Mrs. Patience Agbleze Acorlor is currently the Director of the Tema Administrative Office and the focal person on AfCFTA at the Ghana Free Zones Authority. She is one of the pioneers in the implementation of the free zones progamme. She has risen through the ranks to her current position with over twenty-six (26) years’ experience in investment promotion, management of export processing zones, marketing, and customer relations. She has represented the Ghana Free Zones Authority on many investment promotion missions and has been instrumental in the development of policies for the Authority. |
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Jonathan Aremu, is a Professor of International Economic Relations; and a former Acting Vice Chancellor of the Covenant University (CU), Ota, Nigeria between 2004 and 2005. He is also a Consultant, at ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on Common Investment Market (ECIM), Abuja. Aremu started a successful career at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he rose from Assistant Economist in 1980 to become the Acting Assistant Director of Research before voluntarily retiring in December 1992; and established Marketlink Consults Ltd in 1998. At national level, Aremu was among the experts appointed by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2012 to develop a Trade Policy for implementation in Nigeria; in October, 2018 he was a Member of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on the Nigeria Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and currently a Member of the National Action Committee (NAC) on AfCFTA. Aremu was appointed as the National Consultant of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) that developed the AfCFTA National Strategy for Nigeria. He was also a Coordinator in one of the main Technical Working Groups established by the Federal Government that developed the National Development Plan 2021-2050. He is also the Consultant that developed the adopted Nigeria Investment Policy in May 2023. In ECOWAS Region, Aremu was appointed by European Union (EU) as the Monitoring Expert for the preparation of an ECOWAS Investment Guarantee /Reinsurance Mechanism; and the Financial Expert that drafted ECOWAS Common Investment Code and Policy by European Union. He is the Lead Consultant on the Common Investment Market (ECIM), to coordinate the establishment of ECOWAS Payments and Settlement System (EPSS), West African Capital Market Integration (WACMI), ECOWAS Common Investment Code and Policy, among others till present. He was a Member of ECOWAS Tax Harmonization Committee, Expert that conducted the Study on ECOWAS Trade in Services Policy Review, assisted by UNCTAD (published 2020), and he is equally providing Technical Assistance to the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) activities. Aremu is an expert appointed by GIZ and the ECOWAS Commission to provide capacity building to both the Commission and the Member States in the negotiation and implementation of AfCFTA Investment Protocol for ECOWAS region. He is also the Consultant that developed the Procedural and Manual of Operation of ECOWAS ECIM Council to implement AfCFTA Investment Protocol and the ECOWAS Investment Code and Policy. At Continental and International levels, Aremu was the National Coordinator/Country Team Leader of UNIDO Investment Survey in Nigeria in 2009-2012; Member of the technical experts that developed the Pan African Investment Code (PAIC) that was used in the development of adopted Investment Protocol of AfCFTA; and currently a Member of the Technical Experts appointed African Union (AU) towards the Domestication of Sustainable Investment across AU Member States. Professionally, Aremu is a life member of both the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) since 1990 as well as Nigerian Society of International Law (NSIL) since 1998; a member of Nigerian Institute of International Affairs since 1993; and the current Facilitator of Trade, Investment and Competitiveness Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG). Prof Aremu is also currently the Chairman of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) on AfCFTA Trade Group; and a Member of the Editorial Board of Canadian Institute for International Law Expertise (CIFILE), Toronto. |
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Professor Bartholomew Armah is Chief of Development Planning Section, Macroeconomics and Governance Division of ECA. Prior to joining the UN Economic Commission for Africa, he was a tenured Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He recently served as the Policy and Planning Coordinator of the UN Secretary General’s Transition Team for the reform of the development system. He served in several capacities in the UN including as a Policy Adviser in UNDP’s Crisis Prevention and Recovery Bureau and as Chief of Development Planning in UNECA’s Macroeconomics and Governance Division where he spearheaded the design of ECA’s Integrated Planning and Reporting Tool which maps the SDGs to Africa’s Agenda 2063 and automates the alignment of planning frameworks to both commitments. His latest publication, “Prioritizing interventions for sustainable structural transformation in Africa: a structural equation modelling approach” provides a framework for policymakers to optimally sequence economic, social and environmental policy interventions for the achievement of sustainable structural transformation. |
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Olawale Bakare holds a Masters in Law from the prestigious University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The thesis of his LLM in Sustainable Governance focuses on how transnational companies in the African continent can advance towards more effective stakeholder engagement. With over 11 years of combined commercial experience in the legal, textile & construction industries across multinational companies, he currently works with leading cement manufacturer, Lafarge Africa Plc as Country Commercial Excellence Manager for Nigeria. He led over 200,000 active members and alumni as National President of Junior Chamber International, Nigeria, a Global Federation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs present in about 120 local organisations across Nigeria to focus on projects of economic value that help young people RISE above economic and mental health challenges. He has recently served as Africa and Middle East Development Council member assigned to develop JCI organisations in about 6 countries in Africa and The Middle East. He is the initiator of the Global Digital Economy Summit that seeks to draw global experience for inclusion in the Digital Economy. |
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Yusuf Binji is the Managing Director/CEO of BUA Cement Plc – one Nigeria’s second biggest cement company and the fifth most capitalised on the Nigerian Exchange. He has a B. Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria (1990) and an M. Sc. In Chemical Process Engineering with Distinction, from the University College, University of London (1993). Engr. Binji became a Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers (2013), Fellow, Solar Energy Society of Nigeria (2012), Fellow, Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (2016), Associate Member, Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK (2000). He is also a Registered Engineer with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). Engr. Binji's career spanned more than 3 decades in the manufacturing sector and has most recently been engaged in the development of BUA Group’s cement plants in Nigeria, having successfully spearheaded the construction of 6 new production lines within the last 8 years bring BUA Cement’s installed capacity to 17 million tons per annum. He has participated actively in the development of the Cement Industry in Nigeria and played a key role in setting up the greenfield 6-million metric ton per annum Obu Cement Company, Ltd and the Kalambaina cement plant in Sokoto, as well the various expansion in the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria. |
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Adam B. Elhiraika (PhD – Glasgow University) is the Director of the Macroeconomics and Governance Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). He directly leads the work of ECA on macroeconomic policy, development planning, economic governance and public finance and coordinates key flagship publications including the Economic Report on Africa, The Economic Governance Report, and the Sustainable Development Report. He recently served as Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Sudan (2020- 2022) on leave from the UN. Before joining ECA in 2004, he was a Research Economist at the Islamic Development Bank (Saudi Arabia), Associate Professor of Economics at the United Arab Emirates University and Senior Lecturer at the University of Swaziland and the University of Fort Hare (South Africa). Mr. Elhiraika has a PhD in economics and several publications in internationally refereed journals as well as monographs and books | |
Dr. Stephen Karingi is currently the Director, Regional Integration and Trade Division of the Economic Commission for Africa. Before joining the United Nations, Dr. Karingi was a Senior Analyst and the Head of Macroeconomics Division in the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). Before KIPPRA he served as a Lecturer of Economics at Egerton University. Dr. Karingi was a recipient of the then Zolt-Gilburne Visiting Fellowship of the International Tax Programme of the Harvard Law School in 2001 and the winner of the 2013 Alan A. Powell Award in recognition of his contribution to Global Economic Analysis issues from an African perspective. Dr. Karingi served as a member of the High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance. He is presently serving in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Trade and Industrial Development Advisory Council; and also, a member of the High-Level Group on Trade in the context of EU-Africa relations. He is in the Editorial Board of the Journal of African Trade. |
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Kenna is a 24 years old economist with a passion for economic development and peace. She has experience in research and development consulting. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Economics (Economic Policy Analysis) at the Addis Ababa University and is a UNESCO Ambassador for Peace and Intercultural Dialogue. |
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Diplomate-Honorary Junior research follo (School of International Studies and Economics University of Buckingham) Executive in charge of strategic studies – He is a sociologist and manager of organizations and projects. Expert in Safety and Human Factors Management System SGS-FH (air transport security), He was also trained in Diplomacy, international relations and protocol. He has worked in each of these qualifications starting with the Ministry of Health in the department of information, evaluation and planning, before continuing at Measure Evaluation JSI, followed by the Ministry of Transport in the aviation sector and today he is continuing his career at the Presidency of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. |