One of Nigeria’s longest serving public servant, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, Director General of Debt Management Office (DMO) will bow out from office on Friday after serving for ten years.
Dr. Abraham Nwankwo was appointed Director-General of the Debt Management Office in 2007, having joined the services of the agency in 2001 as Assistant Director. In-between (July 2006 – July 2007), he had a stint at the Board of the World Bank where he served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director (Africa Group II Constituency).
One of the significant achievements of the Abraham Nwankwo reign at DMO was the conducting of Debt Sustainability Analysis on every State to decide whether or not to approve each request for new borrowing. The analysis led to a drastic curtailment and mitigation of risk of over borrowing by the States.
The Debt Sustainability Analysis initiative of the DMO formed part if the Sub-national Debt Management Initiatives and Achievements of the organization.
The DMO under Nwankwo in its quest to ensure prudent management of resources and the adoption of sound public debt management practices at all levels of governance, developed a comprehensive programme for Sub-nationals which would enable them effectively determine their domestic debt stock and manage it as a matter of routine.
The DMO also successfully marketed Nigeria’s FGN bonds which are debt securities (liabilities) of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) issued by the Debt Management Office (DMO) for and on behalf of the Federal Government.
Before joining the Public Service, Nwakwo had worked in the banking and finance sector where he held top management positions; in Academics, as a lecturer in Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka for about five years; as well as in journalism as an Economics Journalist with the New Breed Organization.
He had all his University degrees from the University of Nigeria Nsukka: B.Sc. Economics (1980) – Winning the Prize for the best Economics degree; M.Sc. Economics (1983); and Ph.D. Economics (1985) – Winning the University Prize for outstanding Ph.D. research.
He was the first Ph.D. graduate in Economics produced by the University of Nigeria, 25 years after the institution was established.
In addition to numerous Publications in Academic Journals, he is also a creative writer. His published works in Literature and Economics include: “Minds of Time” (Poetry), “Tatu” (Drama) and “Oracles for Heroes” (Prose) – all published by Delta Publishers in 2004; “Through the Storm” (Drama) and “Stable Growth & Foreign Exchange” – both published by Evans Brothers in 2011.