List of Nigerians Holding Top Global Positions
OpenLife Nigeria reports that Nigerians have several key positions in international organisations, contributing to a variety of global industries, including trade, finance, development, and government. Personalities such as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Director-General of the World Trade Organisation), Akinwumi Adesina (President of the African Development Bank), and Amina Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations).
These individuals’ work has reformed global trade reform, developed African economies, and created sustainable development goals.
Some of these personalities are:
1. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a prominent Nigerian economist from Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria, born on 13 June 1954, and the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). She got into the office in March 2021 as the first woman and African to hold such a position and was reappointed to a second term on November 29, 2024.
2. Akinwumi Adesina
African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina
Akinwumi Adesina has been the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) since 2015 and was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2020.
Adesina was born on 6th February 1960 to a Nigerian farmer in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Under his leadership, the AfDB developed programs such as the High 5s Strategy. Adesina also served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2010.
3. Amina Mohammed
Amina Mohammed has held the position of the United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General since 2017. She also chairs the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, which coordinates the operations of several UN agencies to achieve international development goals.
Mohammed was born in Liverpool, England, on 27 June 1961, to a Hausa–Fulani Nigerian veterinarian-officer and a British nurse, and also served as Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, where she oversaw environmental policy reforms and programs.
4. Benedict Oramah
Benedict Oramah has been in charge of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) since 2015. Oramah was born on 24 July 1961 in Rivers State.
Oramah also made contributions to several international initiatives that intended to boost African economies, such as those that fought poverty and made financial services more accessible to companies all over the continent.
5. Mustafa Balarabe Shehu
Mustafa Balarabe Shehu is a Nigerian engineer and the first Black African to hold the position of president of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO).
Shehu was born on April 12, 1963, in Kano, Nigeria.
6. Wale Edun
Wale Edun is the first Nigerian to occupy the position of Chairman of the African Governors’ Forum of the World Bank in 2023 in 60 years. He is presently Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
Also, Edun has been the chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and was recently named chairman of the World Bank’s African Governors’ Forum.
7. Fatima Kyari Mohammed
Fatima Kyari Mohammed is a Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations.
She was the executive director at West Africa Conflict and Security Consulting and later joined the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission as senior special adviser.
8. Ahunna Eziakonwa
Ahunna Eziakonwa is a United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and the United Nations Development Program Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa. Prior to her appointment on August 15, 2018, she was the United Nations Development Program’s Resident Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Lesotho.
Ahunna was born in Nigeria. She holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She also has a Bachelors in Education from University of Benin Nigeria.
She is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Programme where she gained knowledge in cutting-edge development thinking. Ahunna is married and has a daughter.
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