The Executive Governor of Taraba State, Arc. Darius Ishaku , congratulates Dr Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala over her appointment as the DG World Trade Organization( WTO) .
The governor in a post on his official verified facebook handle @DariusIshakuofficial, described Iweala as one of the most outstanding economist in the world.
“I congratulate my sister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her emergence as the first African and first female Director General of the World Trade Organization. I have worked closely with Dr Ngozi, and I can attest that she’s one of the outstanding economist we have in the world”.
“The nation and indeed Africa is proud of such fit. I am confident she will make us all proud”. he tweeted.
Born in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala graduated from Harvard University in 1976 and then earned a PhD from MIT. She then became the first woman to take on the Nigerian finance ministry and the foreign ministry too. She was also the first female to run for the World Bank presidency, where she spent 25 years.
In October, her WTO candidacy was supported by all geographic regions at the trade body apart from the United States, where the then-Trump administration said it would continue backing the Korean candidate. However, Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment was cleared when President Joe Biden announced a few days ago his support for the 66-year old.
When serving as Nigeria’s finance minister, kidnappers demanded Okonjo-Iweala resign after taking her mother hostage. She refused to comply and they ended up releasing her mother a few days later, the BBC reported.
She has also been involved in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, being the African Union’s special envoy on the matter. Okonjo-Iweala has been a board member of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — a public-private health partnership immunizing people in poorer countries.
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