FORMER DG BUDGET OFFICE, DR OKOGU PROMOTED TO AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Former Director- General of Budget Office of the federation, Dr. Bright Okogwu, resigned his position in June this year to take directorship appointment at the African Development Bank (AfDB) headquarters at Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Elombah.com can confirm.

Speaking to Elombah.com this morning following our report yesterday that President Buhari replaced Dr Bright Okogwu with Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya Gusau as Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, an officer of the AfDB impressed on Elombah.com that Dr Okogu was not sacked as being insinuated in some quarters.

"Dr Okogu was actually promoted to African Development Bank where Dr. Akinwumi Adeshina, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Agriculture recently got elected as AfBD President", the AfDB officer who craved anonymity told Elombah.com.

Okogu (pictured above) had been Director General, Budget Office of the Federation since December 2007.

Elombah.com had reported that Alhaji Aliyu Gusau hail from Zamfara State appointment at the Budget Office is with effect from August 18, 2015 and is for a term of four years, renewable for another four years, unless he attains the retirement age of 60 years or completes 35 years of pensionable service.

Further investigations reveal that Okogwu passed his resignation letter to the Presidency about two months ago and a Director of Fiscal Department, Alhaji Yahaya Gusau had replaced him in acting capacity.

Described as loyal and committed ally of the immediate Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, sources told our correspondent that his new job at AfDB was aided by Okonjo-Iweala. 

Okogu's previous positions include Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington D.C., Senior Operations Officer at Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund and Market Analyst, OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.

Before his appointment as DG Budget, he served as Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance (2004 to 2007) and was also the pioneer Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

As a Special Adviser to the Finance Minister, he played a key role in the Economic Management Team in the formulation and implementation of the economic reform programme that culminated in the debt relief.

Okogu holds BSc and MSc degrees in Economics from the London School of Economics, and a Doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1954, AfDB is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries.

He obtained his B.SC and M.SC (Econ.) from the London School of Economics in 1978 and 1979 respectively, and capped his academic pursuit with a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1987.

Dr. Okogu Bright has a rich background spanning a career at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), where he served as a Market Analyst between 1989 and 1997, and as a Senior Operations Officer at the OPEC Fund of International Development - both in Vienna, Austria.

Until his new appointment at Budget Office, Dr. Okogu was a Senior Economist in the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which he joined in 1999. He was at various times in charge of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Quatar.

Dr. Okogu Bright was a member / secretary of the Economic Management Team (EMT) and of the Cash Management Committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the federal budget, during his first duty tour in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Dr. Okogu Bright has also chaired several important national committes which include the presidential Committee on Oil and Gas (2004-2005), The Inter-Ministerial Assessment Committee For The Implementation of the Federal Budget (2004-2006) and the Review and Advisory Committee on ways to speed up the work of the 'Due Process' Office, (2004-2005).

Dr. Okogu Bright has published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and wrote chapters in books in the areas of Macroeconomic policy, Petroleum economics, Energy and Environmental economics as well as developmental Economics.