Obama-Naija love: US president appoints another Nigerian adviser
It’s official. United States president Barack Obama, despite “refusing” to visit Nigeria, is in love with Nigerians.
Bukola Love Oriola is a Nigerian-American journalist and anti-human trafficking advocate.
Barack Obama has seen her good works. Obama has named Oriola as a member of the US Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
The appointment comes barely days after Obama named another Nigerian, Wale Adeyemo. as deputy national security adviser (NSA) for international economics.
Obama announced Oriola’s role with the US government in a statement by the White House on Wednesday.
There are 10 other people in the council.
“They bring their years of experience and expertise to this Administration, and I look forward to working with them,” Obama said.
Here’s what a White House statement said about Obama’s new love – Oriola:
In 2009, Ms. Oriola published her book Imprisoned: The Travails of a Trafficked Victim and began producing Imprisoned Show. Ms. Oriola has owned and managed Bukola Braiding and Beauty Supply since 2007. She was a reporter and researcher for Century Media Limited in Lagos, Nigeria from 2003 to 2005. Ms. Oriola received an A.S. from The Polytechnic Ibadan, Oyo.
And here’s what Oriola said:
Please join in thanking God on my behalf. I regard the appointment as an opportunity to do more than I have been doing in advocating against Human Trafficking in the United States and in other parts of the world.
Oriola began her journalism career in Nigeria in 2000 at Common Interest Communications, Publishers of the defunct National Interest Newspapers and later joined the defunct New Age Newspaper, The Nation reports.
In 2005, Oriola won the Cadbury National Award for Education Reporters and is a fellow of the International Institute for Journalism, Germany.
Oriola, has served as an independent consultant, speaker, and author on human trafficking issues since 2009.
She founded The Entian Story in 2013, a non-profit organisation which advocates for survivors of human trafficking and domestic abuse after her personal experience when she relocated to the US from Nigeria..
