[PHOTOS,PROFILE] Meet The Two Women Listed On President Tinubu’s Special Advisers Team

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, June 15, 2023, announced the appointment of eight special advisers to his cabinet.

Out of the eight advisers are two women, Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser ( Energy), and Dr (Mrs.) Salma Ibrahim Anas; Special Adviser (Health).

Here is a profile of them.

1. Olu Verheijen

Olu A. Verheijen is an energy expert and renewable energy investor with nearly 20 years of experience in the gas and renewables sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa.

She has a BA from Long Island University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Previously a partner at Persistent, an early-stage investment firm with a pan-African portfolio of distributed renewables companies, she served as a Deal Lead at Shell where she advised on gas commercialization and M&A transactions valued at over $5 billion.

She also worked for Moody’s Investors Service in New York gaining valuable experience in financial analysis and evaluation.

Olu is currently the founder and Managing Director at Latimer Energy, a consulting firm advising clients on value optimization in the acquisition, development, and management of energy assets.

She is the Founder/CEO of BFA Foundation which funds scholarships for women and other disadvantaged groups to expand their career advancement opportunities in high-growth sectors, including the energy sector.

She is an angel investor across various sectors and serves as a Trustee of the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of Nigeria. She also serves as an advisory council member of the US Millennium Challenge Corporation and also an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Energy for Growth Hub.

2. Salma Ibrahim Anas

She is a public health specialist with over 25 years of experience in health sector development, policy formulation, and strategic development.

Born March 23, 1966, in Maiduguri, her father, Ibrahim Anas, is a retired police officer and a former Borno State deputy governor.

Salma had her primary education at Shehu Garbai Primary School in 1978. She acquired her O’ level certificate from Government Girl’s College Maiduguri.

She received a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Maiduguri in 1978.

Mrs Anas-Kolo was appointed commissioner for health in Borno State between 2011 and 2015. Before then, the internationally renowned public health expert had worked at various levels and locations in Nigeria and around the world for the United Nations System, through such agencies as United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

She was also the Director/Head Special Projects & National Coordinator Health Sector Humanitarian Crisis Response of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria.

some of the awards she has received in the course of her career include:

• Best Graduating student in Pediatrics, University of Maiduguri,
  Borno State, Nigeria. (1989)
• Best graduant; National Postgraduate Medical College, Nigeria (1997)
•  Best graduant; of the Faculty of Public Health, National Postgraduate
  Medical College, Nigeria (1997)
• Best Commissioner of the Year in the North East by the National Union of Journalists, Nigeria (2013)
• Bill and Melinda Gates Award as Best Performing State in the North East on Polio Eradication efforts (2013)

She is married to Hashim Muhammad Kolo, who retired from the Nigerian Air Force with the rank of Air Commodore in 2013 and they both have five kids.