UN Appoints Nigeria’s Ahunna Eziakonwa as Special Adviser on Africa

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Nigeria’s Ahunna Eziakonwa as Special Adviser on Africa.

The appointment was announced on Friday, with Eziakonwa succeeding Cristina Duarte of Cabo Verde, according to reports by Daily Post and Vanguard.

Eziakonwa brings nearly three decades of United Nations experience to the role. She currently serves as UN Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme.

In that role, she oversees UNDP support to 46 African countries as they pursue the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Her UN career has included senior development, humanitarian and political assignments across the continent. She has served as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia, Uganda and Lesotho.

She also previously served as Chief of the Africa Section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York, where she managed humanitarian operations across 15 African countries.

Eziakonwa studied International Affairs at Columbia University, with a focus on African economic and political development, and also holds a degree from the University of Benin.

The appointment places a Nigerian official in a senior advisory position focused directly on Africa at the UN secretariat.

Sources: Daily Post, Vanguard