“I feel ready to go.”
– Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
On the 1st of March, a good working Monday, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister and the first woman and African to be appointed as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) resumed her first day of work as WTO chief. In welcoming her, the trade organisation said: “Welcome to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her first day as WTO Director-General! She makes history as the first woman and first African to take up this post.” She assumes office in an interesting times when glass ceilings are being shattered into some smithereens. The first interplanetary (Hope) mission of United Arab Emirates (UAE) landed on planet Mars on Tuesday February 9, 2021, first Arab nation to announce an ambition to be on the moon in 2024.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Beyond gender
By Issa Aremu
ON March 1, a good working Monday, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister and the first woman and African to be appointed as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, resumed her first day of work as WTO chief. In welcoming her, the trade organisation said: “Welcome to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her first day as WTO Director-General! She makes history as the first woman and first African to take up this post.”
She assumes office in an interesting time when glass ceilings are being shattered into some smithereens.The first interplanetary (Hope) mission of United Arab Emirates, UAE, landed on planet Mars on Tuesday February 9, 2021, first Arab nation to announce an ambition to be on the moon in 2024. A returnee from that historic mission to Mars, reading the global print media coverage of the election of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the seventh Director General of WTO would have rightly assumed the unprecedented f
African Of The Year: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Published 4 months ago
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been adjudged the ‘2020 African of the Year’. Previous winners have been Rwandan President Paul Kagame (2018) and African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina (2019).
Okonjo-Iweala is well-positioned to take on the next big role, transforming Africa and negotiating on the world stage.
About 17 years ago, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala challenged Nigeria’s patriarchy by becoming the longest-serving finance minister, the first foreign minister, and most importantly, the first woman to ever hold those positions.
Today, she is on the brink of yet another first, as a finalist to the top post as theseventh Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a position which will make Okonjo-Iweala the first African and once again the first woman to lead the prestigious trade body.