Special Adviser

Under-Secretary-General Ahunna Eziakonwa, Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General

The UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa is headed by the Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General.

Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa is the current Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General.

Appointed by United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres in June 2026, Ms. Eziakonwa of Nigeria began her tenure of office on 1 August 2026.

Ms. Eziakonwa brings nearly three decades of United Nations (UN) leadership to her new role. In her previous role as UN Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), she oversaw the organization’s support to 46 African countries in pursuing Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Since 2018, she has helped shape UNDP’s strategic approach to economic and political development across the continent.

Ms. Eziakonwa’s experience spans the full breadth of UN work in Africa. She has served as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in three countries - Ethiopia, Uganda and Lesotho – where she coordinated humanitarian action, development strategy and political engagement. As Chief of the Africa Section at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in New York, she managed humanitarian operations across 15 African countries and held senior posts in Liberia and Sierra Leone during critical periods in those nations.

At UN Headquarters, she contributed to peacekeeping and political analysis and strategic communications pertaining to UN engagement in Africa, working with the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations, Political Affairs and Public Information. Prior to joining the UN, she held positions in several African civil society organisations.

Ms. Eziakonwa holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs with a focus on African economic and political development from Columbia University, New York, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Pedagogy, English and Literary Studies from the University of Benin, Nigeria. In addition to her native Igbo and English, she speaks fluent Yoruba and has a working knowledge of French.