Secretary‑General appoints Ozonnia Ojielo of Nigeria as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia
United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres appointed Ozonnia Ojielo of Nigeria as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia, with the host Government’s approval, effective 14 March. He will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator.
Mr. Ojielo brings to the position more than 25 years of experience in sustainable development, governance, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, including overseeing a global portfolio of United Nations programmes and projects across four continents. He most recently served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Rwanda, where he provided strategic leadership to the United Nations Country Team, strengthened joint delivery, and engaged closely with development partners and senior Government leaders to advance national development priorities. Prior to this assignment, he served as Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, following his roles as Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and as Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to the Kyrgyz Republic. Within the United Nations system, he previously held several senior leadership roles with UNDP, including Cluster Director for Governance and Peacebuilding at the Regional Service Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Director for Conflict Prevention and Recovery at the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery at UNDP Headquarters in New York. He also served with UNDP in Kenya and Ghana in various senior capacities.
Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Ojielo worked as an attorney, university lecturer and journalist. He advised truth, justice and reconciliation commissions as well as national human rights institutions in Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia and Sierra Leone. He was President of the Centre for Peace in Africa, a regional non-profit organization based in Nigeria, and is the founder and first president of The Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators, the largest mediation and conciliation organization in Africa. He is also the author of numerous scholarly and technical publications.
Mr. Ojielo holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria; a master’s degree in strategic and project management from the Paris Graduate School of Management in France, and a master's degree in history from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also has bachelor’s degrees in history and law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and ASUTECH, respectively, both in Nigeria.
