AfDB appoints Nigerian director of African Development Institute

The African Development Bank has appointed Eric Ogunleye, a seasoned macroeconomist, as director of the African Development Institute, effective June 1.

Mr. Ogunleye, a Nigerian national, has almost 20 years of experience in macroeconomics and development economics, capacity development, public governance and regulatory reform, monitoring and evaluation, and policy advice. His career includes designing and leading innovative, context-specific policy advisory and capacity development initiatives at the highest levels of national governance, achieving important global partnerships and impactful results.

He previously served as Officer-in-Charge of the African Development Institute and Manager of the Institute’s Policy Management Division. Previously he was also advisor to the chief economist and vice president of the Economic Governance and Knowledge Management Complex. He played a crucial role in the development and implementation of the Bank Group Capacity Development Strategy (2021-2025) and related initiatives such as the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa and the Macroeconomic Management Academy for Africa.

Ogunleye has significantly enhanced the institutional capacity building and fiduciary clinics, which now consistently cover 20 country portfolios annually, improving the quality of the Bank’s operations and portfolios in regional member countries.

African Development Bank appoints Dr Eric Kehinde Ogunleye as Director of African Development Institute PHOTO CREDIT @ https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/african-development-bank-appoints-dr -eric-kehinde-ogunleye-director-african-development-institute-71920

In December 2022, Ogunleye successfully launched the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa, which features an 18-month structured training program across the entire public finance and debt management cycle. This initiative has trained more than 145 public officials from 45 African countries as experts in Public Finance Management. He currently leads multiple technical assistance projects, including macroeconomic modeling and policy dialogues, to address emerging and entrenched development challenges in African countries. He has also forged numerous partnerships at global, continental, regional, national and sub-national levels to support these initiatives.

Before joining the Bank, he was Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on International Trade and Finance and later Special Advisor to the Chief Economic Adviser to the President. He played a key role in policy research, institutional capacity development and monitoring and evaluation of socio-economic policies. He contributed to the Nigerian Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which brought the country out of recession. In addition, he served as a long-term consultant (national macroeconomist) in the Bank Group’s Nigerian Country Department, coordinating macroeconomic analysis in Nigeria and supporting the Bank’s diverse portfolio of development projects.

Mr Ogunleye’s previous roles also include Research Fellow at the African Center for Economic Transformation, Doctoral Researcher at the United Nations University World Development Economics Research Institute, Doctoral Research Intern at the World Trade Organization and international research consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade. and development. He has also taught and conducted research as a professor at the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

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He holds a PhD and an MSc in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a BSc in Economics from the University of Calabar, Nigeria, a Cambridge Certificate in the Advanced Program on Rethinking Development Economics in Africa and an Executive Certificate in Policy Harvard University Public Schools.

Expressing his gratitude for the appointment, Mr. Ogunleye said: “I am truly humbled, humbled and pleased by the confidence reposed in me by President Akinwumi A. Adesina for this appointment. I am deeply fascinated and appreciate his constant penchant for excellence and recognition of talent. I take this opportunity to renew my commitment to the Bank, its leadership and regional member countries to deepen my support for strengthening institutional capacities in all its forms in regional member countries.”

Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, commented: “I am pleased to appoint Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye as Director of the African Development Institute. Eric is a strategic and focused leader with first-class experience in key areas of supporting institutional capacity development for regional member countries. I am confident that he will continue to leverage his vast experience and global partnership in all spheres of capacity development to achieve results at scale for our regional member countries.”