Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo: appointed by Biden as associate counsel

US President-elect Joe Biden has appointed another Nigerian-American Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo as an aide.

Funmi, whose parents are from Kogi state, will serve as associate counsel in the office of the White House counsel.

The appointment was announced on 11 January.

She is the third appointee of the American leader who will be sworn in Wednesday.

An alumna of Berkeley Law College in the US, Funmi served as ethics counsel in the same office toward the end of the Obama administration.

She was general counsel of the house select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis which was chaired by James Clyburn, House Majority Whip.

Here is her profile as published on the Biden-Harris website:

“Her prior government service includes serving as Counsel for Policy to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Ethics Counsel at the White House Counsel’s Office and Attorney Advisor at the Administrative Conference of the United States during the Obama-Biden administration.

“Olorunnipa Badejo began her legal career as an associate with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP and was Legal Counsel at Palantir Technologies Inc.

“She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Florida. Originally from Florida, Olorunnipa Badejo lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and son.”

Biden first named Nigerian-born Adewale Adeyemo as deputy secretary of the treasury department.

After this, Osaremen Okolo, was appointed a member of COVID-19 response team.

Biden will be sworn in on January 20 as the 46th US president.