7 Issues You Have to Know About Dr. Charles Akindiji Akinola, the Newly Nominated Managing Director of SWDC

1. A Seasoned Public Coverage Advisor and Improvement Strategist

Dr. Akinola has over 30 years of expertise in public service, worldwide growth, and strategic governance, specializing in agricultural growth, sustainable financial development, and coverage implementation throughout Nigeria and West Africa.

2. Holds Prestigious Educational Credentials from International Establishments. He earned a Ph.D. in Agricultural Extension from the University of Ibadan and a grasp’s in public coverage & administration from Harvard Kennedy School, the place he was an Edward S. Mason Fellow.

He additionally studied at Cambridge, Cranfield, and MIT, gaining superior experience in cross-sector partnerships, enterprise growth, and battle decision.

3. Instrumental within the Formation of the SWDC and the DAWN Fee

Lengthy earlier than his nomination, Dr. Akinola performed a key position in founding the Improvement Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Fee for regional integration. He was deeply concerned in shaping the imaginative and prescient of the SWDC.

As Chairman of the Technical Committee underneath the Southwest Governors’ Discussion board, he led the evaluate of the SWDC Invoice and coordinated regional consensus on growth priorities.

4. Former Chief of Employees in Each Federal and State Governments, He served as Chief of Employees to the Governor of Osun State (2018–2022) and later as Chief of Employees to the Minister of Marine & Blue Financial system, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola (CON), whereas additionally appearing as Senior Particular Assistant on Marine and Blue Financial system to President Tinubu.

These roles gave him frontline expertise in each subnational and nationwide coverage execution.

5. A Chief in Neighborhood Engagement and Sustainable Improvement, Dr. Akinola has labored with main oil & gasoline firms, together with WAPco, designing sustainable livelihood packages throughout Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. His contributions helped set up the International Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs) as an business benchmark for neighborhood growth within the Niger Delta.

6. Lively International Coverage Thought Chief.

He’s a member of the Dean’s Council on the Harvard Kennedy School of Authorities and was a Fellow at Harvard’s Weatherhead Centre for Worldwide Affairs. His thought management focuses on governance, financial innovation, and institutional reform.

7. Arts Collector

Dr. Akinola is a lover of the humanities and tradition, collects works of indigenous artists, resembling Jimoh Buraimoh, Demas Nwoko, Tola Wewe, Nike Okundaye, amongst others.

*Profession Highlights*

• Dr. Charles Akindiji Akinola is a Public Coverage Advisor and Administrator whose work has traversed the agricultural and agribusiness, sustainable neighborhood financial growth, worldwide affairs, and growth sectors, creating methods that form coverage implementation.

• Dr. Akinola holds a Ph. D. in Agricultural Extension from the University of Ibadan, and a grasp’s diploma in public coverage & administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Authorities, Harvard College.

• He additionally holds a Postgraduate Certificates in Cross-Sector Partnerships from the College of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, and attended certificates programs in Enterprise Improvement and Administration from Cranfield College, Cranfield UK, and in Negotiation, Mediation, and Dispute Decision from the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT), Boston, USA.

• Till lately, Dr. Akinola was Senior Particular Assistant to the President on Marine & Blue Financial system and concurrently, Chief of Employees to the Honourable Minister.

• He served because the Chief of Employees to the Governor of Osun State between 2018 and 2022. Throughout his tenure, he supported the Governor in creating and implementing coverage goals and strategic and operational plans of the administration.

• As Chief of Employees, the Southwest Governors Discussion board appointed Dr. Akinola because the Chairman of the Technical Committee to evaluate the South-West Improvement Fee (SWDC) Invoice and aggregated the place of the six Southwest States in direction of a joint memorandum to the Governors and subsequently to the Nationwide Meeting.

• He has labored with main oil & gasoline firms inside and outdoors Nigeria together with the West African Gasoline Pipeline (WAGP) / West Africa Gasoline Pipeline Firm (WAPco) overlaying Nigeria, Republic du Benin, Togo, and Ghana by designing and implementing packages that addressed problems with Sustainable Improvement and Livelihoods within the Niger Delta and West Africa area.

• He suggested and collaborated with Worldwide Oil firms within the growth of the New Neighborhood Engagement Technique, premised on the Participatory Regional Improvement Mannequin (2005), guided by the International Memorandum of Understanding (GMoUs). The mannequin was adopted because the business normal in Neighborhood engagement and growth by the joint ventures of the Nationwide Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Company and the Oil firms within the Niger Delta.

• In earlier roles, Dr. Akinola was the Director Basic of the Workplace of Financial Improvement and Partnerships (OEDP) between 2011 and 2018. The OEDP was the strategic Assume Tank, Coverage Advisory, and Implementation company domiciled within the Workplace of the Governor. Dr. Akinola performed a central position within the actions resulting in the institution of the Improvement Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN) Fee.

• He was Chairman of the Osun State Planning Fee between 2011-2014 and on this capability collaborated with main growth companions to ship sustainable growth within the State.

• Dr. Akinola was the Founder and Govt Director of Enterprise for Improvement Worldwide (EfDI) between 1999 and 2009. On this position, he coordinated EfDI’s different consultancy assignments in neighborhood financial growth in Nigeria, together with the growth of EfDI’s portfolio of growth actions within the Niger Delta and the strengthening of native establishments.

• Between 2001 and 2005, Dr. Akinola was the Nationwide Coordinator of the Sustainable Tree Crop Program (STCP), a multi-agency, public-private sector effort to facilitate the development of smallholder agricultural techniques primarily based on tree crops in West Africa with funding from the USA Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) and the Chocolate Trade Worldwide.

• Between 1993 and 1998, Dr. Akinola was the Nigeria Nation Director of TechnoServe, a US-based worldwide growth organisation that labored in 17 international locations in Africa, Latin America, and Jap Europe.

• He taught on the University of Ibadan in Nigeria from 1984 till 1989 and was on the coaching and analysis college of the Pan African Institute for Improvement (PAID) in Buea, Cameroon 1990.

• Dr. Akinola was an Edward S. Mason Fellow on the Harvard Kennedy School of Authorities and, subsequently, a Fellow on the Harvard Weatherhead Centre for Worldwide Affairs (WCFIA). His work centered on Innovation for Financial Improvement and Governance between 2009 and 2011.

• He’s at present a member of the Harvard Kennedy School of Authorities Dean’s Council.