Who is Dr Nimibofa Ayawei?

Dr Nimibofa Ayawei was born on the  7TH November 1971 to the family of Mr Joshua E. Ayawei and his wife Mrs Flora E. Ayawei, both of Koluama 2 in Koluama clan of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

He started his early educational odyssey at St  John’s Primary School Koluama 2, his hometown, from 1977 to 1983, before attending the Community Secondary School, Koluama 2, where he obtained his West African School Certificate (WAEC) in 1988. Not satisfied with just a secondary school certificate or “School Cert” as they were called in those days, he decided on obtaining a University Education, three years after leaving secondary school. However, unlike many of his contemporaries, Nimibofa choose a unique path in his choice of Tertiary institution to attend. Thus in 1991, he proceeded to Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan where he bagged a Bachelor of Education (B.ED) in Chemistry in 1995. 

An Alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Rivers State where he earned his Master of Science (M.Sc) in Analytical Chemistry in 2008, Ayawei is also a proud Alumnus of the first University in the entire Ijo nation, the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State where he earned a Ph.D in Analytical/Environmental Chemistry in 2015 and with it the distinctive honour of being the very first Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) produced by the University.  

Buoyed with a Degree in Chemistry, Dr Ayawei’s professional working career started at the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment where he worked as a Scientific Officer until he was appointed as a Member of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board in 2001, under the Dr D.S.P Alamieyeseigha administration. 

The following year, 2002, he was appointed to serve as Chairman of Bassan-Koluama Rural Development Area, which was created by the State government out of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which till date remains one of the largest Local Government Councils in Nigeria. 

In 2003, when Bayelsa State had a second taste of elections after the return of Civilian rule in 1999, Ayawei was elected to represent the good people of Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. The period between 2003 and 2007 when Nimibofa was in the Bayelsa Assembly was a period of fierce politicking and brinkmanship. It was a trying time when the depths of the character of most men were tried. One of the most defining events of that epoch was the impeachment of the first civilian Governor of Bayelsa State, the late Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha, a man so flawed, but never pretentious about what he stood for or where he stood on issues.

Although the literary translation of his given name, “Nimibofa” is “Nobody knows”, Dr Ayawei knew and remembered how he got to the limelight. Thus, in loyalty to that and in keeping with the time tested African tradition of not biting the hand that fed you, he remained loyal to Alamieyeseigha and therefore is counted today as one of the very few members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly who did not signed the Impeachment order.

After leaving the Assembly in 2007, he retired to private life enveloping himself in private businesses until the emergence of the Restoration Government of Governor Seriake Dickson who appointed him as General Manager/Chief Executive Officer of the Bayelsa State Housing and Property Development Authority from 2012 to 2014. 

Dr Ayawei was Bayelsa State Commissioner of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2016 when Governor Dickson dissolved the Bayelsa State Executive Council following his reelection; whereupon he took up employment as a Lecturer in the Niger Delta University.

And presently serving as the chairman board of internal revenue Bayelsa State under the Restoration government 

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