A Nigerian woman has been named as Deputy Secretary of the United Nations.
Amina J Mohammed was previously environment minister in Nigeria, where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action.
Prior to this, she served as Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning.
Before joining the UN, Ms Mohammed worked for three successive administrations in Nigeria.
She is also an adjunct professor in development practice at Columbia University, and serves on numerous international advisory boards and panels - including the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, the Global Development Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the African Women’s Millennium Initiative.
Born in 1961, she was educated in Nigeria and the UK – and is married with six children.
The post of deputy secretary-general was established by the General Assembly at the end of 1997 as part of the reform of the organisation.
Ms Mohammed is the third woman to hold the post.
She was appointed by the new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who took office on January 1st.
Speaking after her swearing in, Ms Mohammed said she looked forward to 're-positioning' sustainable development and gender barriers.
"I'm attaching great importance to the promise of leaving no-one behind - so starting with those that are furtherest behind.
"Addressing gender barriers that we've seen constantly - we've tried to achieve some successes in that, not enough.
"We need to go to scale at this point".
New @UN deputy chief @AminaJMohammed pledges commitment to #conflict prevention, #LeavingNoOneBehind, #SDG5 & #youth empowerment. pic.twitter.com/tArb0fYEQB
— UN News Centre (@UN_News_Centre) February 28, 2017
