Celestine Okwudili Odo is Head of Programmes and Policy at ActionAid Nigeria. He is an Activist, Linguist, Political Economist, Development Practitioner, and Public Policy Analyst with more than 15 years of progressive professional experience in programme development and management at national and international levels. Prior to his current role, he was Governance Manager for ActionAid Nigeria until 2024, and Coordinator of the Oxfam Nigeria Private and Public Sectors Accountability and Transparency Programme from 2012 to 2018, during which he also served as President of the National Staff Association.

His earlier engagements include working as Programme Officer for Governance with the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) UK in Nigeria, and as an Expatriate with EED-Bonn Germany, seconded to the Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria (CRUDAN) as Advocacy Officer for a Governance and Community Transformation Programme. At the international level, he worked as an Intern on Social Policy Research with the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) in Frankfurt in 2005, and as a Research Assistant Intern on Gender in the International Political Economy at the University of Kassel, Germany, in 2006. Celestine awaits a PhD in Political Economy and Development Studies from the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja. He holds a Master’s degree in Global Political Economy from the University of Kassel, a Political Science equivalency from the University of Hannover, and a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages and Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is married with five children.