2013 Tutu Fellow Jumoke Oduwole JSD has been appointed as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment in Nigeria by President Bola Tinubu. She is among seven new ministers announced by the president on 23 October 2024, when he reshuffled his cabinet. Upon her confirmation by the Senate as Minister, Jumoke will succeed Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, who has been reassigned as the Minister of State for Finance. She will be taking the helm at the ministry at a time described by The Africa Report as "the worst cost of living crisis in 30 years."  She has indicated that she sees her role as ensuring the ministry is a catalyst for economic growth.

Jumoke's appointment as a minister in Nigeria's new cabinet is reportedly premised on her success in improving the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, an initiative with which she was involved as a Special Advisor under President Muhammadu Buhari's leadership. President Tinubu's cabinet reorganisation includes the removal of five ministers, discontinuation of two ministries, and merging of two others. These changes have emerged partly in response to public calls by many Nigerians for them.

In 2020, Jumoke was selected among 15 women leaders in Africa to form the inaugural cohort of The Amujae Initiative, which is administered by the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development. A published academic, Jumoke has worked as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law within the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos. There, she has taught various subjects, including International Trade Law, International Economic Law, Law of Banking and Negotiable Instruments.

Before her academic career, she led a business unit that specialised in corporate banking at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc - a financial institution with footprints in East and West Africa and the United Kingdom. She also worked as an Investment Banker at FCMB Capital Markets Limited in Nigeria between 2000 and 2003. She has served on several boards, including those of Ecobank Nigeria Plc, and Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA), which is a non-profit organisation focusing on HIV and AIDS advocacy.

Jumoke graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Law and went on to join the Nigerian Bar. After obtaining several Masters degrees, she graduated with a Doctoral degree in International Trade and Development at Stanford Law School.

You can read more on the announcement of her appointment at The Africa Report and Nairametrics.

Header image - Image from the website of Vintage Press Limited in Nigeria.