By: Kemi Yesufu

Sunday, June 3, 2012

His grass-to-grace story

Lagos, Nigeria's boisterous commercial capital is known the world over for hosting some of the biggest parties on the continent. In a tribute to the city's history of lively partying, internationally renowned reggae group Third World recorded a super hit in the 1980s called Lagos Jump. Come Sunday 9, June, a party that will further cement Lagos' reputation as the location for sophisticated celebrations will take place. A large chunk of Nigeria's power brokers will gather to celebrate the 50th birthday of the man simply called Timi Alaibe in public circles and whose numerous acolytes hail as The Principal.

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Despite having lived a life as glorious in achievements as Rome, the ancient city which has severally been averred not to be built in a day, many still are surprised that the man who they casually address in private conversations as Timi has hit the golden age. But he, indeed, has with friends and family rolling out the drums to herald his entry to the golden league in a magnificent fashion.

Undoubtedly, Alaibe's will receive countless encomiums not just for turning the golden age but for his enormous contributions to society. Despite his inability to actualize his long held ambition to be governor of Bayelsa State, the former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NNDC, is still a force to reckon with, especially in the Niger Delta region, where  he is a magnetic rallying point, particularly among the youth. 

However, it would not just be all celebrations, it would also be a moment of sober reflections for Alaibe who battled strangulating odds to achieve success. His is a classic grass-to-grace story. A native of an Ijaw village called Igbainwari in Opokuma, Bayelsa State, Alaibe was born in Warri, Delta State, to a family with lowly beginnings, and was raised in Ajegunle, a densely populated suburb of Lagos which locals prefer to call 'Jungle City'.  Back home in Igbainwari, he was famous among neighbourhood kids for his swimming prowess and fishing with crude hooks. 

As a kid, while attending the local church, he heard the well-repeated Bible verse that says the poor shall always be in the land. Though he saw his peers accepting this as a creed never to be forsaken, Alaibe thought otherwise. While he lived with the poor, he was determined not to remain in the bottom of the food chain. He chose to defeat poverty. He learnt the art of creative survival quite early in life.

After finishing from Government Secondary, Kaiama, in 1979 with in flying colours, the young Alaibe trained as an accountant at the University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. He would later attend the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where he obtained a Master's degree in business administration.  

Though he is a financial expert, his friends told ICON that he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge, describing him as "an omnivorous reader" ready to devour any book that would add to his knowledge. His private study is filled with biographical books. As he reads, he draws inspiration and applies that to himself. He studies leadership qualities of great men and crisis management with enthusiastic fervour. "He believes life without a challenge can only be found in a mortuary. Most times, he surrounds himself with people of intellect. He feels good in their company because he loves intellectual discourse", says one of his associates.

Alaibe cut his teeth as an accountant at Peat Marwick Ani Ogunde and Co (now KPMG) where he served as trainee accountant. In 1986, he joined African Continental Bank as head of operations and rose to become branch manager at Okrika Branch, Rivers State, before leaving for AllStates Trust Bank as assistant manager in charge of risk management and credit control in 1991. 

A year later, he served as vice president of Cosmopolitan Bancshares, a top-tier finance and investment company. In 1994 Timi joined Societe Generale Bank as manager, Corporate Banking Division. He became senior manager and subsequently change champion of the bank's re-positioning project, in 1996; assistant general manager in 1998; and general manager, Corporate and Investment Banking, in 2000.

Within this period, Alaibe attended financial and management courses in Ivy League institutions across the world. Today, he is a member of the Oxford Association of Management; member, Cambridge Association of Managers; member, Certified Institute of Management, member, Institute of Certified Public Accountants, among others. In 1996, he attended the Accelerated Credit Risk Programme at the Euromoney Training Centre, Surrey, United Kingdom, and in 1998, he was at the Senior Bankers Course at Manchester Business School, United Kingdom.

Alaibe's rise to national recognition began in 2001 when he was appointed Executive Director in charge of finance and administration at the newly created Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. He conceived and created the administrative framework of the commission which heralded an appropriate governance structure for the take-off and subsequent management of the commission. This was in spite of the charged-up socio-political atmosphere when the mandate of the commission faced a dire prospect of being overwhelmed by political exigencies and social pressures.

He was undoubtedly instrumental to the establishment of a healthy financial regime for the commission leading to prudent management of available resources. Along with his colleagues, he set in motion a coordinated response mechanism to the short and long-term challenges of the Niger Delta. These included integrated regional development master plan, interim action plan for key projects in the states, as well as skill acquisition programmes, non-violence training, education, re-orientation and empowerment of youths.

In spite of all the challenges, Timi stayed on course. More than once, he was appointed the Acting Managing Director. In April 2007, he was appointed Managing Director of the commission; a position he held till April 2009 when his tenure expired.

Following the crisis brought about by the youth militancy in the Niger Delta, Alaibe was appointed by the late President Umaru Yar'Adua as Honorary Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs and Head of Federal Government Negotiating Team on the Disarmament process of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. In this position, he became the rallying point in the disarmament of the militants who had held the Niger Delta region hostage for years. He toured the creeks and engaged the militants,

 assuring them of government sincerity. It worked. Many still marvel as the fact the feared members of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) wrote to the late president commending him for appointing Alaibe. Till date theY haven't don't this for any other political appointee.  

Shortly after, he was saddled with a more challenging task: that of nurturing the demobilisation and re-integration of the ex-combatants to fruition. At the end of the disarmament exercise, he was appointed Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and the Chief Executive Officer of the Presidential Amnesty Programme in October 2009.

His immediate constituents were 20, 192 warring youths who accepted the Amnesty Proclamation. He undertook the task which much tenacity. Although he held the office for only 14 months, he established the foundation for the take-off and sustenance of the demobilisation and re-integration programme. He put in place a five-year plan that is still being executed. Today, as the Federal Government celebrates the success of the exercise, Aliaibe can take credit as the midwife of that process with little or no opposition.