Osita Chidoka

Osita Benjamin Chidoka (born 5th July 1971) is a former Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of Federal Road Safety Corps and past Minister of Aviation in Nigeria.^[1]^[2] He served under President Goodluck Jonathan.^[3]He's also a brother to Obinna Chidoka.

Osita Chidoka was, until recently, Minister of Aviation in Nigeria.

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. Prior to that role, he was the Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps where he transformed the agency from a stolid, almost comatose organisation to one that won various international awards and became a model r other road safety organisations across Africa.

Osita Chidoka obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters of Public Policy degree from the prestigious School of Public Policy at George Mason University in the United States of America. He has a Certificate in Global Strategy and Political Economy from Oxford University, UK and a Graduate Diploma in Maritime & Ports Management from the National University of Singapore.

During his National Youth Service Corps, he served at the Federal Capital Territory where he became an Award Winner and subsequently secured automatic employment into the Federal Capital Development Authority, Abuja. In the course of his service there, he contributed immensely to national development through his services as the Secretary to the National Committee for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Nigeria in 1998, which earned him Papal Commendation. He also served as a member of the Committee for the Review of the Abuja Master Plan; Team Leader, Committee for the Drafting of the National Policy on Non-motorised Form of Transportation in Nigeria; and was the Assistant Secretary, Committee for the 1999 Military to Civilian Handover, among others. He had earlier in his career served as Personal Assistant to the Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; Personal Assistant to the Minister of Transport; as well as Special Assistant to the Senior Adviser to the President on Legal Matters.

After a stellar and award-winning public career, Chidoka joined Mobil Producing Nigeria, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, as a Senior Adviser on Government and Business Relations. It was in this role, in 2007, that the then president of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo, sought him out and appointed him as the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

His leadership of the FRSC led to the transformation of the Corps to a functional Lead Agency in Road Traffic Administration and Safety Management in the country driven by information and communication technology. This transformation has as its visible impact a 15 percent reduction in fatalities from 2007 to 2009 and 28 percent in 2010 and increases in fines generation from N0.5 billion in 2006 to N1.4 billion in 2010. Under his leadership, FRSC built a reliable Offenders’ Register and database of drivers and vehicles in the country, leading to ECOWAS adoption of the Nigerian model in the planned Regional Vehicle Administration Information System for other West African countries. The creation of the Nigeria Road Safety Strategy (2012-2016) was achieved through an all-inclusive process that ensure an inter-agency ownership of the process.

Under his leadership, Federal Road Safety Corps won the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in December 2008; the National Productivity Order of Merit Award of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in October, 2010. Furthermore, FRSC’s compliance with global best practices led to the certification of the Corps by the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) which conferred the Quality Management System Certificate (ISO 9001:2008 Certification) on the Corps on 15 April 2013.

In recognition of Osita Chidoka’s enormous contributions to national and community development, he was invested with the traditional title of Ike-Obosi (Strength of Obosi) and a member of Ndi-Ichie, the highest decision making body of Obosi Traditional Council of Anambra State in May, 2009. He bagged the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria Merit Award on 27 November 2010, and the Institute of Logistics Management of Nigeria Fellowship Award in July, 2011.

He was conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for Good Governance and Model on Road Safety by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka on 12 November, 2011. And in recognition of his patriotic disposition to his fatherland, the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR on 14th November, 2011, conferred him with Nigeria’s National Honour of Officer of the Federal Republic, OFR. He won the Sun and Hallmark Newspapers Public Servant of the Year 2012 awards and under him FRSC won Leadership Newspapers Government Agency of the year 2012 award.

In recognition of his expertise, he was appointed by Mr. President to head the Transportation Sub Committee of the Presidential Committee on Nigeria’s Centenary. The feat accomplished led to his appointment as the Chairman of the Transport Committee for the World Economic Forum held in May 2014 in Nigeria, and eventually, his appointment as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation by Mr. President on Wednesday 23 July 2014.

Osita Chidoka (Ike Obosi) is a strong public policy advocate. He has written many articles, essays and delivered speeches in many areas of public policy and safety management. He writes a regular column, “Bridge Builder” for Leadership Newspapers, where he outlines pragmatic ideas for good governance.

In 2017 Chidoka ran for the governorship of Anambra State, Southeast Nigeria as a member of the , but was defeated by Willie Obiano of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.^[5] Chidoka had been one of the founding members of the People's Democratic Party.^[6]

In 2019, a health outreach initiative was flagged off at his hometown Obosi and it is intended to reach the 179 communities in Anambra State. It will cover a wide range of health testing and treatment of medical conditions like Blood Pressure, Cataracts, Diabetes, Hepatitis, Malaria, Typhoid, etc., including the issuance of free eyeglasses and drug administration. It is understood that Osita Chidoka plans to leverage his local and diasporan medical doctors' support to see the initiative through. ^[7]