The Kaduna State Government has appointed Prof. Rajneesh Narula as Consultant and Policy Adviser to its Planning and Budget Commission.
Narula will help in making the State Development Plan operational.
The appointment is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communications, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, on Friday in Kaduna.
According to the statement, Prof Narula will also provide guidance on sector implementation strategies, update the state industrial plan and provide implementation strategies, including stepping these policies down to the local governments via the state Economic Planning Board.
Narula is the John H. Dunning Chair of International Business Regulation at the Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK, and the Director of the Dunning Africa Centre in South Africa.
He attended Barewa College, Zaria, before graduating with a first degree in engineering from the Ahmadu Bello University.
According to the statement, Narula also has an MBA and a doctorate from Rutgers University, US.
Before venturing into academics, he worked as an engineer at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaira and later as a Planning Analyst at the IBM Asia/Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong.
The statement said Narula’s “research and consulting have focused on the role of foreign investment and global supply chains in development, technology alliances and outsourcing.
Narula, the statement said, has more than 150 publications on these themes, adding that ‘’he regularly acted as a consultant and advisor to the European Commission, UNIDO, UNCTAD, OECD, World Bank, as well as a variety of other international organisations, national governments, and consulting firms.
“He has been involved in advisory activities in Tanzania, Uganda, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Russia, India, Qatar, UAE, Senegal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, in addition to almost all the countries in Europe,’’ the statement pointed out.
According to Adekeye, Narula is one of the top 20 most cited academic authors worldwide in the fields of international business, emerging markets, and economic development.
“In 2017, he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his services to Business Research.
“He holds honorary appointments at UN University -MERIT, Oxford University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Urbino,’’ the statement said.