Lai Yahaya

Lai Yahaya is a lawyer, political economy analyst, and public policy policy advisor with more than 20 years’ experience advising development finance institutions, senior government officials, and leading corporatations in Sub-Saharan Africa on infrastructure development, public private partnerships, and energy sector reform. He is currently Senior Special Assistant (Planning and Strategy) to President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria and was most recently Senior Policy Advisor to Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, in his role as African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa.

Lai previously led the Senior Advisors Group of the Power Africa Initiative, working with a group of former Heads of State and industry leaders, advising them on how best to accelerate progress with major energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. He was also Team Leader of the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform, a donor-funded initiative designed to support the restructuring of the oil and gas sector and to increase transparency and accountability in oil sector governance in Nigeria. He has served as Policy Advisor to several government Ministers in East and West Africa and worked as Deputy Director to three successive Directors General at the Bureau of Public Enterprises in the Presidency in Nigeria, driving major sector reforms and privatization transactions in the power, transport, and telecommunications sectors.