Interesting times! Nigeria’s Amina Mohamed (right) and Kenya’s Amina Mohamed (left) have both confused the African public this week by their names featuring simultaneously in the international headlines for global leadership roles. The Kenyan Amina Mohamed is bidding to become Africa’s Number 1 person (the AU Secretary General); and the Nigerian Amina Mohamed is bidding to become the world’s number 2 (UN Deputy Secretary-General). While the AU is still trying to snatch Kenya’s Amina, the UN is reported to have moved swiftly and succeeded in snatching Nigeria’s Amina even before the Nigerian Government is told about it. The Nigerian government said on Sunday that it was yet to be formally notified of the appointment of a serving minister for the Environment as Deputy UN Secretary General. The Nigerian presidency said Amina Mohammed is comfortable in her current position as the minister of the environment. The interesting contrast is that while Kenya is lobbying to get its Amina a position away from Nairobi; Nigeria is fighting to retain its own Amina within the perimeters of Abuja – both with good intentions of course.
——————The Punch 12/13/2016
***NOTE:
Both were born in 1961.
Both have the same names.
Both are experts in environmental law.
Both are career diplomats of development.
Both have performed global leadership roles.
🙂 Both are 1 year older than President Obama.
PROFILES
• Born in 1961, Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed was the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning. She was appointed to this position in June 2012. Mohammed was appointed Nigeria’s Minister of the Environment by President Buhari in November 2015.
• Also born in 1961, Kenya’s Amina Mohamed was the Chairwoman of the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organisation’s General Council, after serving as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. She is currently Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
