Nonyelum Adanma Ujam, the Government Affairs Lead for Nigeria and other emerging markets in Africa at Microsoft, has been honoured with the 2024 Dean’s Prize for Outstanding ALM Capstone at Harvard’s Extension School. This prestigious award, which recognises the highest level of academic excellence, celebrates Ujam’s exceptional scholarship while completing her Master’s degree in Global Development Practice.
Ujam’s award-winning thesis, titled “Improving Access to Basic Education: A Development Plan,” was inspired by the Alternate School Programme, an initiative designed to improve access to education for all Nigerians children in and reduce the number of Out-of-School children.
This government initiative was developed during her tenure as the Special Adviser to the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
In a LinkedIn post, Ujam spoke on a critical component of her capstone, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework. “The M&E framework I designed adapted the United Nations SDGs targets and further localised the indicators. This approach mainstreams the SDGs, accelerating progress and enabling clearer reporting. Within the scope of the project, eight of the 17 Goals are impacted, along with 26 targets and 32 indicators.”
Before her appointment, Ujam worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in Information Technology and Development Finance.
Nonye Ujam is married to Hon. Dr Chukwuemeka Ujam mni, Managing Partner of Nina Jojer Limited and former member of the House of Representatives, where he was known for sponsoring the Digital Rights Bill, among other legislative efforts. They have 4 children.
