Ngozi OKONJO-IWEALA

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy - Nigeria

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in July 2011.

Prior to this appointment, she was the Managing Director of World Bank. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has also held the positions of Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria between 2003 and 2006. She is notable for being the first woman to hold either of these positions. As Finance Minister she was lauded for ridding Nigeria of $30 billion dollars of external debt with the Paris Club. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is the recipient of numerous awards including honorary doctorates from some of the world’s most prestigious universities. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME in 2014 and 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine for 4 years consecutively since 2011 and one of the three most powerful women in Africa. She is a member of several high level global development initiatives including the Post 2015 MDGs High Level Panel and the Post-Busan Global Partnership for Development Effectiveness. She is also the author of several books and articles including Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria, recently released from the MIT Press.