Dr. Fatima Akilu is the Executive Director of Neem Foundation. She also heads the Psychosocial Services Component of the foundation. She is a trained psychologist with over 20 years experience in the field of mental health and psychology. She has taught and authored research papers relating to homelessness, ethnicity and its relationship with mental health. Dr. Akilu holds a Masters Degree and PhD in Psychology from the University of Reading (UK), and has worked as an Adjunct Professor of General Psychology at Broome Community College (USA) for over 12 years.

Dr. Akilu has garnered experience in the Communications industry in her capacity as the Chairman of the Editorial Board of a leading Nigerian national newspaper and the Head of Communication to the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Nigerian President on Millennium Development Goals. Until August 2015, she pioneered Nigeria’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme as the Director for Behavioural Analysis and Strategic Communications at the Office of the National Security Adviser; a position she held for 3 years.