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| Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala |
That the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy in the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, landed two top jobs in the past month may not be news anymore. She is now a Senior Advisor for Lazard as part of the financial advisory firm’s sovereign advisory group; she is also the chair-elect of the board for GAVI.
What many find interesting is the height of her excitement over both appointments. For a woman who has spent 25 years at the World Bank, most recently as a managing director, and twice as Nigeria’s finance minister in what is now Africa’s biggest economy, many would think she has seen it all. No, she is excited facing a challenge of an entirely different kind.
She may have spent the past three decades working on fiscal management and governance systems in Africa, but she is no less optimistic that she will leave her marks in her new job at GAVI. The job challenges her to reach the global body’s target to immunize 300 million more children in the next five years and save 5 million to 6 million more lives.
GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, is a prominent international organization which is focused on increasing access to immunization in poor countries around the world while Lazard is one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms. Operating from 43 cities across 27 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Lazard’s sovereign advisory group is the preeminent financial advisor to governments and other sovereign entities around the world.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala who started her career at the World Bank in 1982, was Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 2011 until May 2015. She had earlier served in same capacity from 2003 to 2006, during which she led the country’s successful debt relief negotiations.
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