The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed Nigeria’s Ahunna Eziakonwa as the new Special Adviser on Africa.
Eziakonwa succeeds Cristina Duarte of Cabo Verde, whom Guterres thanked for her “commitment and dedicated service to the Organisation.”
According to a statement by the United Nations, Eziakonwa brings nearly three decades of leadership experience within the UN system to her new 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 (UNDP), where she oversees the organisation’s support to 46 African countries in pursuing Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“Since 2018, she has helped shape UNDP’s strategic approach to economic and political development across the continent,” the statement added.
Eziakonwa’s experience covers various areas of the UN’s work in Africa.
She has served as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia,
As Chief of the Africa Section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in New York, she managed humanitarian operations across 15 African countries and held senior positions in Liberia and Sierra Leone during critical periods in both countries.
At the UN Headquarters, she contributed to peacekeeping, political analysis and strategic communications relating to the organisation’s engagement in Africa, working with the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations, Political Affairs and Public Information.
Before joining the UN, Eziakonwa held positions in several African civil society organisations.
She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs, with a focus on African economic and political development, from Columbia University, New York, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literary Studies from the University of Benin, Nigeria.
Eziakonwa speaks Igbo and English, as well as fluent Yoruba and has a working knowledge of French.
