Anthony Osas Okungbowa BL, LLB, LLM, Ph.D, is a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Head of Service, Edo State, Nigeria.
He was appointed into the Civil Service of Edo State on November 3rd, 1999 and his career service has spanned over twenty-three (23) years since he was engaged in the Ministry of Justice as a Senior Legal Officer.
He held several positions of leadership in the Ministry of Justice including:
Deputy Director, Public Prosecution (2013 – 2014), Director, Legal Drafting and Advisory Services (2014 – 2016).
As Director Legal Drafting and Advisory Services, A. O. Okungbowa was responsible for initiating and preparing the draft of the bill for several legislations, some of which have changed the legal and legislative land scape in Edo State, e.g. The Edo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law and some others.
Through his innovative thinking, this law contains hitherto novel provisions which some other States have copied or replicated in their own law was posted to and served as Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to the State Government.
Anthony Osas Okungbowa was appointed as Head of Service, Edo State on April 1, 2020 by Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki.
He is the youngest person to have been appointed as Head of Service in Edo State.
Anthony Osas Okungbowa was also the chairman of the Edo State Transition Committee which handled the transition of government from the first to the second tenures of Governor Godwin Obaseki and is the first Head of Service to hold this position in Edo State.
Okungbowa has chaired and currently chairs several important committees of Government.
He is the present Chairman, E-governance (Edo-gov) Implementation Team and the Task Team on the Development of the College of Agriculture Iguoriakhi- one of the legacy projects of the Governor.
He also chaired the State Government Committee on Government Revenue in the ten most revenue generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Edo State other than the Edo State Internal Revenue Service (EIRS) and the Geographic Information Service (GIS).
Okungbowa also served as a Board member of the Edo State Internal Revenue Service and is currently a Trustee and Board member of Alaghodaro, a yearly State Government organized summit.
Dr. Okungbowa currently heads the team supervising the deployment of Fibre Optics to all the nooks and cranny of Edo State.
Edo State is the most connected state by fibre optics in Nigeria today with fibre optics extended by the State Government to all the 18 local government areas of Edo State.
Technology has been deployed to all the 72 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Government and all Government businesses are now effectively run electronically.
He led the team that oversaw the transition of government businesses from paper to a digital platform.
Edo State is the only State in Nigeria to have achieved a completely paperless Government in Nigeria.
On the 8th of August, 2018, Dr. Okungbowa received a Letter of Commendation from His Excellency, the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin N. Obaseki, for the role he played in resource management and judicious use of funds which saved a huge sum for the State Government during the 4th National Council on Power held between 23rd and 27th of July, 2018 in Edo State.
He was also highly commended by Governor Obaseki for giving a full account of all sums expended by the Transition Committee as well as the return of the unspent sum of over N10m (Ten Million Naira) to Government coffers on the expiration of the tenure of the committee.
