Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is a fellow at the Brookings Institution [1]. She is the former Finance Minister of Nigeria and Foreign Minister of Nigeria, notable for being the first woman 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 vice-president and corporate secretary of the World Bank Group. 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 approximately 50% of the population. Others regard her reforms as a necessary first step in retooling Nigeria's finances, battered by over 15 years of military dictatorship, prior to the restoration of democracy in 1999. 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.
She also introduced in Nigeria the practice of publishing each state's monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. This was to help everyday Nigerians understand exactly how much their states received and a crucial step in the battle against corruption in Nigeria.
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 (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, she decided to opt for the standard salary of 6,000 dollars.[1] In Nigeria the income per capital is lower than $500.
Dr. 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..
Okonjo-Iweala is married and has four children - her son, Uzodinma Iweala,is author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation (2005).
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.
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[edit] Further Reading
[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 August 29, 2006.
[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
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Adamu Ciroma |
Finance Minister of Nigeria May, 2003–July, 2006 |
Succeeded by Nneadi Usman |
| Preceded by Oluyemi Adeniji |
Foreign Minister of Nigeria July, 2006–August, 2006 |
Succeeded by Joy Ogwu |
