Celebrated technocrat and former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief ‘Timi Alaibe, was among the select group of top Nigerians approved by former President, Muhammadu Buhari, for conferment with national honours.
Alaibe’s name is listed as Number 15 among those honoured with the title of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), as contained in a newspaper publication on Sunday, May 28, 2023, signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Ibiene P. Roberts.
The award headlined List of 2023 Special National Honours Award Recipients features such other top Nigerians as Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, honoured with the title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCON), and a journalism legend and former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba, who was honoured with the Commander of the Order of Federal Republic (CFR).
Also honoured with OFR were a top journalist and media expert, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, several retired generals of the Nigerian Army and their equivalents in the Air Force and Navy, senior lawyers and several Justices of the Court of Appeal, including Justice Ita Mbaba.
Chief Alaibe, who turned 60 in 2022, had also served as Honourary Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs to the President and later Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs and the founding Executive Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme established by late President Umaru Yar’Adua for the rehabilitation of the disarmed Niger Delta militants.
He is credited for the success of the disarmament of the militants, a process that pushed Nigeria’s economy back from the precipice through full restoration of oil production in the Niger Delta and for establishing the operational template that has guided government in the successful execution of the Amnesty Programme.
