Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born 13 June 1954 ) is a Nigerian-American economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021.

Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General.

She was previously on the boards of Danone, Standard Chartered Bank, MINDS: Mandela Institute for Development Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, One Campaign, GAVI: Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Rockefeller Foundation, R4D: Results for Development, ARC: African Risk Capacity and Earthshot Prize plus others.

She also previously sat on the Twitter Board of Directors, and stepped down in February 2021 in connection with her appointment as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Okonjo-Iweala serves Brookings Institution as a non-resident distinguished fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative in their Global Economy and Development Program.

She is a Commissioner Emeritus and Co-Chair of Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.

She arrived in the US in 1973 to study at Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with an AB in Economics in 1976.

She earned a master's degree in city planning in 1978 and her PhD in regional economics and development in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the thesis Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria's agricultural development.

She received an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which supported her doctoral studies.

Okonjo-Iweala had a 25-year career at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as a development economist and rose to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations.

As managing director, she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.

Okonjo-Iweala was the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria; initially, under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2006; and secondly, under President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015.

Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria's Finance Minister (2003–2006 and 2011–2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006.

She was the first woman to hold both positions.

During her first term as Finance Minister in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club that led to the wiping out of US$30 billion of Nigeria's debt, including the outright cancellation of US$18 billion.

In 2003, she led efforts to improve Nigeria’s macroeconomic management including the implementation of an oil-price based fiscal rule.

Revenues accruing above a reference benchmark oil price were saved in a special account, the "Excess Crude Account," which helped to reduce macroeconomic volatility.

She was a member of the International Monetary and Finance Committee of the IMF (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2012–2013).

She also co-chaired the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation with UK Secretary Justine Greening.

In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year.

Okonjo-Iweala was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria, where her father, Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, was the Obi (king) of the Obahai royal family of Ogwashi-Ukwu in Nigeria.

Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Queen's School, Enugu; St. Anne's School, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo State; and the International School Ibadan.

Subsequently, from June to August 2006, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.

Okonjo-Iweala was also instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s in 2006.

She also introduced the practice of publishing the federal, state, and local government shares of revenue from the country’s federal account.

That action went a long way in increasing transparency in governance at all levels of government, particularly the sub-national level.

Following her first term as Minister of Finance, she served two months as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2006.

In addition to her role in government, Okonjo-Iweala served on the Commission on Growth and Development (2006–2009), led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Michael Spence.

At The World Bank, she had a 25-year career as a development economist; rising to become Managing Director for Operations from 2007 to 2011.

She returned to the World Bank as a Managing Director in December 2007.

Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008–2009 food crises and later during the financial crisis.

During her time at the World Bank, she was also a member of the Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa, which was set up by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and held meetings between April and October 2008.

In 2010, she was the chair person of the IDA replenishment, the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.

In 2011, Okonjo-Iweala was re-appointed as Minister of Finance in Nigeria with the expanded portfolio of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy by President Goodluck Jonathan.

In her second term as Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was responsible for leading reform that enhanced transparency of government accounts and strengthened institutions against corruption, including the implementation of the GIFMS (Government Integrated Financial Management System), the IPPMS (Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System), and the TSA (Treasury Single Accounts).

As part of Goodluck Jonathan's administration, she received death threats and endured the kidnapping of her mother when she tried to sanitise Nigeria’s fuel subsidy payments to some marketers in 2012.

Her legacy includes strengthening the country's public financial systems and stimulating the housing sector with the establishment of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC) in 2013.

Under her leadership, the National Bureau of Statistics carried out a re-basing exercise of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the first in 24 years, which saw Nigeria emerge as the largest economy in Africa.

She also empowered women and youth with the Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria Programme (GWIN), a gender-responsive budgeting system, and the highly acclaimed Youth Enterprise with Innovation Programme (YouWIN); to support entrepreneurs, that created thousands of jobs.

As of February 2015, the IPPIS platform had eliminated 62,893 ghost workers from the system and saved the government about $1.25 billion in the process.