Operations of the Rivers State Microfinance Agency is on the brink of a seismic shift as two seasoned professionals assume leadership in the organisation.
Prof. Adolphus Toby
The appointment and subsequent inauguration of the board of the agency by the Rivers State Government is seen as a bold move aimed at boosting micro, small, medium-sized enterprises in the state.
The icing on the cake is the appointment of the power duo of Adolphus Toby, Professor of Banking and Corporate Finance at the Rivers State University as Chairman and Onene Osila Obele-Oshoko, a former Chairman of the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue, a professional financial expert and administrator with extensive experience in corporate and public sectors, as Managing Director.
Their arrival signals more than a change of guard—it marks the beginning of a bold reform agenda designed to reposition the institution as a catalyst for grassroots economic growth. It also comes with a mandate to deepen financial inclusion, restore public confidence, and inject fresh energy into the agency, which was established in 2008.
Industry watchers have labelled the appointments as a game-changing move with expectations running high that this dynamic partnership will deliver transformative results that will alter the economic landscape of Rivers State for good.
The primary purpose of the Rivers State Microfinance Agency is to create employment and reduce poverty. Among its objectives are “developing human capacity and instituting a sustainable framework of reaching out to the active poor,” through providing credit to small businesses and low income earners.
Obele-Oshoko
Over the years, the agency struggled to live up to its mandate, often operating in fits and starts. It was bogged down by beauracratic bottlenecks and challenges, political interferences, inadequate funding, and lack of adequate and deep understanding of the intricacies of managing such an agency.
In 2024, the administration of Siminalayi Fubara established a four billion Naira matching fund with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to support existing and new MSMEs to grow their businesses in order to drive economic growth and create jobs and wealth for the citizens. Before his suspension from office in March 2025, about 1,387 out of 4000 profiled businesses benefitted from the N4 billion loan facility.
It is a widely known fact that most nations across the globe, even countries like the United States of America, countries in Europe and Asia, began their economic history from the micro level before the eventually grew to the present day status as industrialised nations.
Microfinance is intended to be an instrument of change and consolidation, but many people, including MSME business owners wishing to either start-up or expand/diversify, cannot access loans to finance their activities.
Accessibility has been a major impediment to MSMEs’ drive for capacity-building for emerging nations to prosper economically. In Rivers State, the inability of many MSMEs to access loans from the RIMA has led to most of them shutting down sooner than expected, while some,even with the best of ideas, could not take off because of lack of support.
Thus, the appointment of Toby and Obele-Oshoko as Chairman and Managing Director, respectively, among other members, is very strategic and aimed at making the RIMA a showpiece of innovation, forward-thinking, and hands-approach to sustainable progress and prosperity of MSMEs in the state.
Toby, a distinguished and renowned academic with decades of experience in banking and finance, brings a wealth of knowledge to the fray, especially with his core interests in banking regulation and compliance issues, incentives information and corporate control, ecosystem corporate finance, and public sector financial accountability and fiscal responsibility with core competencies in PEFA, PPP and concessioning frameworks.
At the Rivers State University, Toby has been a former Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences and Dean of Postgraduate School, Chairman, Senate Business Committee and Chairman, Board of Directors, Nkpolu-UST Microfinance Bank, at various times, and a Fellow of very reputable organisations. They include, the Institute of Professional Financial Managers, London; African Institute of Public Administration, Ghana; Institute of Management Consultants, among so many others.
Toby, is one Professor whose career is defined by results based on his ability to blend evidence-based strategies with local strategies, would obviously put his pedigree to work at the RIMA.
To complement this versatile academic, the new Managing Director, Obele-Oshoko, a disciplined, focused and dependable professional achiever with a strong drive for building teams that deliver on organizational mandates, is poised to deploy her managerial acumen to the benefit of the RIMA.
Obele-Oshoko, a chartered accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, among other professional bodies, is also a Certified Fraud Examiner and holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Business Law from the University of Liverpool.
She is expected to deploy her wealth of knowledge and expertise as a former Chairman of the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue from 2012-2015 to impact the RIMA. It is on record that as Chairman of the Boardof Internal Revenue, she enhanced the perception and brand visibility of the Rivers State Internal Revenue Service, making it the strongest public service brand in the state. She also strengthened the RIRS to become one of the most viable Internally Generated Revenue mechanism for the Rivers State Government. During her tenure, she implemented control measures that drastically reduced fraud and leakages and enhanced the quantum of revenue collections of the state.
Obele-Oshoko has already set the tone for the restructuring and operational efficiency of the RIMA. In her first meeting with staff of the agency, she outlined her vision for the agency and sought their cooperation.
She pledged the RIMA under her watch would prioritize empowering small businesses across the state by providing access to training, funding, and financial discipline.
“We are not going to restrict our activities to businesses in Port Harcourt alone. We will reach out to people in other places outside the state capital. We will help to reduce the barriers to them. But they must pay back loans. Those that fail, we shall come for them,” Obele-Oshoko said.
Indeed, there is no doubt that the combination of these versatile, intelligent, pragmatic and results-driven duo of Prof. Adolphus Toby and Onene Obele-Oshoko would herald a new dawn for the RIMA and Rivers State in general. They have the will, the passion, the technical know-how to deliver and make a difference.
By: Celestine Ogolo
