Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, has won the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Outstanding Individual Merit award for 2016 for his dedication and commitment in particular to maintain UNIDO’s presence in the absence of a UNIDO Representative in Nigeria; for being instrumental in the design and execution of the Staple Crop Processing Zone programme; and building partnerships particularly with the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Ezedinma was among the 36 distinguished individuals from various countries across the world who received the prestigious award from the UNIDO Director General, LI Yong, during the 50th UNIDO anniversary in Vienna recently.
Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, joined UNIDO in 2012 and is currently the Officer in Charge of UNIDO Regional Office Nigeria, (covering, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Congo Democratic Republic, Guinea, Mali, Niger Republic, and Sierra Leone).
He holds a PhD in agricultural economics with more than 25 years’ professional experience in senior leadership and programme level positions in international organisations including the United Nations system and multilateral donor organisations such as AfDB, DFID, EU, FAO, IFAD, UNIDO, USAID and IITA, where he was senior scientist and agricultural (impact) economist.
He has diverse skills and hands on experience in industrial cluster development especially agro industrial zones, trade capacity building, skills and entrepreneurship development, scientific research, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment.
He has executed and managed corporate level assignments at programme, policy and strategy levels in several development sectors with extensive field experience in several Sub-Saharan Africa countries.