UN chief appoints Nigerian diplomat new special adviser on Africa

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ahunna Eziakonwa from Nigeria as his special adviser on Africa, according to a statement Friday.

Eziakonwa succeeds Cristina Duarte of Cabo Verde, whom the statement said Guterres "is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization."

Pointing to her current role, the statement said Eziakonwa serves as UN assistant secretary-general, assistant administrator and director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the UN Development Program (UNDP), where she oversees support to 46 African countries pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063.

"Since 2018, she has helped shape UNDP's strategic approach to economic and political development across the continent," it added.

She has also served as UN resident coordinator, humanitarian coordinator, and UNDP resident representative in Ethiopia, Uganda and Lesotho, and as chief of the Africa section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York, where she managed operations in 15 African countries, according to the statement.

Eziakonwa also held senior posts in Liberia and Sierra Leone during critical periods in those nations, it added.

In addition to English and her native Igbo, Eziakonwa speaks fluent Yoruba and has a working knowledge of French, it said.