PROFILE OF ENGR. AMBAIOWEI RODNEY EBIKEBINA

According to the words, renowned late Elizabethan playwright and theatre scholar William Shakespeare once said “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”. Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney Ebikebina is one clear example of a man who has achieved greatness. Born on the 22nd day of May 1973 to the Ambaiowei family in Bietebi Ama, in Amassoma Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney is a technocrat, businessman, philanthropist, youth builder, and politician who from very early in his private and public life understood that the poor man is the man without ideas.

He believes that to lead people, one must understand the people and most importantly, understand followership. At an early stage, he understood the importance of duty, respect, and loyalty and he exemplified this from an early age as he constantly accompanied his parents to the farm this experience thought young Rodney the importance of hard work and this invaluable work ethic has guided him all through his life. The struggles he went through as a young child in the village and the bonds he cultivated with his playmates have remained firm to date and this is why he feels more at home in his home town Bietebi Ama in Amassoma. At a time when families are struggling to feed, when youths are gradually losing hope and faith in society and government, when the family unit is failing by the day, when there is so much desperation and strife in the land, there is a need for someone who understands the fact that there is only but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. So many politicians have built their dreams by using people instead of building people. They have perhaps forgotten as they often do, that leadership is not about wielding authority but empowering people and that to succeed in bringing about development in any clime, the people must be central to the agenda of development.

Engr. Rodney has demonstrated that if you want to succeed as a leader, you must work on your influence and not your authority. In both public and private life, he has demonstrated that when elected to the Federal House of Representatives, he will have the most diverse followership because he believes that “we do not measure goodness by what we exclude or by what we like or don’t like, not even by who makes us comfortable or uncomfortable but by what we embrace, by what we create and who we include”. Southern Ijaw belongs to us all and it is only when we all have a sense of ownership that we can truly summon our collective passion to make government policies and programs, a collective heritage. He has always been of the view that “Poverty is the worse form of violence” and that leadership should not be about being famous rather, it should be about being effective. It is about results and solutions that have direct meaning to the yearnings and needs of the people. This is because “the people are important and they are central to the entire idea of development and leadership as it is wonderful when the people believe in their leader but it is even more wonderful when the leader believes in the people and uses the instrumentality of peace to achieve it”.

In the words of George Mitchell, “Peace, Political Stability, and Reconciliation are not too much to ask for, they are the minimum that a decent society provides”. This is what voting for Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney Ebikebina portends for Bayelsa State. For his primary education, he attended Community Primary School, Rumueme, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. Upon completing his primary education in 1983 young Rodney proceeded to Community Secondary School Trofani in Bayelsa State and completed his secondary education in 1992 and was awarded the Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE). Academically, Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney Ebikebina was exceptional as he distinguished himself in both English and mathematics. As a focused young man, despite the financial situation of his parents at the time, he attended the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu where he bagged (with honors), his Bachelor of Technology in Marine Engineering in 2000. Due to his craving for knowledge and excellence, he proceeded to study Production in Mechanical Engineering for which he was awarded a Master of Technology from the same University in 2010, a testament to his tenacity and dedication to learning.

He is fond of quoting Ralph Waldo Emmerson who said that “to learn the most important lessons of life, one must each day surmount a fear”. This he has done by conquering poverty through dedication and hard work and these qualifications equipped him for the corporate world where he excelled. His success story in the private sector experience of over a decade as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Baye-Ebi Consultancy and Engineering Limited situated in the nation’s capital, Abuja, is a testament to his belief in hard work. Before achieving this height, Engr. Rodney worked with Lugapego Nigeria Limited as the General Manager from July 2011 to February 2015. In the public service, he worked as the Technical Assistant on Projects Facilitation and Monitoring at the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta in the office of the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Special Duties at the Presidency, National Planning Commission, Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in Abuja. This was between January 2008 to July 2011. Before that, he was Personal Assistant to the Honourable Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Bayelsa State between 2006 to May 2007. He was also appointed Project Engineer of the Bayelsa State Oil Limited under the auspices of the State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources between October 2005 and October 2006. During his National Youth Service, young Rodney worked as the Assistant Project Engineer and Health, Safety, and Environment Officer at Shell Petroleum Development Company, (Production Service East PSE), Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Industrial Area Rumumasi from July 2000 to July 2001. As an accomplished professional, Engineer Rodney is a Member of the Council of Regulation of Engineers (COREN), Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Institute of Mechanical Engineers (MNIMechE), Investigation and Restructuring Team in Bayelsa State Oil Mill/Workshop, Yenagoa, respectively. As a socialite, he is a proud member of the International Association of Lions Club.

He has in his kitty, several awards and certificates in recognition of his selfless service to humanity and they include a Certificate of recognition by the Education Trend Window to the School System, a Certificate of honor as an Activist in 1996/1997, Training of Trainers Course under the auspices of the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development, Ahmadabad, India in 2009 as well as an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Gospel Friends Christian Fellowship Institute (GOFA).

A wise American once said that “the value of life is computed by its donation and not by its duration”. This simply implies that it is not how long one lives but his contributions to society that truly counts and Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney exemplifies this truism of living a life of sacrifice for the good of society. What better man to represent the good people of Bayelsa Central in the Federal House of Representatives than a man who feels the pain of his people, a man who lives amongst his people, a man who has tasted what it means to lack and want, a man who even in the face of success has remained humble, a man who believes in the ability of the youths, a man who can build bridges, a man who is exposed and wants the best things of life to be made available to his people, a man who is grounded in the traditions of his people, a man who listens more and speak less, a man who never assumes that he knows the problem of his people but allows them to express what they need, a man who understands the meaning of loyalty and rewards loyalty, a man who understands that leadership is about service and inclusiveness.

I present to you, Engr. Ambaiowei Rodney Ebikebina, an astute politician, quintessential businessman and administrator, philanthropist, a committed Bayelsan, and grassroots mobilizer, for the highly exalted position of Member, Federal House of Representative on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).