Etisalat Nigeria has announced the appointment of Abigail Isokpan as the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer, a position she previously occupied in acting capacity. According to Etisalat CEO Steven Evans, “Abigail is a consummate professional whose experience and contribution to the growth of Etisalat’s business cannot be ignored. It is a well-deserved elevation.”

Prior to joining Etisalat Nigeria in 2007, Abigail was General Manager/ Head of Human Capital Management at United Bank for Africa (UBA) where she was responsible for recruitment, policy, manpower planning, and career management. Her responsibilities have also included performance appraisal systems, succession planning, and training and development at Nigerian International Bank Ltd. (Citibank), SmithKline Beecham, and Centre for Management Development.

At the merger of UBA and Standard Trust Bank (STB) as well as at the acquisition of Stirling Health by SmithKline Beecham, Abigail led key HR and corporate values integration initiatives. She was also responsible for employee-voice and change initiatives, as well as developing and implementing the performance management system, at Citibank.

A seasoned Human Resources professional with extensive people and general management experience spanning the consulting, healthcare, banking and telecommunications industries, Abigail has provided leadership in HR strategy, cutting-edge research methodology, administration, procurement, logistics, organisation-climate study, mergers and acquisitions (M & As), and business process re-engineering in the various industries she has worked.

As a pioneer Nigerian staff and Lead HR Sponsor of EMTS Ltd. (also known as Etisalat Nigeria), Abigail worked with Etisalat Group secondees and international business consultants in planning, developing and implementing HR strategies for the then start-up. Since then, she has continued to provide strategic direction in the design, implementation and sustained improvement of HR systems and processes covering recruitment, rewards, organisational development, and talent and performance management.

A graduate of the Universities of Ibadan and Benin, Abigail’s professional training and development has involved attending Harvard University’s prestigious Strategic Human Resource Management Programme as well as study and travel in countries as diverse as Turkey, the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Botswana, and France.

Abigail is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and Alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) of Templeton College (now Said Business School) at the University of Oxford.

About Etisalat

Etisalat is the largest provider of telecommunications services in Africa, Middle East and Asia serving an ever increasing subscriber base of 100 million people. The innovative GSM provider currently has unique products such as Easy Starter, Easy Cliq, Elite World and Easy Net in the Nigerian market. All offer a wide array of creative and exciting features designed to satisfy all communications needs of its subscribers.