
Precious Zikhali is a Senior Economist with the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice. A development and environmental economist, she has over 15 years of experience at the intersection of poverty, environment, and inequality. Her current work focuses on using data and evidence to inform policy on poverty, inequality, and forced displacement, in collaboration with national statistics offices and governments in low- and middle-income countries.
Before joining the World Bank in 2013, Director in the Microeconomic Policy Unit at the National Treasury of South Africa where she was involved in inter-departmental efforts to incorporate green growth policies into the country’s broader sustainable development agenda. In addition to her experience in the public sector, Precious has prior experience in international development and academia, having worked at the the International Water Management Institute, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and the University of Zimbabwe. Precious holds a PhD in Economics (with a specialization in Environmental Economics) from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and actively mentors early-career researchers particularly through the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).

Anthony Ojonimi Onoja, is a Full Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He obtained a PhD in Resource and Environmental Economics in 2015 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a Professor Extraordinarius at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa where he once served as a Visiting Research Scholar in 2018. He is the Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Development (IARD), University of Port Harcourt since 2021 to 2026. He is the Vice President, African Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (AFAERE) and the President, Agricultural Policy Research Network (APRNet). Prof. Onoja is a member of the Ministerial advisory group in Nigeria, called the Agriculture Sector Working Group (ASWG) established in 2025. He is an Associate Research Fellow, Resource and Environmental Policy Research Centre (REPRC), University of Nigeria Nsukka – an Environment for Development (EfD) Centre, Nigeria. He was on the Executive Board of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) from 2018-2023. He recently led the Team that drafted the first Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy for Nigeria (2025 to 2029) in collaboration with IFPRI and WorldFish. He is a recipient of several scholarships, fellowships and research grants/consultancies from various international organizations. He has facilitated many workshops/conferences and is the Focal Person of the EU Consortium Grant, CREATE GreenAfrica intra-Africa mobility scholarship at the University of Port Harcourt. In 2023, he led an advocacy that partly influenced the birth of the Ministry for Blue and Marine Economy and moving of fisheries and aquaculture department into the Ministry. (https://independent.ng/stakeholders-policy-experts-advocate-integration-of-fishery-aquaculture-into-ministry-of-marine-and-blue-economy/ ). An editor to 5 reputable journals, he is well published and widely traveled. He won, for the 3rd consecutive time, an award of research excellence for extraordinary contribution to the growth and development of the University of Port Harcourt and bringing national and international honour to the university. In 2017 he was named City Law Review (CTLR) Researcher of the Year by an Abuja based Magazine. He is a recipient of the award for Inspirational Leadership in recognition of professional leadership and motivation by Prof. Walter Ollor Foundation in Port Harcourt in 2023. He is a member of several professional associations including: The International Association of Agricultural Economists; African Association of Agricultural Economists, Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economists, Agricultural Policy Research Network (APRNet), Agricultural Society of Nigeria; Agriculture, Nutrition & Health (ANH) Academy and African Association of Resource and Environmental Economists (AFAERE). He is conversant with the use of diverse software such as EViews, Frontier 4.1C, STATA, SPSS, DEAP.xp, MS Excel, Limpdep, R, Genstat, etc. and GIS software such as Q GIS and DSSAT. In 2023, Prof. Anthony Onoja was inducted as a Fellow, Institute of Educational Leadership Practitioners of Nigeria (IELPN).

Dr. Selamawit Glegziabher Kebede currently is a Secretary General (SG) of African Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AFAERE) and council member of the association. She is a research fellow at Environment for Development (EfD) Global Hub, Sweden (https://www.efdinitiative.org/about-efd/people/gkebede-selamawit). A postdoctoral research fellow at Sustainable Energy Transition Initiative, EfD collaborative program. A research fellow at Poverty and Social Welfare Centre at Policy Studies Institute. She is also a research fellow at EnDPoINT Project Phase II collaborating with BSMS, University of Sussex, UK. Selamawit is a research fellow at UNICEF and she also has been a research fellow (2022-2023) in the Development Policy Research Hub, UNDP, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has been working as academic staff and researcher, in the Department of Economics, at Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia (2007-2020). Assistant Professor of Development Economics with 13 plus years of teaching experience in a government university (academia) and has been actively engaged in several interdisciplinary research projects. Her research has focused on multidisciplinary development projects focusing on dimensions of energy transition, climate adaptation, livelihood under the lens of environment sustainability, firm productivity, poverty, health, nutrition, education, public policy, fiscal policy and related development policy agendas aligning with SDGs and Agenda 2063.

Joshua Ajetomobi is a full professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. He is a member of several modelling think tanks in Africa, such as AERC in Kenya, AKADEMIYA2063 in Rwanda, AFRICALICS in Kenya, AGRODEP in Senegal, and CEEPA in South Africa, where he has published and coordinated various sponsored research projects on climate modelling, including ” Effects of Extreme Weather on Crop Yield in Nigeria, ” ” Impact of Climate Change on the Nigerian Agricultural Sector, ” and ” Mainstreaming Climate Change into the Nigerian 2020 Agenda. ” With the assistance of AERC, he was a visiting research fellow at the Centre of the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at the University of Oxford, UK, and the United Nations University World Institute for Development and Economic Research (UN WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. He served as a visiting professor at the University of Eswatini from 2017 to 2022 and at Osun State University in 2015. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, all from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, Nigeria. His research interests include climate change impact analysis, agricultural and environmental policy analysis, agricultural productivity analysis, and agricultural marketing.