Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon of Nigeria Appointed ILO Assistant Director General and Regional Director for Africa
Ms. Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, the new ILO Regional Director for Africa, took part in the High Level Conference on “a renewed partnership with Africa” in Brussels as part of the European Parliament’s Africa Week. She also addressed the European Parliament on employment and migration issues ahead of the 5th African Union-European Union Summit, taking place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), after having duly consulted the Officers of the Governing Body, has appointed Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon of Nigeria as Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire with effect from 10 November 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 more than 32 years’ experience in the world of work, 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, management and strategic partnerships to promote decent work and development outcomes at regional, sub regional and national levels.