Igbo Family History & Genealogy Records

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala(1954- )Economist and Finance expert.

Okonjo-Iweala is one of Nigeria’s most accomplished women. She was born in Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State, Nigeria to renowned Economics Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, the late Obi of Ogwashi-Ukwu. She attended Queen's School, Enugu, St. Anne's School, Molete, Ibadan, and the International School Ibadan. She later went on to Harvard and MIT to obtain her Bachelor’s and Doctorate degrees. She spent 25years at the World Bank rising to the post of Managing Director. Okonjo-Iweala also served two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria, the first 2003-2006 and the second 2011-2015. One of her great accomplishments was leading the negotiations with the Paris Club that led to the wiping out of US$30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of US$18 billion. Also as minister of finance for Nigeria, she helped the country's economy, the largest in Africa, grow an average of 6% (per annum) over three years. She is credited with developing reform programs that helped improve governmental transparency and stabilizing the economy

Okonjo-Iweala has received numerous recognitions and awards. She has been listed as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011). She was listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.

In 2019, Okonjo-Iweala was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also conferred High National Honours from the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and the Republic of Liberia. She is also the recipient of Nigeria's Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).

She holds honorary degrees from 14 prestigious universities around the World including Yale, University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College Dublin.

She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including: Fighting Corruption Is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines (MIT Press, 2018), Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria (MIT Press, 2012), and The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, 2003).

She is married to a Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ikemba Iweala and they have four children who are all Harvard alumni.

Full credits: Bimbola Babarinde‎/The Nigerian Nostalgia 1960 -1980 Project