NIGERIAN-BORN Adewale Adeyemo has been appointed by the United States (US) President-elect Joe Biden as the Deputy Treasury Secretary
Adeyemo will work with ex-Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary
This was announced on Monday, November 30th, 2020.
This is great news of Nigerians Abroad, as Adeyemo would be the first Nigerian-American in that position.
Special Assistant to the President on the Diaspora and Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed Adeyemo’s appointment in a tweet.
“It’s official! Wale Adeyemo becomes the first-ever Nigerian American Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, in the history of the country!! Congrats to Wale,” the NIDCOM chairman said in the tweet.
Confirming his appointment, Adeyemo said in a tweet that: “Public service is about offering hope through the dark times and making sure that our economy works not just for the wealthy, but for the hard-working people who make it run.
“As Deputy Treasury Secretary, I look forward to helping us build back our economy better,” he said in the tweet.
Adeyemo, the Nigerian-American was born in Nigeria and raised in Los Angeles Country, California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor’s of Arts, before moving to Yale Law School, where he bagged his Juris Doctor for further studies in specialised law.
Adeyemo had served in various positions including, former Deputy National Security Advisor and current President of Obama Foundation non-profit; Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of the Treasury for three years; Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff and Deputy Executive Secretary. He also worked as the Chief of Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2010 to 2011, Editor for the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution from 2008 to 2009 and currently on the boards of Golden State Opportunity Foundation and Aspen Strategy Group among others.
However, if confirmed by the Senate, Yellen, 74, will be the first female Treasury head in history, and likely be tasked with breaking the deadlock over aid in Washington, should lawmakers not come to an agreement before Biden’s inauguration in January.
Yellen in a tweet said: “We face great challenges as a country right now. To recover, we must restore the American dream — a society where each person can rise to their potential and dream even bigger for their children.
“As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all,” she said in the tweet.
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