Bwalya, UNDP Programme Director Assumes Duty

Mr. Samuel Bwalya, the new UN Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director, has assumed duty in Abuja, the UN Communication Specialist, Lucky Musonda, said in a statement.

Musonda said that Country Director would work under the delegated authority of the UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria.

According to him, Bwalya will assume responsibility and accountability for day-to-day management of operational and programmatic activities of UNDP Nigeria.

Before coming to Nigeria, he said that Bwalya served as Country Director for UNDP in Ethiopia.

He added that “Bwalya started his UN career as an Economic Advisor in UNDP Ethiopia Country Office in 2011 before he was later appointed as Country Director for the same office in June 2013.

He said that prior to joining the UN, Bwalya was Director for corporate planning and research at the Zambia Revenue Authority between 2006 and 2011.

Bwalya holds a PhD Degree in Economics from the University of Rhode Island (USA) and Masters and Bachelor degrees in Economics from Addis Ababa University and The University of Zambia respectively.

“He served in this capacity up until his deployment to Nigeria.

“While in Ethiopia, Bwalya spearheaded and led the formulation and implementation of key transformative and flagship programmes in different areas.”

These areas, he said, include environment and climate change, recovery and resilience building, forest sector development programme, political and economic governance, including election support and support to democratic institutions programmes.

Other areas where Bwalya worked were in poverty reduction and economic growth initiatives including UNDP flagship programmes on agricultural transformation, entrepreneurship and private sector development, industrialisation and agro-industrial parks initiatives, among others.

He added that the new country director led to tax and customs modernisation initiatives in Zambia and anchored delivery of tax policy advice to government on mining tax regimes and reforms.

Musonda said Bwalya also served on the Board of Directors of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines-Investment Holding and chaired its Audit Committee.

He stated that “Bwalya was a lecturer of economics at the University of Zambia between 1998 and 2006.

“His recent works include publications on comparative tax administration systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, forest economics, political economy (lobbying) of budgeting, fiscal strategies for growth and prosperity, and foreign direct investment and technology spillovers in the manufacturing sector.