Throughout the month of March, which coincides with the Women’s History Month celebrated in some parts of the world, we are highlighting the achievements of some Nigerian women who have made impact on their communities, the country, and the international arean.
Today, we present Dr (Mrs) Obiageli (Oby) Katryn Ezekwesili.
Believing that for real change to happen in Nigeria there must be a paradigm shift in political leadership which the country’s major parties could not spearhead, Dr Oby Ezekwesili sought to become President of Nigeria in 2019 on the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).
- The month of March: Celebrating Nigerian women
- Okorocha’s Son-In-Law Shot During Brawl Over Seized Property To Be Flown Abroad
Prior to that, she founded the #RedCardMovement (RCM), an advocacy movement she started on Twitter in January 2018 “to end the recurrent plague of bad governance of our country regardless of which political party has held sway at national, state and local government levels”.
Here are some achievements of Dt Ezekwesili:
- She is a chartered accountant by training.
- She currently heads the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), which provides advisory support to African Heads of Government and their cabinets.
- Until recently, she was the Senior Economic Advisor to Open Society, aimed at building vibrant and tolerant societies with democratically accountable governments.
- She co-founded the #BringBackOurGirls movement advocating for the speedy rescue of schoolgirls abducted from the secondary school in Chibok on 14 April 2014.
- She is the Founder and Convener of the #RedCardMovement (RCM), a citizens’ centered advocacy movement which started organically on Twitter in January 2018.
- She is a former Minister of Education, a former Minister of Solid Minerals Development and former Vice President for the World Bank.
- She also served as the Chairperson for the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative from 2004 -2007
- She was one of the co-founders of Transparency International and one of the pioneer directors of its Global Board from 1994-1999.
- She was named one of 100 visionaries featured in the 3D book “Genius:100 Visionary Thinkers” and featured in a 3D book launched in Montreal, Canada in 2017 by Albert Einstein’s Foundations.
- She was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the Time-100 Most Influential People and by New York Times as one of the 25 Women of Impact for 2015.
