By Bayo Akinloye
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The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has announced the appointment of two staff members to directorship positions to head its Communications and Events Management Department and Treasury and Markets Department respectively.
Obi Emekekwue, a Nigerian, was named Director and Global Head of the Communications and Events Management Department while Chandi Mwenebungu becomes Director of the Treasury and Markets Department.
According to a statement by the bank, prior to the appointments, Emekekwue and Mwenebungu were respectively heads of the Communications and Treasury functions at Afreximbank at the level of senior managers.Â
The bank’s communications and treasury functions, which had operated as units, were upgraded to full departments in 2017 as part of a general reorganisation of the bank.
Emekekwue joined Afreximbank in 2012. But before joining the development bank, he had worked for the United Nations from 1994, serving last in the Press Office of the Department of Public Information at the New York Headquarters.
His United Nations career included serving variously as public information officer, media specialist and programme specialist in several agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and as communications specialist at the United Nations Country Team in Papua New Guinea from 2006 to 2007.
The Nigerian began his professional career at the Nigerian Television Authority, Ibadan, followed by a short stint at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, before joining the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) where he served as the United Nations/North America bureau chief from 1989 to 1994.
He holds a Master of Arts in international relations and a postgraduate certificate in international law and diplomacy from St. John’s University, New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Mwenebungu, who joined Afreximbank in 2013, has over 20 years’ experience in the area of treasury and finance working in the finance services industry in Africa and Europe.
