HERO SERIES: Princess, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
It is done! Thank you @WTO members for finalizing my election today and making history. In the 73 years of GATT and WTO, honored to be First Woman and First African to lead. But now the real work begins. Ready to tackle the challenges of WTO. Forget Business as usual!
Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, DG WTO
The World Trade Organization officially selected Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, an Economist, former Nigeria Finance Minister, and Managing Director of the World Bank, to be its next leader. The first woman and first African to serve as a director general of the 73-year-old institution. She succeeded against 7 other candidates with her message of trade’s ability to lift people out of poverty.
Her story is an inspiration to us all, that it is possible. But what is her story and what can we learn from it?
It starts with her father, Dr. Chukwuka Benjamin Okonjo. An economist and Mathematician and, later King of Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State.
Story 1: A Father’s Example
Dr Chukwuka Okonjo gained his degree from the University of Ibadan, University of London, and University of Cologne (1949–1962).
A renowned Economist and Mathematician, who worked in the United Nations in Ghana. He was instrumental in the setup of the first African population information network.
In 2000 Okonjo published — The Quiet Revolution. On creating an information-age education system for Nigeria.
The Preview states: -
The author, an experienced demographer, argues that abundant intellectual capital, high educational standards and first-class work skills are the key to modernization, characterized by economic growth with equity and diversity. After a detailed survey of the education system at all levels, he concludes that modernization can be achieved in Nigeria through the total reconstruction of the education system which includes an increase in the time pupils spend at school, changes in the curriculum, use of teaching aids and development studies.
It is interesting how these values (Education, Industry, and Public Service) still hold true today and are evident in his daughter; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s rise to the top position at the World Trade Organization. She studied Economics at Harvard University and earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Story 2: Determination and Conviction
During the Nigerian civil war, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was 14 years old, her father joined the opposition army and was away. During this period things got really bad with families surviving on one meal a day and eventually nothing.
Her narration:
In the midst of all this, my mother fell ill with a stomach ailment for two or three days. We thought she was going to die. My father was not there. He was in the army. So I was the oldest person in the house. My sister fell very ill with malaria. She was three years old and I was 15. And she had such a high fever. We tried everything. It didn’t look like it was going to work. Until we heard that 10 kilometers away there was a doctor, who was looking at people and giving them meds.
Now I put my sister on my back — burning — and I walked 10 kilometers with her strapped on my back. It was really hot. I was very hungry. I was scared because I knew her life depended on my getting to this woman. We heard there was a woman doctor who was treating people. I walked 10 kilometers, putting one foot in front of the other. I got there and I saw huge crowds. Almost a thousand people were there, trying to break down the door. She was doing this in a church. How was I going to get in?
I had to crawl in between the legs of these people with my sister strapped on my back, to find a way to a window. And while they were trying to break down the door, I climbed in through the window, and jumped in.
This woman told me it was in the nick of time. By the time we jumped into that hall, she was barely moving. She gave a shot of her chloroquine — what I learned was the chloroquine then — gave her some — it must have been a re-hydration — and some other therapies and put us in a corner.
In about two to three hours, she started to move. And then they toweled her down because she started sweating, which was a good sign. And then my sister woke up. And about five or six hours later, she said we could go home.
I strapped her on my back. I walked the 10 kilometers back and it was the shortest walk I ever had. I was so happy that my sister was alive! Today she is 41 years old, a mother of three, and she’s a physician saving other lives.
Story 3: More Determination and Conviction
In her book Fighting Corruption Is Dangerous, she tells the story of her mother’s 2012 kidnapping.
After confirming that their victim was indeed the “the mother of the finance minister”, the abductors declared they would free her mother if Okonjo-Iweala publicly announced her resignation and left the country. When they realized that she had no intention of yielding to this, they demand a ransom.
Eventually she was released and told investigators that she overhead the kidnappers say she was targeted because her daughter had “refused to pay oil importers” during a campaign to clean up the Nigerian oil sector, a segment of the economy plagued by endemic corruption.
5 key values of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
1. Education
2. Excellence
3. Public Service
4. Cultural Identity
5. Determination and Conviction
For this and future generations of Africa, we should strive to emulate Dr. Okonjo Iweala as THE role model for leadership by:
1. Studying and learning from her story and example
2. Adopting her values
3. Supporting women in our community especially with regards to gender equality and the girl child education
4. Building our own Legacies
If we do these things, and leverage this opportunity, we can help shape an incredible future for Africa, and the world.
Congratulations Princess Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
