Amina Oyagbola, a Nigerian business leader and civil society advocate, has been announced as the new chair of Afrobarometer’s board of directors.

Ms Oyagbola succeeded Gyimah-Boadi, who co-founded Afrobarometer, a pan-African research organisation, in 1999 and served as its chief executive for four years and as the board chair.

According to the announcement, Ms Oyagbola is an independent director and business management consultant with more than 35 years of experience in legal practice and business management in corporate Nigeria.

The former human resources and corporate services executive at MTN Nigeria has a career spanning human resources strategy and transformation, legal consulting, women’s empowerment, banking and finance, oil and gas, and telecommunications.

She is also the managing consultant at AKMS Consulting Ltd., a senior partner at Oyagbola Chambers, and a Chevening Scholar.

A passionate advocate for gender equality and founder of Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR), a not-for-profit gender empowerment and strategic mentoring and leadership initiative, Mrs Oyagbola said she feels honoured to have been named the new chair of the group.

While describing Afrobarometer as a trailblazer in amplifying the voices of Africans through high-quality research and data, she added that she looked forward to contributing to its continued growth and mission to make citizen voice a key pillar of African policy and decision-making.

“I am excited about expanding Afrobarometer’s impact and ensuring that our data continues to shape policies that truly reflect the priorities of African citizens.

“The world is changing rapidly – technology, youth engagement, economic transformation – and Afrobarometer is uniquely positioned to provide the insights needed to navigate these changes,” Ms Oyagbola, who joined the Afrobarometer board in 2019, said in her remarks.

On his part, Ms Gyimah-Boadi said he felt happy working closely with Ms Oyagbola, noting that she established her indispensability to the effective functioning of the board right from the beginning of her tenure, especially in the areas of board corporate governance and human resource development.

“I’m indeed happy to be handing over the AB board leadership to someone with the right blend of expertise, depth of passion for our mission, and breadth of strategic connections,” he said.