Former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, on Thursday attracted goodwill messages as she clocked 60 amidst commendations by some Nigerians. At a birthday event put together to celebrate her, speakers extolled the virtues of the former Vice President of the World Bank. Among those who spoke at the event on Thursday was the Chief Executive Officer of BudgIT, Seun Onigbinde.
Ezekwesili played a prominent role in the administration of formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo. She was the pioneer head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit also known as Due Process office. Popularly called “Madam Due Process” for her work of leading a team of professionals to sanitize the public procurement and contracting processes at the federal level in Nigeria, her initiatives include the Bureau for Public Procurement legislation, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) legislation, and the Minerals and Mining legislation during her six and a half year stint in government.
NPO Reports recalls that Ezekwesili had played a prominent role in the campaigns for the rescue of the school girls kidnapped from Chibok Secondary School, under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Details later…