAD Business School (France), University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School (UK), Pan Atlantic University’s Enterprise Development Center (Nigeria), and Columbia Business School in New York (USA).
The Gender advocacy group urge “naysayers and detractors to refrain from sacrificing competence, productiveness, and efficiency on the altar of politics through the sponsorship of unfounded falsehood, treachery and fabrications targeted at disparaging the hard-earned reputation of Hon. Stella in the advancement of their selfish agenda. Our nation has suffered enough leadership inadequacies and brain drain, it is now time to put our best to work and preserve our intellectual resources.