Moussa Oumarou was ILO’s Deputy Director-General for Field Operations from January 2018 to August 2022.
Before joining the ILO, Mr Oumarou occupied many positions in teaching and in public administration which led him to occupy several positions of responsibility such as that of Inspector in Technical Studies and Vocational Training and Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education in Niger. Following this, he was appointed Minister of Public Services, Labour, Employment and Social Security from 1997 to 1999. In these various positions of responsibility he was, in particular, a member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee responsible for negotiating with the International Financial Institutions (IFI) in the context of economic and social reforms, and President of several committees instructed to negotiate on behalf of the Government with the social partners. It is during this period that he had the texts adopted for the establishment of a National Commission of Social Dialogue (one of the first in Africa). He also proceeded to the revision of the General Statutes of Public Service and implementing supplementary regulations of law on the Labour Code.
After leaving the Government in Niger, Mr Oumarou started working for the ILO, first as a consultant for social dialogue, then as coordinator of a national project for the promotion of the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. He then became Chief Technical Advisor of the Regional Programme for the Promotion of Social Dialogue in French-speaking Africa. In 2006, he joined the ILO headquarters where he served as Senior Labour Administration and Labour Inspection Specialist.
Mr Oumarou completed his secondary studies in his home country, Niger, and from 1978 undertook advanced studies in France. He holds diplomas from the Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Béthune, the Ecole Normale nationale de Lyon and the Ecole normale Supérieure de Cachan from which he graduated as Inspector of Technical Studies and Vocational Training.