Bunmi Tunji- Ojo: The magical revolutionist

By Dapo Ipoola

According to an extensive research work, a revolutionist is a person who advocates for or takes part in a revolution, seeking to bring about a radical or sweeping change in government, laws, or a social system. These individuals are often associated with being rebellious, radical, and willing to challenge established authority. They either actively support the idea of a revolution or get directly involved in carrying one out; and the believe in making rapid and sweeping changes, which is the defining characteristic of their ideology. 

Enter Hon. Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, the radical Interior Minister, who has initiated pragmatic reforms since his assumption of office. His manning of the ministry without any tone of high-falutin encomium demands rousing applause from all and sundry. Before his assumption of office, the ministry was largely known for declaring public holidays, as one of the former occupants of the ministry was sarcastically tagged as the Minister of Public Holidays. This tagging was not just borne out of sheer disrespect or lack of patriotism for one’s nation but as a result of administrative and ministerial ineptitude that staggeringly permeated the ministry. Nigerians went through indescribable hell in processing their visas and international passport. As fondly called, BTO, Bunmi Tunji-Ojo, within weeks changed the ugly narratives that were previously associated with the ministry which did not make it pass more than a butt to an average Nigerian. 

As a ministry saddled with the responsibility of maintaining internal security and national registration services, immigration policies and national data, the ministry has many agencies under her: Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Immigration Service(NIS), Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Identity Management Commission(NIMC). The above agencies manage and gather sensitive data of Nigerians, and that goes to tell how sensitive the ministry is to the safety, growth and development of Nigeria, as this tells why the ministry should not be left to charlatans to oversee as we previously had. 

Always known for his insignia of administrative dexterity, BTO introduced the electronic visa(e-visa), Landing and Exit Cards(LEC), Advance Passenger Information Management System (MIMS), Citizen and Business(C&B), Single Travel Emergency Passport(STEP), Temporary Work Permit(TWP), Guard Management System(GMS), and Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens, so as to ease the needless burden and rigmarole that were associated with service delivery across the Interior Ministry. Inclined to leave the ministry stronger, proactive, efficient, less cumbersome, service delivery oriented than he met it, BTO cleared massive backlogs of over 200k passport related issues; reduced the processing of passport to three weeks; launched Mining Marshall and Railway Command; rejigged security by giving Police patrol vehicles; created Special Female Squad for school protection; developed high capacity data centers; retooled the fire service with new equipment and training programs; automated visa applications; introduced Smart Border Management and Advanced Passenger Information System(APIS); installed e-Gates at airports; launched contactless biometric passport. 

As part of his administrative penchant for the well-being of the ministry’s personnels, he promoted over 50,000 paramilitary officers, and increased the female representation during recruitment to 35%; digitized and automated services across the ministry; ensured the completion of promotion exercises in due time; defrayed peculiar allowances and incorporated life assurance for the ministry’s personnels. In the first half of 2025, the Interior Ministry under the holistic watch of BTO has trained 5,214 fire volunteers; issued 12,418 fire certificates, with 2,944 renewals; conducted 14,234 fire safety inspections; reacted to 3,841 fire outbreaks nationwide; treated 851 road traffic collisions, leveraged on technology to improve nation’s security and service delivery, just as the usual rhetorics of bureaucratic delays have been deflated and disentangled. 

The once onerous rigmarole of service delivery that at a time characterized the ministry has been demystified by BTO’s administrative ingenuity and ministerial wizardry. Today, the radical and industrial advancements in the ministry are succinctly sufficient for one to posit that BTO’s immaculate mastery of governance should be replicated at the State level in no distant future. 

 lIpoola, a media consultant, lives in Abuja.

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