Obiageli Ezekwesili

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Obiageli Ezekwesili
Federal Minister of Solid Minerals, Nigeria
In office
June 2005  June 2006
Preceded by Odion Ugbesia
Federal Minister of Education, Nigeria
In office
June 2006  April 2007
Preceded by Chinwe Obaji
Succeeded by Abba Sayyadi Ruma
Personal details
Profession Chartered Accountant, Economic Policy

Obiageli Ezekwesili is a Nigerian chartered accountant. She was a co-founder of Transparency International, serving as one of the pioneer Directors of the global anti-corruption body based in Berlin, Germany. She served as Federal Minister of Solid Minerals and then as Federal Minister of Education during the second term presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. Since then, she has been the Vice President of the World Bank's Africa division.

Education

Ezekwesili holds a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, as well as a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University She trained with the firm of Deloitte and Touche and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.[1]

Prior to working for the Government of Nigeria, Ezekwesiili was working with Professor Jeffrey Sachs at the Center for International Development at Harvard.

Obasanjo government

Ezekwesili started off in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration as the Pioneer head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (aka Due Process Unit). It was in this position that she earned the sobriquet of "Madam Due Process" for the outstanding work she led a team of professionals to do in sanitizing public procurement or contracting at the Federal level in Nigeria. She was the architect of the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation, the NEITI legislation and the new Minerals and Mining legislation during her six and a half years stint in government.

She was appointed Minister of Solid Minerals (Mines and Steel) in June 2005 during which time she led a vibrant reform program that led to Nigeria's global recognition as a credible mining investment destination. She was also the Chairperson of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and led the first ever national implementation of the global standards and principles of transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector.

In June 2006, Ezekwesili was appointed the Federal Minister of Education, holding this post until she took up her World Bank appointment in May 2007.[1]

Later career

In March 2007, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz announced the appointment of Ezekwesili as Vice President for the Africa Region starting on 1 May 2007.[1] This year, she successfully completed her stint as the World Bank Vice President Africa Division, a position to which she was appointed in 2007. As vice-president she was in charge of the bank’s operations in 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and supervised a lending portfolio of over $40 billion.

She has established herself in the Nigerian and international speaking circuits since she left the World Bank.

She was a co-founder of Transparency International and served as one of its pioneer directors. As a senior economic advisor for Open Society, a group founded by billionaire George Soros, she advises 9 reform committed African heads of state including Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia.

On October 1, 2012, one of the world’s leading telecommunications firm, Bharti Airtel, with operations in 20 countries, named Ezekwesili as a director on its board. She is also on the boards of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the School of Public Policy of central European University, The Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy, New Africa Magazin, The Center for Global Leadership @ Tufts University.

In May 2012, Ezekwesili was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSC) degree by the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta in Nigeria.


External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Obiageli Ezekwesili Appointed As Vice President for the Africa Region". The World Bank. March 23, 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-19. 
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