Nigerian bags UNIDO’s ‘Outstanding Individual Merit’ award

A Nigerian, Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, has won the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Outstanding Individual Merit award for 2016.

Ezedinma was among the 36 distinguished individuals from various countries across the world who received the prestigious award from the UNIDO Director General, LI Yong, during the 50th UNIDO anniversary in Vienna recently.

According to the Information Circular from UNIDO Headquarters Vienna, Austria, titled; “Merit Awards 2016”, and signed by Fatou Haidara, Managing Director Policy and Programme Support and Director ad interim Department of Human Resources Management, Office of the Director General, Ezedinma was selected because of his “dedication and commitment in particular to maintain UNIDO’s presence in the absence of a UNIDO Representative in Nigeria; for being instrumental in the design and execution of the Staple Crop Processing Zone programme; and building partnerships particularly with the African Development Bank.”

Haidara added, “Following the meeting of the IDRG, the Senior Management of UNIDO recognized that staff members in different organizational units have worked tirelessly during the past years and have produced very good work.

Staffers are therefore highly commended for delivering their respective roles to achieve UNIDO’s mandate. In granting merit awards, the Director General wishes to acknowledge staff members who have achieved extraordinary results and where concrete evidences of such achievements are clearly demonstrated.”

In his reaction, Ezedinma said: “This is an award for all of us the entire staff at the UNIDO Regional Office, Nigeria (RON). Their various activities, discipline, dedication, and commitment has shown that the Regional Office in Nigeria is very important and significant for UNIDO globally”.

Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, who is currently the Officer in Charge of UNIDO Regional Office Nigeria, (covering, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Congo Democratic Republic, Guinea, Mali, Niger Republic, and Sierra Leone),joined UNIDO in 2012.

He holds a PhD in agricultural economics with more than 25 years’ professional experience in senior leadership and programme level positions in international organisations including the United Nations system and multilateral donor organisations.

These include AfDB, DFID, EU, FAO, IFAD, UNIDO, USAID and IITA, where he was senior scientist and agricultural (impact) economist. He has diverse skills and hands on experience in industrial cluster development especially agro industrial zones, trade capacity building, skills and entrepreneurship development, scientific research, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment.

He has executed and managed corporate level assignments at programme, policy and strategy levels in several development sectors with extensive field experience in several Sub-Saharan Africa countries.