When the sole administrator of Rivers State chose to rebuild the base of the economy of the state by returning action to the regulatory and implantation agencies, he chose those he considered tested, trusted, and disciplined. One of them is Onene Osila Obele-Oshoko, who headed the then reactivated and autonomous Rivers Internal Revenue Service (RIRS) modeled after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) with full autonomy to hire and fire and to pay whatever salary it deemed fit to attract top revenue experts and to pay or information through a 5% allocation from source per year.
Many said if truly the administrator was looking for competence, discipline, and character, Osila as she is popularly called is the one. This time, she was asked to head the Rivers Microfinance Agency (RIMA).
The administrator at the swearing-in ceremony charged RIMA to boost funding of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state to create wealth and jobs.
He further tasked the Microfinance Agency with stimulating the local economy by improving access to credit for micro and small businesses, thereby empowering grassroots entrepreneurship and fostering economic growth.
Ibas demanded for urgency, integrity, and innovation, emphasizing professionalism and public accountability above all else.
RIMA was established by Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to stimulate the lower segment of the Rivers economy through accelerated funding of nano, small, and medium scale businesses (NSMEs). RIMA had to set up lending channels and later set up a micro-finance bank. In recent times, they secured funds in partnership with Bank of Industry (BoI) to give loans to the tune of N4bn to SMEs. This was happening until the state of emergency came and it is said that things went bad in the agency.
Now, sources said Osila has hit the ground running with clear plans, first to realign the Agency in line with the purpose for which it was created. It was gathered that trainings is uppermost in her mind because capacity is seen as more important than capital in the finance and oil/gas sectors.
She is said to be keen to revamp RIMA, create positive impact, and rejuvenate the microcredit environment in the state. By this, businesses would be sure to have a backbone in funding, training, advice, and strategies as well as partnerships.
If that is what the Rivers State government wants at this point in time, then, Osila seems to be the one. She is seen as a disciplined, focused and dependable professional achiever with a strong drive for building teams that deliver on organizational mandates. She has strong executive managerial background with senior level experience and cross sector exposure.
She has an investigative mind set on process improvements with effective controls and fraud deterrence.
The stage seems set.
