The International  Labour Organization, ILO, has appointed Nigerian Ms. Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon as Assistant Director General, and ILO’s Regional Director for Africa, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The appointment took effect from 10 November 2017.

A statement from ILO office in Geneva, Switzerland, said its Director-General, Guy Ryder, after having duly consulted the Officers of the Governing Body, appointed Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon of Nigeria as Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire with effect from November 10, 2017.

Appointed Deputy Regional Director for Africa with effect from 15 July 2016, Ms. Samuel-Olonjuwon joined the ILO in 1995, where she has held different positions in the field and Geneva, including Chief of the ILO Programming Unit for Africa and Deputy Director of the ILO Office in Pretoria.

As a member of the senior management team of the ILO Regional Office for Africa for more than nine years, she has played an important role in the development and implementation of regional strategies to deliver quality programmes, fostering opportunities for cooperation, particularly with the African Union and Regional Economic Communities, and alliance building throughout the region. Born in 1961, Ms Samuel-Olonjuwon holds a BSc in Sociology and was awarded a Masters’ Degree in Industrial and Labour Relations from the University of Ibadan in 1982.

With over thirty-two years work experience, she had worked as Assistant Director in the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA). She had also worked as a lecturer on gender, industrial sociology and group dynamics at the Ahmadu Bello University. Ms Samuel-Olonjuwon was appointed to the Board of the International Sociological Association (Research Committee on Women in Society) from 1986 to 1990.

She has significant experience in leadership and management. Until her new position, Samuel-Olonjuwon was the Deputy Regional Director for Africa, a post she has held since July 15, 2016. She joined the ILO in 1995, where she held different positions in the field and Geneva, including Chief of the ILO Programming Unit for Africa and Deputy Director of the ILO Office in Pretoria. She has been a member of the senior management team of the ILO Regional Office for Africa for more than nine years.