Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Finance Minister of Nigeria
In office July 2003 – June 2006
Foreign Minister of Nigeria
In office June 2006 – August 3, 2006
Born	June 13, 1954 (1954-06-13) (age 55) Delta State, Nigeria

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is the former Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman to hold either of those positions. She served as finance minister from July 2003 until her appointment as foreign minister in June 2006, and as foreign minister until her resignation in August 2006. Okonjo-Iweala was considered as a possible replacement for former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.^{[1] [2]} On October 4 2007 she was appointed as Managing Director of the World Bank by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

Contents 1 Education and personal life 2 Career 3 Non-profit work 4 Honors and awards 5 Works 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Education and personal life

Okonjo-Iweala is an Igbo^[3] from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State where her father Professor Chukuka Okonjo is the Obi, or King, from the Umu Obi Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu.

Dr. Ngozi Iweala-Okonjo was educated at Harvard University (A.B. Magna Cum Laude 1977) and earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is married - her husband is from Umuahia, Abia State^[4] - and they have four children. The eldest, Onyinye Iweala received her Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University in 2008 and currently attends Harvard Medical School. Her son, Uzodinma Iweala, is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation (2005).'

[edit] Career

Prior to her ministerial career in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group. She left it in 2003 after she was appointed to President Obasanjo's cabinet as Finance Minister on 15 July.

In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay a portion of Nigeria's external debt (US $12 billion) in return for an $18 billion debt write-off. Prior to the partial debt payment and write-off, Nigeria spent roughly U.S. $1 billion every year on debt servicing, without making a dent in the principal owed.

Okonjo-Iweala also introduced the practice of publishing each state's monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. She was instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch and Standard & Poor's. Nigeria is considered to have defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1983 (debt rescheduling is considered a type of default by rating agencies).^[5]

Some controversy surrounded Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment as Finance Minister, as well as that of Foreign Affairs minister, Olu Adeniji, as other ministers were resentful of their United Nations salaries of over US$240,000, compared with their own $6,000 base salary. The controversy was spearheaded by reform-minded media reports, although Okonjo-Iweala felt that her critics were unjustified because of the temporary nature of the payment, which came out of the donor supported Diaspora Fund negotiated by the Nigerian government. On Friday, 20 July 2007, the Court of Appeal ruled that the salary payment was not done within the ambit of Nigeria's laws, and directed her and Adeniji to pay back the excess to the account of the state.^[6]

Both Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government of Nigeria have appealed the case to the Supreme Court, and jugdement is pending. The appeal is on the basis that the appeals court made its judgement due to erroneous information provided to it that the Nigerian government was making the salary payments, when in fact it was not.

She resigned as Nigeria's Foreign Minister on August 3, 2006 following her sudden removal as head of Nigeria's Economic Intelligence team by President Olusegun Obasanjo. She left office at the end of August 2006.

On October 4, 2007, World Bank President Robert Zoellick appointed her to the post of Managing Director, effective December 1, 2007.^[7]

[edit] Non-profit work

In 2007, Okonjo-Iweala's NGO, NOI Global Consulting, partnered with the Gallup Organization to introduce an opinion poll, the NOI poll, into the Nigerian polity.^[8] She is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.^[9] Okonjo-Iweala also serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Financial Integrity Program and on the Board of Directors of the World Resources Institute.^[10]

[edit] Honors and awards

• Time Europe Hero 2004^[7]
• This Day Nigeria Minister of the Year 2004^[7]
• Euromoney Magazine Global Finance Minister of the year 2005^[7]
• Financial Times/The Banker African Finance Minister 2005^[7]
• Nigerian of the Year 2006.^[11]
• Honorary Doctorate from Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
• Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland.
• Honorary Doctorate from Colby College, Maine, USA.
• Honorary Doctorate from Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica.

Additionally, on September 28, 2007, Irish musician Bono was awarded the Liberty Medal. Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa, which he co-founded, and Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award on the organization's behalf.^[12]

[edit] Works

• Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light - a biography of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, published by Africa World Press, (2003), co-authored with Tijan Sallah.
• The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy - an academic piece, published by Africa World Press, (2003), co-edited with Charles C. Soludo and Mansur Muhtar

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

• Video of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the TED Conference
• Time Europe's Heroes of 2004
• 'I keep my ego in my handbag', interview in The Guardian, August 2005

Preceded by Adamu Ciroma

Finance Minister of Nigeria May, 2003–July, 2006

Succeeded by Nnenadi Usman

Preceded by Oluyemi Adeniji

Foreign Minister of Nigeria July, 2006–August, 2006

Succeeded by Joy Ogwu

v • d • e Foreign Ministers of Nigeria Jaja Wachuku • Nuhu Bamalli • Yakubu Gowon • Arikpo Okoi • Joseph Nanven Garba • Henry Adefope • Ishaya Audu • Emeka Anyaoku • Ibrahim Gambari • Bolaji Akinyemi • Ike Nwachukwu • Rilwan Lukman • Ike Nwachukwu • Matthew Mbu • Baba Gana Kingibe • Tom Ikimi • Ignatius Olisemeka • Sule Lamido • Oluyemi Adeniji • Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala • Joy Ogwu • Ojo Maduekwe