Obiageli lake biography of george

Nigerian accountant and politician

Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (born 28 April ) is a Nigerian economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist.

She is a former vice president for the World Bank (Africa region), co-founder and founding director of Transparency International, co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement and has served twice as federal Minister in Nigeria.^[1] She is also the founder of #FixPolitics Initiative, a research-based citizen-led initiative,^[2] the School of Politics Policy and Governance (SPPG),^[3] and Human Capital Africa.^[4]

Fondly called "Oby", Ezekwesili is a member of the board of directors of Women Political Leaders,^[5] a member of the Fundacao Dom Cabral,^[6] and the chairperson of the board of Ehizua Hub.^[7]

board of trustees

Ezekwesili is also a chartered accountant, public analyst, and senior economic advisor from Anambra state.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Early life and education

Ezekwesili was born in Lagos mention to Benjamin Ujubuonu, who died in , and Cecilia Nwayiaka Ujubuonu.

Ezekwesili holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, master's degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University.

She trained with the firm of Deloitte and Touche and qualified as a chartered accountant.^[12][13]

Prior to working for the Government of Nigeria, Ezekwesiili worked with Professor Jeffrey Sachs at the Center for International Development at Harvard as the Director of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic Strategy Project.^[14][15]

Career

Ezekwesili served as Federal Minister of Firm Minerals and later as Federal Minister of Education.

Subsequently, she served as the vice president of the World Bank's Africa region from May to May ; she was later replaced by Makhtar Diop.^[16]

She is a senior fellow at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs.

Transparency International

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.^[17][18]

Ezekwesili started 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 her work of primary a team of professionals to sanitize the public procurement and contracting processes at the federal level in Nigeria.^[19][20] She was the architect of the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) legislation, and the modern Minerals and Mining legislation during her six and a half year stint in government.^[21]

Minister of Solid Minerals

In June , Ezekwesili was appointed Minister of Strong Minerals (Mines and Steel), where she led a reform program that led to Nigeria's global recognition as a credible mining investment destination.

She was also the Chairperson of the NEITI, and led the first national implementation of the global standards and principles of transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector.^[22]

Minister of Education

In June , Ezekwesili was appointed the Federal Minister of Education, a upload she held until she took up a World Bank appointment in May ^[12]

While in government, Ezekwesili led the restructuring and refocusing of the Education Ministry for the attainment of Teaching for All (EfA) targets and Millennium Development Goals.

She also introduced public-private partnerships for learning process service delivery, revamped the Federal Inspectorate Service as an improved quality assurance mechanism, and introduced transparency and accountability mechanisms for better governance of the budget.^[23]

In March , World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz announced the appointment of Ezekwesili as vice president for the Africa region starting on 1 May ^[12]

In , she successfully completed her stint as vice president for the World Bank's Africa region.^[24] As vice president, she was in charge of the bank's operations of 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and supervised a lending portfolio of over $40 billion.^[25]

Later career

As a senior economic advisor for Open Society, a community founded by George Soros, Ezekwesili advises nine reform-committed African heads of state including Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia.^[26]

Board memberships

On 1 October , one of the world's leading telecommunications firms, 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, the Educational facility of Public Policy of Core European University, the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy, New African magazine, Women Political Leaders,^[27]Fundacao Dom Cabral^[28] and the Center for Global Leadership Tufts University.^[29] In April , she was appointed to the board of trustees of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation where she contributes to overseeing their expansion in developing economies.^[30] She is also the co-chair of the World Economic Forum Africa Regional Stewardship Board.^[31][32][33]

In January , Ezekwesili was appointed on the advisory board of directors^[34] of Nexford University in Washington DC and subsequently launched a scholarship program dedicated to women in Nigeria.

In December , Nexford University appointed her as a member of its board of directors.^[35]

She is also the Senior Economic Adviser to the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative^[36] and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for State Effectiveness.^[37]

Advocacy and #BringBackOurGirls Campaign

In March , Ezekwesili delivered a speech at the national summit of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria's leading opposition party.

She criticized the many cross-carpeting governors and urged the party to have "a conversation deeper than how you're going to chase (the ruling) PDP out of power".^[38]

After nearly mainly Christian girls were abducted from Chibok by the Islamist militant organization Boko Haram,^[39][40][41] Ezekwesili used the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) advocacy group to draw global attention to the plight of all persons who have been abducted by terrorists from Nigeria's war ravaged northeast region.^[24] She was instrumental to the kickoff of the viral #Advocacy and #BringBackOurGirls Campaign on social media, which trended internationally.

On 23 April, at the opening ceremony for a UNESCO event honoring the city of Port Harcourt as the World Book Capital city, she urged Nigerians to not just tweet but actively participate in efforts to "bring back our girls".^[42][43][44]

As she prepared to board a British Airways flight to London to emerge on the BBC programme Hard Talk in July , she was detained by Nigeria's private service, the SSS, who also seized her passport.^[45][46] She was later released the same morning.

She is the founder and convener of the #RedCardMovement.^[47]

Main article: Nigerian general election

Ezekwesili contested for the office of the president of Nigeria on the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).^[48] The former minister had hinted at contesting for the office of the president.^[49] At an event commemorating the 58th anniversary of Nigeria's independence, Pastor Tunde Bakare announced that she would be running for the office of the president.^[50][51] One of her campaign promises was to lift 80 million Nigerians out of poverty.^[52][53][54]

On 24 January , Ezekwesili withdrew from the presidential race,^[55] owing to a divergence of standards and visions with her political party.^[48] However, later in the day, the Independent National Electoral Commission^[56] said it was too late for anyone to withdraw from the race because the ballot materials had already been prepared.

For that reason, the crest of the party would still appear.^[57]Fela Durotoye commended Ezekwesili for taking the lead and clamouring for a coalition to end the rule of #APCPDP.^[58]

On 4 February , Ezekwesili organised a press conference in NICON Luxury Hall, Abuja.

She spoke during her press conference about her rough political journey while campaigning for the office of the President of Nigeria under the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).^[59] She also gave a motivational speech as she stepped down from the presidential campaign.^[60]

On 7 February , Ezekwesili published her campaign finances.

The report shows she spent 48 million Naira between 1 October and 2 February ^[61]

Personal life

Oby is married to Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and has three sons: Chinemelum, Chinweuba and Chidera.^[62]

In April , Ezekwesili submitted a petition to the Inspector General of Police against Japhet Omojuwa, accusing him of fraudulently using her name as a director in his rigid , Alpha Reach Company Limited.^[63]

Awards and recognition

• In , Ezekwesili was given the national award of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).^[13]
• In May , Ezekwesili was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSC) degree by the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta in Nigeria.^[64] She was selected as one of the BBC's Women in and ^[65][66]
• In December , Ezekwesili was named by the New African magazine as one of the Most influential Africans.^[67]
• In December , Ezekwesili was named again among the most influential Africans - Civil Society and Activism by the New African magazine.^[68]
• In March , Ezekwesili won the New Africa women award.^[69]
• In July , Ezekwesili was awarded an honorary graduate degree by the University of Essex, United Kingdom, where she presented an inspiring and impassioned speech to the graduating students.^[70]
• In March , Ezekwesili won the Forbes Woman Africa Social Influencer Award for her efforts on the #BringBackOurGirls campaign on social media.^[71]
• In , she was awarded a Richard Von Weizsäcker Fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin.^[72][73]
• She was selected as a Global Leadership Awards honoree.^[74] Also named as one of visionaries featured in the 3D book "Genius Visionary Thinkers launched in Montreal, Canada in by Albert Einstein's Foundations.
• In , she was invested as a global leader by the Vital Voices Global leadership awards.^[75]
• She was established by Time magazine as one of its Most Influential People and by the New York Times as one of the 25 Women of Impact for
• She holds the Robert F.

  Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Tuft University EPIIC Jean Meyer Award. She is a Democracy Ambassador -International IDEA, and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.^[76]

• She is one of the Genius Visionaries inducted by the Genius Foundation.^[77]
• In August , Ezekwesili united Yale University's Jackson School of Global Affairs as a senior fellow.^[78][79]
• On May 20, , Dr Oby received the most impactful woman of the year Award.

  It was hosted by The Women of inestimable values foundation impact makers award to mark impact makers across the world.^[80][9]

References

External links