Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Archives - Leading Reporters

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named the most powerful woman in Africa and the 87th in the world by Forbes.

The Financial Magazine made the disclosure in its 20th annual ranking released on Tuesday.

The ranking showcased various influential figures, including CEOs, entertainers, politicians, philanthropists, and policymakers.

While Ms Okonjo-Iweala is positioned at 87th in the Most Powerful Women in the World list, Mpumi Madisa, a South African businesswoman, is at 88th.

Tanzanian President Samia Hassan is ranked at the 93rd spot, and Nigerian media mogul and philanthropist, Mo Abudu at 98th.

Meanwhile, Forbes ranked Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, as the most powerful woman in the world for 2023.

Christine Lagarde got the second position as the European Central Bank President.

Following closely is U.S. Vice President, Kamala Harris in third place, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni securing the fourth spot.

In the 2022 ranking, Okonjo-Iwela was at number 91 in Forbes’s World’s 100 Most Powerful Women due to her role in providing financial assistance and promoting global trade.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is an economist and international development professional with more than 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

In March 2021, she became the first woman and the first African to serve as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

She served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister from 2003-2006 and 2011-2015 and also briefly acted as foreign minister in 2006.

Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has lamented the level of disunity in Nigeria, describing the situation as sad.

She spoke via her verified Twitter handle yesterday while debunking reports alleging that she snubbed President Bola Tinubu during the just-concluded summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, France.

Okonjo-Iweala had posted photographs with some participating African presidents like that of Senegal, Macky Sall; South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema – at the summit which was also attended by President Tinubu.

Social media users in Nigeria, especially supporters of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, who go by the appellation of ‘Obi-dients’, hailed Okonjo-Iweala for purportedly snubbing Tinubu at the global event.

Consequently, many netizens who are supporters of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, otherwise known as ‘BATists’ began to fire what can be described as a counter salvo without finding out the veracity or otherwise of the claim.

They alleged that President Tinubu was deliberately cropped out of the photographs despite his attendance of the summit convened by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

But, amid the social media spat between the two groups of Nigerians occasioned by false claims and counter-claims, Okonjo-Iweala took to her verified Twitter handle again yesterday to debunk the allegations against her.

She shared more photographs she took at the summit with President Tinubu, Nigerian businessman Tony Elumelu and others, noting that photographs with other African presidents earlier posted by her were done in the order she received them from her accompanying staff and colleagues at the event.

She, therefore, stated that ascribing any ulterior motive or meaning to her action (order of posting her photographs) was unnecessary and unwarranted even as she called for unity of purpose and cessation of further attacks by Nigerians.

Okonjo-Iweala wrote: “Nigerians please relax! Re Paris, Interesting attacks from both sides. Sadly shows the depth of polarization in our society. I post photos in the order received by accompanying staff or colleagues. Reading more into it is unwarranted. Let’s unite to build our country not attack!”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela ranked most powerful woman in Africa

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