Former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2020.
The world’s leading voice for entrepreneurial success and free enterprise made this known in a tweet on Tuesday.
The tweet read, “The 2020 #AfricanOftheYear Award honoree is…Congratulations to Dr. @NOlweala! Board Chair @Gavi; Board Chair @ARCapicity, gracing the cover of @forbesafrica,”
Reacting to the development, Okonjo-Iweala, who is set to become the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organisation in its 25-year history, said she is excited by the prestigious award.
She tweeted, “Thrilled to be named Forbes Africa-CNBC ‘2020 African of the Year’ following in the footsteps of my great brothers Paul Kagame and Akin Adesina.”
With this development, Okonjo-Iweala joins a growing list of Nigerians to have been given the award by Forbes.
Others are President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina; Ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Muhammad Sanusi II; President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; amongst others.
Okonjo-Iweala, who has been the chair of Board of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation since January 2016, dedicated the award to all Africans.
“This award is for fellow Africans suffering the health and economic impact of #Covid19. The energy and resilience of Africans inspire me!” she wrote.
But for the opposition of the Trump administration, the 66-year-old former World Bank director would have been announced as director general of World Trade Organisation, having reportedly been selected consensus candidate by the WTO selection committee.
The United States under the outgoing president, Donald Trump, preferred Okonjo’s rival, South Korea’s Trade Minister, Too Myung-hee, for the coveted job.
The unilateral opposition happened despite the fact that the WTO selection committee determined Okonjo “clearly carried the largest support by members” and “clearly enjoyed broad support from members from all levels of development and from all geographic regions.”
The selection committee is expected to meet this month in Switzerland to pick a choice between Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee who has been widely reported to have pulled out of the race.
