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Things You Need to Know About Dr. Charles Akinola, the Newly Nominated Managing Director of SWDC
….A Seasoned Public Policy Advisor and Development Strategist
Dr. Akinola has over 30 years of experience in public service, international development, and strategic governance, specializing in agricultural development, sustainable economic growth, and policy implementation across Nigeria and West Africa.
2. Holds Prestigious Academic Credentials from Global Institutions. He earned a Ph.D. in Agricultural Extension from the University of Ibadan and a master’s in public policy & administration from Harvard Kennedy School, where he was an Edward S. Mason Fellow.
He also studied at Cambridge, Cranfield, and MIT, gaining advanced expertise in cross-sector partnerships, enterprise development, and conflict resolution.
3. Instrumental in the Formation of the SWDC and the DAWN Commission
Long before his nomination, Dr. Akinola played a key role in founding the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission for regional integration. He was deeply involved in shaping the vision of the SWDC.
As Chairman of the Technical Committee under the Southwest Governors’ Forum, he led the review of the SWDC Bill and coordinated regional consensus on development priorities.
4. Former Chief of Staff in Both Federal and State Governments, He served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Osun State (2018–2022) and later as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola (CON), while also acting as Senior Special Assistant on Marine and Blue Economy to President Tinubu.
These roles gave him frontline experience in both subnational and national policy execution.
5. A Leader in Community Engagement and Sustainable Development, Dr. Akinola has worked with major oil & gas companies, including WAPco, designing sustainable livelihood programs across Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. His contributions helped establish the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) as an industry benchmark for community development in the Niger Delta.
6. Active Global Policy Thought Leader.
He is a member of the Dean’s Council at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was a Fellow at Harvard’s Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs. His thought leadership focuses on governance, economic innovation, and institutional reform.
7. Arts Collector
Dr. Akinola is a lover of the arts and culture, collects works of indigenous artists, such as Jimoh Buraimoh, Demas Nwoko, Tola Wewe, Nike Okundaye, among others.
*Career Highlights*
• Dr. Charles Akindiji Akinola is a Public Policy Advisor and Administrator whose work has traversed the agricultural and agribusiness, sustainable community economic development, international affairs, and development sectors, developing strategies that shape policy implementation.
• Dr. Akinola holds a Ph. D. in Agricultural Extension from the University of Ibadan, and a master’s degree in public policy & administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
• He also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Cross-Sector Partnerships from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, and attended certificate courses in Enterprise Development and Management from Cranfield University, Cranfield UK, and in Negotiation, Mediation, and Dispute Resolution from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA.
• Until recently, Dr. Akinola was Senior Special Assistant to the President on Marine & Blue Economy and concurrently, Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister.
• He served as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Osun State between 2018 and 2022. During his tenure, he supported the Governor in developing and implementing policy objectives and strategic and operational plans of the administration.
• As Chief of Staff, the Southwest Governors Forum appointed Dr. Akinola as the Chairman of the Technical Committee to review the South-West Development Commission (SWDC) Bill and aggregated the position of the six Southwest States towards a joint memorandum to the Governors and subsequently to the National Assembly.
• He has worked with major oil & gas companies within and outside Nigeria including the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) / West Africa Gas Pipeline Company (WAPco) covering Nigeria, Republic du Benin, Togo, and Ghana by designing and implementing programs that addressed issues of Sustainable Development and Livelihoods in the Niger Delta and West Africa region.
• He advised and collaborated with International Oil companies in the development of the New Community Engagement Strategy, premised on the Participatory Regional Development Model (2005), guided by the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs). The model was adopted as the industry standard in Community engagement and development by the joint ventures of the National Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Oil companies in the Niger Delta.
• In previous roles, Dr. Akinola was the Director General of the Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP) between 2011 and 2018. The OEDP was the strategic Think Tank, Policy Advisory, and Implementation agency domiciled in the Office of the Governor. Dr. Akinola played a central role in the activities leading to the establishment of the Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission.
• He was Chairman of the Osun State Planning Commission between 2011-2014 and in this capacity collaborated with leading development partners to deliver sustainable development in the State.
• Dr. Akinola was the Founder and Executive Director of Enterprise for Development International (EfDI) between 1999 and 2009. In this role, he coordinated EfDI’s varied consultancy assignments in community economic development in Nigeria, including the expansion of EfDI’s portfolio of development activities in the Niger Delta and the strengthening of local institutions.
• Between 2001 and 2005, Dr. Akinola was the National Coordinator of the Sustainable Tree Crop Program (STCP), a multi-agency, public-private sector effort to facilitate the improvement of smallholder agricultural systems based on tree crops in West Africa with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Chocolate Industry Worldwide.
• Between 1993 and 1998, Dr. Akinola was the Nigeria Country Director of TechnoServe, a US-based international development organisation that worked in 17 countries in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
• He taught at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria from 1984 until 1989 and was on the training and research faculty of the Pan African Institute for Development (PAID) in Buea, Cameroon 1990.
• Dr. Akinola was an Edward S. Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and, subsequently, a Fellow at the Harvard Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs (WCFIA). His work focused on Innovation for Economic Development and Governance between 2009 and 2011.
• He is currently a member of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Dean’s Council.
The Department of State Services (DSS) and Police have arrested a suspected People’s Democratic Party (PDP) agent, Shehu Fantagi, with about N30 million allegedly earmarked for vote-buying ahead of today’s by-elections in Kaduna State.
Fatangi was picked up on Friday evening at a hotel in the Kaduna metropolis, where he was said to be coordinating the distribution of the funds meant to influence voters in the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency election.
Reliable security sources confirmed that the suspect was caught in possession of cash running into tens of millions, allegedly intended to compromise the integrity of the polls.
The Kaduna State Police Command also confirmed the arrest.
Its spokesman DSP Mansir Hassan, in a statement on Saturday said: “In a sustained and collaborative effort by security agencies to ensure that the forthcoming by-elections in Kaduna State are conducted peacefully and without interference from criminal elements, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force in conjunction with the Department of State Services (DSS) have successfully apprehended vote buyer in Kaduna.”
According to him: “At about 0330hrs of today, arrested one Shehu Aliyu Patangi at a popular hotel located along Turunku Road in Kaduna metropolis and recovered a total cash sum of Twenty-Five Million, Nine Hundred and Sixty-Three Thousand Naira (₦25,963,000) from the suspects, believed to be earmarked for the purpose of inducing voters to compromise the electoral process.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had planned to use the said amount to bribe eligible voters. On interrogation the suspect confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.
“The Commissioner of Police, CP RABIU MUHAMMAD psc, mni, expresses appreciation to the other sister agencies for the synergy and swift collaborative action. He warns, in the strongest terms, that anyone, regardless of status, found attempting to undermine the electoral process will face the full wrath of the law.
“The Kaduna State Police Command reassures residents of its commitment to providing maximum security before, during and after the elections, and calls on the good people of Kaduna State to go out and exercise their franchise peacefully and lawfully without fear or intimidation.”
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Bye-Election: Crisis Rocks Labour Party as Obi Directs Members to Vote for Other Party , Abure Says ‘Ignore Him’
The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to a statement by the party’s former presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, directing party members to cast their votes for another party in the August 16, 2025 bye-election. The party said that Obi’s directive is misleading, mischievous and delusional.
The party is however calling on all our faithful party members to ignore this malicious directive and go ahead with casting of their votes for the Labour Party and their candidates.
It is unfortunate that Obi has turned himself to an irony and a paradox in the Nigeria political space. He is now reputed to have elevated subterfuge in the game of politics and has of late been crying wolf where there is none. He has turned himself into “Uber” politician, not willing to take a position and stand by his decision. He has now booked a place for himself in the Guinness book of records as a person affiliated to many political parties pari pasu, all in his desperation to preside over Nigeria.
Nigerians should not forget in a hurry that it was Peter Obi that created the crisis in the Labour Party which he is now citing as a reason why people should not vote for the party. Peter Obi and Alex Otti the Governor of Abia State hosted the ill-fated and illegal expanded stakeholders meeting in Umuahia, September 4, 2024. He has also co-funded the crisis all these while and went as far as leading a protest match to INEC headquarters against his own party.
His desperation to control the soul of the party has made him go haywire.
A man that received so much goodwill from the party leadership but turned around to pay them with evil. This is why we have maintained that Peter Obi lacks the competence, character and capacity to actualise the vision of a new Nigeria.
What Obi does not know is that Labour Party is on the ballot and our candidates are contesting the election in spite of all his efforts to strangulate the Labour Party. The party unknown to him has done everything within the law to ensure that our candidates participate in the bye-election and of course in all other future election.
We are therefore encouraging our candidates, members and supporters across all the states where bye-election is holding to be focused and ensure that we carry out our civic duties by returning Labour Party and the candidates elected. Nigerians have come to know who Peter Obi is.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday directed a review of deductions and revenue retention practices by Nigeria’s major revenue-generating agencies, in a bid to boost public savings, improve spending efficiency, and unlock resources for growth.
The agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Tinubu gave the directive during the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday in Abuja. The President’s directive was disclosed to journalists by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun.
According to Edun, President Tinubu specifically called for a reassessment of NNPC’s 30 per cent management fee and 30 per cent frontier exploration deduction under the Petroleum Industry Act. He tasked the Economic Management Team, chaired by Edun, to present actionable recommendations to FEC on the optimal way forward.
The President said the directive was part of efforts to sustain reforms that have dismantled economic distortions, restored policy credibility, enhanced resilience, and bolstered investor confidence.
According to him, these reforms have created a transparent, competitive business environment attractive to local and foreign investors in critical sectors such as infrastructure, oil and gas, health, and manufacturing.
Reaffirming the Renewed Hope Agenda, Tinubu said Nigeria’s goal of a $1tn economy by 2030 requires growth of at least seven per cent annually from 2027 — a target he described as “not just economic, but a moral imperative,” as higher growth is the surest path to tackling poverty.
He cited the July 2025 International Monetary Fund Article IV report, which he said endorsed Nigeria’s economic trajectory and the need for investment-led growth.
On grassroots empowerment, the President pointed to the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme — a ward-based initiative covering all 8,809 wards across the country — designed to lift economically active citizens through micro-level poverty reduction strategies in collaboration with states, local governments, and private partners.
Tinubu noted that public investment accounts for just five per cent of Gross Domestic Product due to low savings, stressing that optimising “every available naira” is vital, especially under current global liquidity constraints.
Edun said macroeconomic indicators were improving, with a more stable exchange rate, easing inflation, rising revenues, and debt-to-GDP ratios now within range. He described savings as the foundation of investment and said the President’s directive aims to quickly raise public sector savings by reviewing deductions and retention practices.
Meanwhile, Edun said he presented two memoranda to Council — a $125m Islamic Development Bank financing for infrastructure in Abia State, covering 35 kilometres of roads in Umuahia and 126 kilometres in Aba; and a plan to refinance N4tn in outstanding electricity sector obligations.
The electricity debt resolution will be executed in phases, with the first phase expected within three to four weeks under the coordination of the Debt Management Office and other agencies.
According to the talking points by President Bola Tinubu obtained by our correspondent, he commended members of the Federal Executive Council for implementing bold reforms “that have dismantled longstanding distortions in our economy and restored policy credibility.”
Tinubu said the reforms have enhanced economic resilience, restored macroeconomic stability, created a transparent and competitive business environment, and bolstered investor confidence.
“As a result, our economy is now better positioned to attract both domestic and foreign private investment-investment that is critical to stimulating sustained growth, creating decent jobs, and lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
“Our Renewed Hope Agenda remains focused on achieving a $1tn economy by the year 2030. To realise this vision, we must now accelerate our efforts to achieve a minimum growth rate of 7.0 per cent by 2027,” Tinubu said.
According to him, stimulating higher growth is the only sustainable path to solving the poverty challenge in Nigeria. “The recent IMF Article IV Report, published in July 2025, also affirms this trajectory and underscores the importance of investment-led growth.
“In line with our commitment to inclusive development, I recently launched the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme-a ward-based initiative covering all 8,809 wards across the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria.
“This programme is close to my heart. It is designed to empower active grassroots economic players, using a micro-level approach to tackle poverty. We aim to bring sub-national governments and private sector partners on board to ensure efficient and impactful implementation,” he stated.
He urged governors to accelerate growth by prioritising productivity-enhancing investments, strengthening food security, and deepening collaboration with local governments to address the poverty challenge and ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind.
Speaking on savings and investment as catalysts for growth, the President emphasized the critical role of savings in catalyzing investment and growth. “Currently, public investment as a share of GDP stands at a low 5.0 per cent, largely due to insufficient public savings.
“We must urgently review and optimize our savings. This includes enhancing spending efficiency and reviewing deductions from the Federation Account, such as the cost of collection by revenue agencies, such as FIRS, Customs, NUPRC, and NIMASA, etc.
“There is also the need to reassess the 30 per cent management fee and the 30 per cent frontier exploration deduction by NNPC based on the Petroleum Industry Act. We must optimise every available Naira to sustain our momentum and finance our growth trajectory-especially in a time of global liquidity constraints.
“Accordingly, I am directing the Economic Management Team, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, to conduct a comprehensive review of all deductions and revenue retention practices, and present actionable recommendations to this Council for an optimal way forward.”
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