Macroeconomist Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye was named Director of the African Development Institute by the African Development Bank with effect from June 1, 2024.
Macroeconomist Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye
Ogunleye, a native of Nigeria, offers close to 20 years of expertise in policy consulting, public governance and regulatory reform, capacity building, macro and development economics, and monitoring and evaluation. At the highest levels of national governance, he has planned and led creative, context-specific capacity development and policy advisory efforts throughout his career, resulting in meaningful international relationships and noteworthy outcomes.
Prior to this, he was the manager of the African Development Institute’s policy management section and the officer in control of the organization. Additionally, he served as a consultant to the Vice President and Chief Economist of the Complex for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management. He was instrumental in the creation and execution of the Bank Group’s Capacity Development Strategy (2021–2025) and associated programs, including the Macroeconomic Management Academy for Africa and the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa.
Ogunleye has significantly improved Institutional Capacity Building and Fiduciary Clinics, which now cover 20 country portfolios on an annual basis, thereby improving the quality of the bank’s operations and portfolios in regional member countries.
Ogunleye effectively established the Public Finance Management Academy for Africa in December 2022. It offers a systematic 18-month training program covering all aspects of public financial and debt management. More than 145 public servants from 45 African nations have received specialist training in public finance management thanks to this project. In order to address both enduring and new development difficulties in African nations, he presently oversees a number of technical assistance programs, including macroeconomic modeling and policy debates. To assist these activities, he has also established multiple alliances at the international, continental, regional, national, and subnational levels.
Prior to joining the bank, he worked as the Nigerian President’s Special Assistant for International Trade and Finance and then as the Chief Economic Advisor to the President’s Special Advisor. He was instrumental in the establishment of institutional capacity, monitoring, and assessment of socio-economic policies, as well as policy research. His contributions to Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan helped the nation emerge from recession. He also worked as a long-term consultant (country macroeconomist) in the Bank Group’s Nigeria Country Department, where he oversaw macroeconomic analysis in Nigeria and supported the portfolio of the bank’s many development projects.
In addition, Ogunleye held positions as a doctoral researcher at the World Institute for Development Economics Research at the United Nations University, a research fellow at the African Center for Economic Transformation, a doctoral research intern at the World Trade Organization, and an international research consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. As a lecturer at the University of Calabar in Nigeria, he has also performed research and lectured.
He has a PhD and MSc in Economics from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, a BSc in Economics from the University of Calabar in Nigeria, a Cambridge Certificate in Advanced Programme on Rethinking Development Economics in Africa, and an Executive Certificate in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Expressing his gratitude for the appointment, Dr. Ogunleye said, “I am truly humbled, honored, and pleased by the confidence reposed in me by President Akinwumi A. Adesina for this appointment. I deeply appreciate his consistent penchant for excellence and recognition of talent. I renew my commitment to the Bank, its leadership, and regional member countries in strengthening institutional capacities in all forms.”
Dr. Akinwumi A. 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 focused and strategic leader with first-class expertise in institutional capacity development support for regional member countries. I am confident that he will leverage his vast experience and global partnerships to deliver at scale for our regional member countries.”The post New Director of African Development Institute Appointed first appeared on IT News Africa | Business Technology, Telecoms and Startup News.