- June 27, 2022
- Posted by: Imo Udokang
- Category: News
Leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State have commended President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating Mr Umana Okon Umana to the Senate for confirmation as minister.
Umana is the current chief executive of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, OGFZA.
Speaking on behalf of the leadership of the party in the state, Chief Don Etiebet, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, said President Buhari had done the right thing for the party and the state for nominating Umana for the position of minister.
Etiebet described Umana as a technocrat of no mean repute who is “eminently qualified to be a minister of the Federal Republic,” adding that Akwa Ibom people were happy with the President for recognizing Umana, who has served the party and the nation with distinction in various capacities.
“Given Umana’s antecedents, I have no doubt he will perform creditably wherever he is assigned,’’ Etiebet said.
From a relatively humble beginning, Umana has broken record after record in the course of his life, amassing a host of sterling academic achievements as well as career accomplishments.
An old boy of St. Patrick’s College, Calabar, Umana holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Calabar and an MBA in Finance from the University of Port Harcourt.
Umana has participated in numerous professional courses at Ivy League schools, including the International Law Institute, Washington DC; London Business School; Columbia University Graduate School of Business, New York; RIPA International, London. In 2019 Umana received Executive Certificate in “Public Policy” from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, for studies in “Leading Economic Growth,” Mastering Negotiations and Driving Government Policies.
He contested for the office of governor of Akwa Ibom State on the platform APC in 2015. In 2019, he was made the chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Planning Committee for the APC Presidential Campaign Rally.
At the national level, Umana was appointed Deputy Director, Logistics, for the APC Presidential Campaigns in 2019.
Umana joined the public service in Akwa Ibom State as Principal Budget Officer in 1989, and rose through the ranks to the position of State Director of Budget in 1998, a post he held till October 2000 when he was appointed Permanent Secretary in charge of the State Budget Office.
In August 2003, he retired from Akwa Ibom State Civil Service when he was appointed by the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, to serve as the Commissioner for Finance.
Under Chief Godswill Akpabio, Umana was again called upon to serve his state and was appointed Secretary to Akwa Ibom State government, a position he held from June 2007 to 2013.
Having firmly established himself as an experienced and seasoned technocrat, Umana received a national call in September 2016 from President Muhammadu Buhari to serve as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of OGFZA, an office he still occupies.
Under Umana’s leadership, OGFZA has witnessed a series of achievements, includig the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, Award in 2018 as the best federal agency (among 44 Federal Government agencies in Nigeria) in the implementation of Executive Order 001 on Transparency and Efficiency in the business environment.
In 2019 OGFZA was ranked as the best federal agency in cumulative compliance with the Easy of Doing Business protocols.
OGFZA, in the same year, received the Award of Excellence in Productivity and Innovation in e-government from the National Productivity Centre.