Nigerian Appointed Administrator of Brentwood, State of Missouri, United States

A Nigerian, Ms. Bola Akande, has been appointed Administrator of the City of Brentwood, State of Missouri, United States.
 

The Nigerian, who is the daughter of former General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention,  Rev. S.T. Ola Akande, is the first African to be appointed the City Administrator of Brentwood. She defeated 40 other contenders to emerge as the city administrator, in a search led by the Mayor of Missouri, Pat Kelly.
 

Akande, who is a holder of a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Masters degree in Public Administration,  has held administrative positions in The Woodlands, Texas, Flower Mound, Texas and Oklahoma City, Okla.  She is also said to have extensive experience handling administrative matters for small, mid-sized and large urban communities, including preparing multi-million dollar budgets, negotiating solid waste agreements, and facilitating economic development and neighborhood redevelopment projects.

City administrators are professionals saddled with the responsibility of making city governments operate with the efficiency of successful businesses. As the Administrator of the city of Brentwood, her job description include  preparation of city budget, co-ordination of Federal and State governments programmes for the city, coordination of work of elected city officials, initiating policies and serving as the city's accounting officer.

A statement by the City of Brentwood, said Akande, who served as Assistant Administrator in Richmond Heights for six-years, brings to her new office nearly two decades of city management experience.
 

It noted that in  the course of her career, she had built a reputation for professionalism and accessibility to the public.  The statement also quoted sterling remarks by top elected officials of the city made about the character and competence of Akande.  "Bola's nearly two decades of multifaceted municipal management experience, combined with her recent six years of service in Richmond Heights will be a real asset to the City of Brentwood.

“We look forward to her insight and leadership as I, along with the Board of Alderman, continue to critically examine and evaluate all of our city operations and policies to ensure we are operating under a best practices framework”, Mayor Kelly was quoted as saying.  Also commenting on her suitability for the new office, Ways and Means Committee Chair, Mike Marshall, said, “Bola understands the importance of this initiative and we believe that her experience and background are ideally suited to getting this done in a thorough and professional manner.”

Nigerian Ambassador to US, Prof. Adebowale Adefuye had already sent a congratulatory message to her and would give her all the support she would need to succeed.