Introducing our board: Omoayena Odunbaku

Omoayena Odunbaku, PhD is a Lagosian as people who have lived in and love Lagos, Nigeria are called and is honoured to be invited to serve on the board of Edugist, an impact newsroom and lab telling the story of education and providing data to advance education and youth development in Africa. With a passion for creating enabling platforms for the girl child and women this inspired her to found HerAbility Hub. She accepts the opportunity to join Edugist’s diverse board and support its work to bring global best practices and raise the ethics bar at Edugist.

A strong advocate for the empowerment of the girl-child, women, and youth she is deliberate about devoting a significant proportion of her time to mentoring youths and her book, OMOH, which was published on her 40th birthday, is an objective account of her journey to becoming a successful African professional who has braved the odds to become a dedicated mother to her three children whilst focusing on breaking the glass ceiling.

Odunaku has a doctor of philosophy in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Lagos. As a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, Odunbaku had a unique style that was quite different, and the majority of students embraced it warmly. Her style was warm and encouraged interaction. She set up an exchange platform called easyclass the exchanges would inform the temperaments during the next class. This endeared her to students.

Odunaku strives for excellence at all times, in all positions and circumstances, to attain professional distinction and proficiency, contributing the best of her ability to achieve organisational goals and targets, and to be an example for others to follow.

Her commitment to excellence has sustained her rise at the United Nations Human Settlements Programmes (UN-Habitat), and she is the Human Settlement Officer, Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) based in Nairobi, Kenya.

She is also the project manager Africa Urban Agenda and Human Settlements Officer and UN-Habitat Affiliate to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and Africa Union Commission.