The United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres on Friday announced the appointment of Nigeria’s Ahunna Eziakonwa as Special Adviser on Africa.
She takes over from Cristina Duarte of the Republic of Cabo Verde, to whom the Secretary-General expresses her thanks for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organisation.
Eziakonwa comes to her new role with nearly three decades of United Nations (UN) leadership.
In her current role as UN Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), she leads the organisation’s support to 46 African countries in the pursuit of Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
She has been instrumental in shaping the UNDP’s strategy for economic and political development across the continent since 2018.
Eziakonwa’s career encompasses the full range of UN work in Africa.
Her experience includes serving as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia, Uganda and Lesotho where she has coordinated humanitarian action, development strategy and political engagement.
She was Chief of the Africa Section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in New York, overseeing humanitarian operations in 15 African countries, and served in senior positions in Liberia and Sierra Leone at critical junctures in their histories.
At UN Headquarters she worked with the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations, Political Affairs and Public Information on peacekeeping and political analysis and strategic communications on UN engagement in Africa.
Before joining the UN, she had worked with a number of African civil society organizations.
Eziakonwa holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, USA, with a specialization in African economic and political development and a Bachelor of Arts in Pedagogy, English and Literary Studies from the University of Benin, Nigeria.
Besides her native Igbo and English, she speaks fluent Yoruba and can get around a bit in French.
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