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Ms.
Obiageli Ezekwesili is the World Bank Vice President for the
Africa Region
About
the VP - Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili
Obiageli
"Oby" Ezekwesili, a Nigerian national, was appointed
Vice President for the World Bank's Africa Region in 2007.
She oversees more than 1600 staff and is responsible for the
delivery of projects and economic and sectoral work in 47
Sub-Saharan countries. In fiscal year 2010, the Bank committed
$11.5 billion in new project lending in Africa, and disbursed
over $1.1 billion in grants, in addition to almost 90 analytical
studies.
Oby
joined the Bank from her most recent position as Minister
of Education in the Government of Nigeria, where she led a
comprehensive reform program within the education sector including:
. Restructuring and refocusing the ministry for the attainment
of Education for All (EfA) targets and Millennium Development
Goals. She also introduced the Public-Private Partnership
models for education 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. Ms. Ezekwesili led the
establishment of the Innovation & Vocational Enterprise
Institutions initiatives which focuses on the development
of skills for economic competitiveness and--in conjunction
with the Nigerian Stock Exchange-- launched the “Adopt-A-School”
program, an initiative that fosters philanthropy by corporations;
community groups and individuals.
Ms
Ezekwesili began her career with Deloitte & Touche where
she worked as an auditor, management and financial services
consultant. She then served as a founding Director of Transparency
International (TI) and as TI’s Director for Africa from
1994 to1999. Between 2000 and 2002, she worked with Professor
Jeffrey Sachs as Director of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic
Strategy program, during which time she was also appointed
as an aide to President Obasanjo. In 2003, she was designated
Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Budget
Monitoring and Price Intelligence. As Minister of Solid Minerals
from 2005 to 2006, Ms. Ezekwesili oversaw the passage of the
Minerals and Mining Act, the establishment of the Nigerian
Mining Cadastre Office and the opening of the sector to private
participation. Ms. Ezekwesili also served as the Chairperson
of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
from 2004 and led the voluntary sign-on of Nigeria to the
EITI Principles as well as the first ever process, financial
and physical audit of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Ms.
Ezekwesili is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Masters in
International Law & Diplomacy from the University of Lagos,
a Masters in Public Policy & Administration from Harvard
University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors
degree from the University of Nigeria. In 2006, Ms. Ezekwesili
was given the national award of Commander of the Order of
the Federal Republic (CFR). She is married to Pastor Chinedu
Ezekwesili and has three sons.
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