Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala GCON
Okonjo-Iweala in 2021

7th Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 March 2021
Preceded by	Roberto Azevêdo
Minister of Finance
In office 17 August 2011 – 29 May 2015
President	Goodluck Jonathan
Preceded by	Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga
Succeeded by	Kemi Adeosun
In office 15 July 2003 – 21 June 2006
President	Olusegun Obasanjo
Preceded by	Adamu Ciroma
Succeeded by	Nenadi Usman
Coordinating Minister for the Economy
In office 17 August 2011 – 29 May 2015
President	Goodluck Jonathan
Preceded by	Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 21 June 2006 – 30 August 2006
President	Olusegun Obasanjo
Preceded by	Oluyemi Adeniji
Succeeded by	Joy Ogwu

Personal details
Born	(1954-06-13) 13 June 1954 (age 71) Ogwashi Ukwu, Nigeria
Citizenship	Nigeria (1954–present) United States (2019–present)
Spouse	Ikemba Iweala
Children	4, including Uzodinma
Education	Harvard University (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA, PhD)

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (born June 13, 1954) is a Nigerian economist. She has been the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since March 2021. She is the first woman and the first person from Africa to lead the WTO.

Before her role at the WTO, she served on the boards of many important organizations. These included Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, and the Rockefeller Foundation. She also worked for 25 years as a development economist at The World Bank. There, she became a Managing Director. Okonjo-Iweala was also the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as the Finance Minister of Nigeria. She held this role under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. In 2006, she briefly served as Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2005, Euromoney magazine named her the Global Finance Minister of the Year.

Early Life and Education
Career Highlights
Personal Life
Other Activities
Recognition and Awards
- Awards
- Honorary Degrees
Gallery
See also

Early Life and Education

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria. Her father, Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, was the traditional ruler (Obi) of the Obahai royal family in Ogwashi-Ukwu.

She attended Queen's School in Enugu and later St. Anne's School, Molete in Ibadan. She also studied at the International School, Ibadan. In 1973, she moved to the United States. She studied at Harvard University and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1976. She then got a master's degree in city planning in 1978. In 1981, she completed her PhD in regional economics and development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focused on how credit policy and financial markets affect Nigeria's farming.

Career Highlights

Working at the World Bank

Okonjo-Iweala at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in 2004.

Okonjo-Iweala worked for 25 years at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.. She started as a development economist and rose to become a Managing Director. In this role, she managed the World Bank's operations worth $81 billion. These operations covered Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.

She led several World Bank projects to help countries with low incomes. These projects supported them during the food crises of 2008–2009 and the financial crisis that followed. In 2010, she helped raise $49.3 billion in aid for the world's poorest countries.

Serving in Government

Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria's Finance Minister twice. Her first term was from 2003 to 2006, and her second was from 2011 to 2015. She also briefly served as Foreign Minister in 2006. She was the first woman to hold both of these important positions in Nigeria.

During her first time as Finance Minister, she helped Nigeria reduce its debt by $30 billion. This included canceling $18 billion of debt with the Paris Club. She also worked to improve Nigeria's economic management. For example, she introduced a rule to save extra money when oil prices were high. This helped Nigeria's economy stay stable. She also helped Nigeria get its first ever sovereign credit rating from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s in 2006. To make things more open, she started publishing how much money each level of government received.

Okonjo-Iweala in 2008.

When she returned as Finance Minister in 2011, she also became the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. She led efforts to make government finances more transparent and fight corruption. She introduced systems like GIFMS, IPPMS, and TSA. These systems helped remove thousands of "ghost workers" from the government payroll. This saved the government a lot of money.

She also helped strengthen Nigeria's financial systems and boost the housing sector. Under her leadership, Nigeria's GDP was re-calculated. This showed Nigeria was the largest economy in Africa. She also started programs like GWIN and YouWIN to help women and young entrepreneurs. These programs created many jobs. While working to improve Nigeria's fuel subsidy system, she faced serious challenges, including threats and the kidnapping of her mother in 2012.

Later Career and WTO Leadership

After leaving government, Okonjo-Iweala continued to work on global issues. She was part of groups focused on education and global financial management. Since 2014, she has co-chaired the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate. She also chaired the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, from 2016 to 2020.

She founded NOI-Polls, Nigeria's first local opinion research group. She also started the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (C-SEA). This is a research center in Abuja.

In 2020, the African Union (AU) appointed her as a special envoy. Her role was to get international support for Africa to deal with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also served as a World Health Organization COVID-19 Special Envoy.

In June 2020, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari nominated her to be the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She received strong support from many countries, including the European Union. Although the United States initially did not support her, the Biden-Harris administration later expressed strong support. On February 15, 2021, she was unanimously appointed as the next director-general. She started her role on March 1, 2021.

In early 2021, Okonjo-Iweala became a co-chair of the G20 High Level Independent Panel. This group works on financing global efforts for pandemic preparedness. She also helped create the COVAX Facility, which aims to provide affordable vaccines to developing countries. In November 2024, she was reappointed for her second term as the WTO director-general.

Personal Life

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is married to Ikemba Iweala, a neurosurgeon from Umuahia, Nigeria. They have four children, including the author Uzodinma Iweala. She became a US citizen in 2019.

Other Activities

Okonjo-Iweala has been involved with many other important organizations:

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Advisory Board
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), International Advisory Panel
GAVI, Chair of the Board (2016–2020)
African Development Bank (AfDB), Board of Governors
International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Monetary and Finance Committee
Danone, Mission Committee
Twitter, Board of Directors (until February 2021)
Standard Chartered, Independent Non-executive Director
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Board of Trustees
Rockefeller Foundation, Board of Trustees (2008–2018)
One Campaign, Board Member
World Economic Forum, Board of Trustees

Recognition and Awards

Awards

Okonjo-Iweala has received many awards and honors. She has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (2015). TIME listed her among the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (2014 and 2021). Forbes has named her one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World multiple times (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2022, and 2023).

She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. She has also received high national honors from Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Brazil. In Nigeria, she received the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) in 2022. Other awards include:

2004 – TIME’s European Heroes Award
2005 – Global Finance Minister of the Year, Euromoney
2010 – Global Leadership Award, Columbia University
2014 – David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award
2017 – BBC's 100 women
2020 – African of the Year, Forbes Africa
2022 – Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement
2023 – Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award

Honorary Degrees

Okonjo-Iweala has received honorary Doctorate Degrees from 21 universities around the world. These include:

Brown University (2006)
Yale University (2015)
University of Pennsylvania (2013)
London School of Economics and Political Science (2023)
University of Oxford (2024)

She has also received degrees from many Nigerian universities, such as Abia State University and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).

Gallery

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2007 World Economic Forum
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2007 World Economic Forum
Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls on the Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi on May 12, 2011
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaking at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London