Olusegun Awolowo: A Well Deserved Encore At NEPC

Olusegun Awolowo: A Well Deserved Encore At NEPC

Most deservedly, President Muhammadu Buhari has re-appointed Mr. Olusegun Awolowo jnr as the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

The cerebral technocrat’s encore at Nigeria’s apex organization for the promotion of non-oil exports to diversify the Nation’s economy came Tuesday via a statement by Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. He said Awolowo’s letter was signed by Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

Disclosing that the appointment will subsist for another four years, Adesina said: “Mr. Awolowo, a lawyer and scion of the Obafemi Awolowo family, was first appointed to the NEPC position in 2013.”

As the helmsman of NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo leads a team of nearly 400 staff spread across 15 offices and the head quarters in Abuja. Under his superintendence, Nigeria is witnessing significant growth in non-oil contribution to the nation’s GDP buoyed by increased trade volumes, export of non-traditional goods and exports to new markets across the world.

In Olusegun Awolowo, the export tsar’s era, engagements with the private sector, relevant government institutions and foreign missions are strengthening synergies and yielding positive outcomes for the sector. His goal is to shift the focus from export of raw produce to value added products to increase revenue, value for the products, create jobs and improve lives.

Prior to his sojourn at the NEPC, Mr Awolowo worked in the Federal Capital Territory Administration [FCTA] as Secretary for Social Development, Area Councils and later Secretary of Transport, where he played a significant role in evolving a Master Plan for an efficient urban transportation system in the FCT. He worked in the FCTA until 2011, when he went back to his law practice. In November 2013, President Jonathan appointed him as Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.

Urbane and proactive, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo is a lawyer and a grandchild of late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who is one of the acclaimed eminent founders of the independent Nigerian nation. The NEPC CEO was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1989. In the early days of his legal career, he worked with the prestigious law firm of Abayomi Sogbesan & Co. SAN and GOK Ajayi & Co. SAN.

Before working in the FCTA, Mr. Awolowo served in various positions in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Administration including serving as Special Assistant on Traditional Institutions, Legal Due Diligence and Legal Matters during which he covered a wide range of legal issues for Mr. President. 
His experience at serving in Government has exposed him to national policy making at the highest levels as well as across Nigeria. His second term as the Chief Executive of the NEPC is expected to usher even greater strides at the apex export promotion agency.

 

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