Last week, Delta-born, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala got re-appointed as the Director-General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), to serve for a second term in office. Many have congratulated her for this well-deserved feat, describing it as a testament to her exceptional leadership, vision and dedication to promoting global economic growth and stability.
To some too, her re-appointment is a vote of confidence in her ability to navigate the complex and ever-challenging global economic landscape, while some bluntly said, her expertise, strategic thinking, and collaborative approach have been instrumental in shaping policies that have positively impacted economies around the world.
Whatever encomium that is poured on her as she begins her second term in office as Director-General, what is obviously not disputable about her is her sustainable approach to addressing the world’s most pressing economic challenges, and that her re-appointment will have a profound positive impact on the global economy.
She is an Economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. 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.
She 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.
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 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. Subsequently, from June to August 2006, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria.
In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year.
Born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, where her6 father, Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, was the Obi (king) of the Obahai royal family of Ogwashi-Ukwu in Nigeria, she briefly attended Queen’s School, Enugu; and was later relocated to live and to further her education in St. Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo State; and also attended the International School Ibadan, Oyo State.
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 obtained 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.
As a Development Economist at the World Bank, she 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.
To her credit, Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008–2009 food crises and later during the financial crisis. 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. 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.
****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 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 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.
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.
After leaving government, Okonjo-Iweala became a member of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (2015–2016), chaired by Gordon Brown, and the Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which was established by the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. From 2014, she has been co-chairing the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate, with Nicholas Stern and Paul Polman.
She also served as Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2016–2020). She is the founder of Nigeria’s first indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls, and also founded the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a development research think-tank based in Abuja, and is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Brookings Institution.
Since 2019, Okonjo-Iweala has been part of UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education, chaired by Sahle-Work Zewde. Also since 2019, she has been serving on the High-Level Council on Leadership & Management for Development of the Aspen Management Partnership for Health (AMP Health) In 2020, the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva appointed her to an external advisory group to provide input on policy challenges.
In 2020, she was appointed by the African Union (AU) as Special Envoy to solicit international support to help the continent deal with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as World Health Organization COVID-19 Special Envoy.
*****In June 2020, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Okonjo-Iweala as the country’s candidate to be director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO).She later advanced to the election’s final round and eventually competed with Yoo Myung-hee. Ahead of the vote, she received the backing of the European Union for her candidacy. In October 2020, the United States government indicated that it would not back her candidacy. The WTO in its formal report said that Okonjo-Iweala “clearly carried the largest support by Members in the final round; and, enjoyed broad support from Members from all levels of development and from all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process”
On 5 February 2021, Yoo Myung-hee announced her withdrawal from the race in “close consultation with the United States.” According to a statement issued from the United States Trade Representative, “The United States takes note of today’s decision by the Republic of Korea’s Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee to withdraw her candidacy for Director General of the WTO. The Biden-Harris Administration is pleased to express its strong support for the candidacy of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director General of the WTO.”
That was how she was unanimously appointed as the next Director-General on 15 February, beginning her career as Director General of the WTO on 1 March 2021.
In November 2024, she was re appointed to serve her second term as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization(WTO).
