Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is the former finance minister of Nigeria and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first female to hold both of these positions. She served as finance minister from July 2003 until her appointment as foreign minister in June 2006. 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, after less than three months as foreign minister.

Prior to her ministerial career in Nigeria, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was a vice-president of the World Bank. She left the Bank in 2003 after she was appointed Finance Minister by President Olusegun Obasanjo on 15 July. Both during her years at the World Bank and in her service to Nigeria, she developed a reputation for hard work on democratization and debt management issues.Some however consider her economic reform policies not beneficial to the poor who constitute over 90% of the population. In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay off Nigeria's external debt. It is widely belivied that she will run for president of Nigeria in 2007.

Some controversy surrounded Mrs. 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 (UN) salaries of over $240,000 (US), 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. In 2005, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala decided to opt for the standard salary of 6,000 dollars.^[1] In Nigeria the income per capital is lower than $500.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard (A.B. Magna Cum Laude 1981) and has her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from M.I.T..

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala is married and has four children - her son, Uzodinma Iweala,is author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation.

In 2003, she was awarded the Euromarket Forum Award for Vision and Courage.

President Olusegun Obasanjo accepted her resignation from the External Affairs Ministry on 3rd August,2006.

[edit] References

^ Paul Vallely (2006-05-16). The woman who has the power to change Africa. The woman who has the power to change Africa. The Independent. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.

[edit] Published books

Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light - a biography of the famous Nigerian author, 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