U.S President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name a Nigerian-born lawyer, Adewale Adeyemo, as his Deputy Secretary of Treasury.
Media reports quoted unnamed sources close to the Biden transition team as saying Adeyemo would serve under Janet Yellen, who would be nominated to lead the Treasury Department.
Nicknamed Wally, the 39-year-old has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California and Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.
He served as the first President of the Obama Foundation in 2019, according to Wikipedia.
Under the Obama administration, Adeyemo served as Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics from 2015 to 2016 and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
Wally is one of three people of colour to be appointed to lead Biden’s economic team after his first round of appointments was criticised for lack of diversity.
Cecilia Rouse, an African American economist at Princeton University, is set to be named as Head of the Council of Economic Advisers.
An Indian-American, Neera Tanden, a former Senior Policy Adviser to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, will be appointed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The team will inherit a U.S economy that has been struggling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
