TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 102
#NextGenUNDP
to ensuring global peace and development. They have
taught me that the current dichotomous global development architecture, where one segment lives in opulence
and the other in penury, can only create global instability.
They have inspired me to publish about 100 intellectual
works in the form of journal articles, occasional papers,
policy briefs, and books focusing on key development
challenges in Africa, including Africa’s Agricultural
Renaissance: From Paradox to Powerhouse and Income
Inequality Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa: Divergence,
Determinants, and Consequences. Global search engines
like Social Science Research Network have rated my
publications among the global top 10% in the number of
downloads.
Making a difference in people’s lives inspires me. I
derive further inspiration from empowering young people
through mentorship and training; making life-long
impacts on the ground and transforming the lives of the
marginalized; and promoting development exchanges
between countries.
Seeing results, no matter how small, always fuels my
passion to move and achieve even more. In maintaining
consistency in the pursuit of my goals, the encouragement from mentors and colleagues and the adoption of
the “Get on the Balcony” leadership approach, have also
kept me focused when faced with adversity and discouragement.
If there is anything I would do differently, paramount
would be to pay more attention to my work-life balance,
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to make up to my wife and four wonderful children – two
boys and two girls.
DEFINING MOMENTS
On this, my eventful journey, the 2004 restructuring in
the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, stands
out as a defining moment. This restructuring led to the
merger of government parastatals. It meant a well-nurtured and performing institution ( such as where I
worked) would be merged with a moribund institution,
with the intention of using the former to rekindle the
latter. This to me was an opportune moment to break my
emotional attachment to the institution for good.
This transformed my national vision into a global
outlook and broke my over a decade-long resistance to
work for international organizations. It transformed
me from working as a consultant to many international
organizations like the World Bank, IMF, UNICEF,
UNDP, Global Development Network, CODESRIA, the
West African Monetary Institute, and the West African
Institute of Financial and Economic Management.
Therefore, this moment marked the beginning of my
journey as part of UNDP in Nigeria, South Africa, and
New York, covering Sub-Saharan African countries.
NEW ROLE AS RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE
Being appointed as the UNDP Resident Representative broke my three-decade-long trajectory and goal of
remaining a professional economist. After five solid years