Former Special Adviser to erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance Evaluation and Monitoring, Professor Sylvester Monye, has been appointed by Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, as Special Adviser designate.

Monye slugged it out with Okowa during the PDP governorship primaries held on December 8, 2014 in Asaba, where he polled 5 out of the total number of votes cast by all delegates who participated in the election.

Born on March 4, 1959, Monye, who hails from Onicha Ugbo in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, was educated at the Universities of London, in Glasgow and South Bank in London.

He holds an MBA in Management, an MSc in Marketing Management and a Ph.D in International Business, which he completed in 1988. He is a fellow of a number of professional bodies, including the Academy of International Business and the Academy of Marketing Science.

He began his teaching career in 1986 at the University of Strathclyde, and subsequently moved to the South Bank University, London in 1989. He rose through the ranks and was appointed Professor of International Business in 1999 at the University of Applied Science, Bremen, Germany.

Before then, he was Visiting Professor of International Business at Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand (1997-1999). In 2000, he returned to Nigeria to take up appointment as Special Assistant to the Presidential Advisor on Conflict Resolution in Africa.

A year later, he was appointed Director of Marketing and Promotion at the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, a position he occupied for four years.

In 2005, Professor Monye was deployed to Federal Ministry of Finance as Director of International Economic Relations. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination of Nigeria’s economic relations with multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and the African Development Bank. Also in 2005, he joined the Board of OPEC Fund for International Development, Vienna Austria, as Alternate Governor for Nigeria.

He was also a Board Director of the Bank of Industry; member, National Hospital Management Board; member, Governing Council of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council; Board Director, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and Alternate Director for Nigeria on the Board of AFRIXIMBANK, Cairo Egypt.

In November 2006, Professor Monye was appointed to the position of secretary to the National Planning Commission, where he was in charge of the day-to-day administration of the commission, with oversight responsibility for the Centre for Management Development (CMD), Lagos, the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan; and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Abuja. By virtue of this appointment, he served as the Secretary of the National Economic Council.

He has also served on a number of important Ad-Hoc Government Committees such as the Committee on Management of the Excess Crude Account; Committee on the Niger Delta; the Steering Committee of Vision 20:2020; and the National Steering Council on the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.

Professor Monye has an extensive list of publications, including three internationally acclaimed books and numerous professional works in reputable international journals.

He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and meetings. He has, since 2005, been a guest lecturer at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru Jos.

It was in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Nigeria, that he was honoured in December 2008, with the Membership of Order of the Federal Republic (MFR).

Others appointed by the governor for swearing in on Friday are Hon. Joseph Otirhue and Hon. Kelly Penawo as Special Advisers.

According to a release signed by Secretary to the State Government, Hon. Festus Ovie Agas, the swearing in ceremony holds at 9.30am today at the Delta Government House.

•Photo shows Prof. Sylvester Monye.