Speaker

Ngozi OKONJO-IWEALA

Former Minister of Finance - Nigeria

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the former Minister of Finance of Nigeria and Coordinating Minister for the Economy (June 2011 to May 2015). In this role, she was responsible for managing the finances of Africa’s largest economy and the 8^th largest country in the world. She was also responsible for the coordination of the conceptualization and implementation of economic policies and strategies and she chaired the 18-person Economic Management Implementation Team (EMIT)mandated to implement the Government’s Transformation Agenda.

She is renowned as the first female and black candidate to contest for the Presidency of the World Bank Group, backed by Africa and major developing countries, such as Brazil, in the first truly contestable race for the world’s highest development finance post.

From December 2007 to August 2011, she was Managing Director of the World Bank (the No. 2 position at the World Bank), where she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008 – 2009 food crisis and later during the financial crisis. In 2010, she was chair of the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.

From September 2006 to November 2007, she was Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC. Before that, she was Nigeria’s Finance Minister for three years and was briefly Minister of Foreign Affairs. The first woman to hold both positions. As Minister of Finance, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors that led to the wiping out of US$30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of US$18 billion or 60 percent.