US President, Biden Appoints 2 Nigerians As Advisers

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

President Joe Biden has selected two Nigerians to join his Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement.

Biden’s 12-person council will now include two Nigerian-Americans; Osagie Imasogie and Chinenye Joy Ogwumike.

Other members of the council include Silvester Scott Beaman, who will chair the council, Mimi E. Alemayehou, Rosalind Brewer, Viola Davis, Helene D. Gayle, Patrick Hubert Gaspard, C.D. Glin, Almaz Negash, Ham K. Serunjogi, and Kevin Young.

Reacting to the development, the executive chairman/CEO, of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, congratulated the duo on their nomination, according to a statement by the Commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations, Abdur-Rahman Balogun.

Dabiri-Erewa on Wednesday said the nomination of the two great Nigerians into the advisory council was a welcome development, adding that their recognition and appointment into the 12-member advisory council is a motivation for other Nigerians and Africans in general.

31-year-old Chinenye Ogwumike is a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star and ESPN basketball analyst.

In 2014, she and her sister, WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike, launched a UNICEF fundraiser following the kidnapping of Chibok girls by Boko Haram.
She is one of the only full-time professional athletes to also currently hold a full-time regular national sports media broadcast position.

She graduated from Stanford University with an International Relations degree under the mentorship of Dr. Condoleezza Rice. In August 2020, she became the first Black woman to host a national, daily sports talk radio show.

However, Osagie Imasogie is a serial entrepreneur and Chairman of the Investment Bank and SEC/FINRA registered Broker-Dealer, Quoin Capital, and Quoin Advisors.

In addition, Osagie is a co-founder of PIPV Capital, a private equity firm that is focused on the life sciences vertical and has invested over $1 billion into that industry.

Before co-founding PIPV Capital, he established GlaxoSmithKline Ventures and was its founding Vice President.