Oniha Takes Over from Nwankwo as DMO Director General

The Debt Management Office (DMO) will continue in full throttle as the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has approved the appointment of Mrs Patience Oniha as the new Director General of the agency to take over from Dr. Abraham Nwankwo.

Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun announced the appointment in Abuja.

Oniha, from Edo State, takes over Nwankwo, who retired after serving for two terms of five years each. The handover formalities took place in a brief ceremony at the office of DMO.

Market analysts said Oniha is returning to a familiar terrain.

Oniha retired as a director in the agency before he served in the Efficiency Unit of the Ministry of Finance before her new appointment as DMO Chief Executive.

The new DG was part of the success story the office achieved in the past 10 years.

During that period, DMO scored a number of firsts in its operational efforts to manage the country’s debt profile. These include the establishment of 37 subnational Debt Management Departments for the 36 states and the FCT, culminating in the construction of the first-ever comprehensive and reliable domestic debt database for all the states and the FCT in 2012; putting in place Primary Dealing-Market Making (PDMM) system for the FGN Bonds, enabling twoway quotes in the trading of FGN Bonds and, therefore, the introduction of a vibrant and liquid secondary market for FGN Bonds; listing of FGN Bonds on the Nigerian Stock Exchange; inclusion of Nigeria’s Sovereign Bond in Global Market Indices, the JP Morgan Index and the Barclays Capital Index; issuing of Nigeria’s Eurobond in the International Capital Market and its listing and trading on the London Stock Exchange; issuing of Nigeria’s Sovereign Retail Bonds, the FGN Savings Bond and its listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and on the FMDQ OTC Exchange.

Others are issuing of Nigeria’s Diaspora bond and the first-ever registration of Nigeria to access the United States(U.S) financial market under the stringent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations; designing and implementing Nigeria’s National Debt Management Framework; Introducing the soon to be launched first-ever Nigeria’s Sovereign NonInterest Bearing Bond: the Sukuk as well as exporting of Public Debt Management services through capacitybuilding support to other African countries, including the Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.

DMO said in a statement that Oniha is expected to consolidate on these achievements.