Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala GCON is a Nigerian-American economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General. Wikipedia Born: June 13, 1954 (age 69 years), Quotes by N Okonjo-Iweala · 2014 · Cited by 2 — She said, "People knew about the economics, maybe the geography—but they didn't know how people lived" But in the legislature, there's still not quite the acceptance of letting women break through the glass ceiling. It's clearly a man's world. When it comes to election time, everybody wants all sorts of things Our politicians need to realize that you do not politicize the budget. In a developing country, that's lethal. Everything has become politicized, even corruption. People throw out corruption charges, numbers of missing income, that are untrue. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24483577. A conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, JSTOR, 2 March 2014, Retrieved 04 November 2024. 4 Mar 2021 — has only just begun her run. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ... said “in every challenge, there is an opportunity”. For Africa, she . https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/nigeria-s-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-wto-what-s-next "You can't just have a World Bank and IMF, which are supposed to help in development, and have the richest countries control them." "Leadership is not about the next election, it's about the next generation." [Interview with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2018 Women in the World Summit "You have to have a passion for development in Africa and the Caribbean." Speech by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the African Development Bank Annual Meetings "Without good data, you're flying blind." Interview with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2016 World Economic Forum "Women need to be part of the solution, not just a part of the discussion." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 2015 Women in the World Summit "Corruption is not just a problem of Nigeria; it is a global problem." "We have to make sure that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely." "When women are empowered, they improve not only their own lives, but also the lives of their families and communities." "Development is not about helping poor people, it is about creating wealth, jobs, and opportunity." Trade quotes "In every crisis lies an opportunity." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Trade is a strong driver of global growth." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Current trade issues are not purely the fault of trade policy." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Digital trade is going to be the future of trade." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Africa’s share of world trade has stagnated by 3 per cent because they are still exporting the same things." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Africa must trade more with itself." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "Africa has potential not only for critical minerals but also for clean energy." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "The US should also think because trade is about interdependence, and if countries decide to trade by themselves, that won't work." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. "There is no country that can exist by itself." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. * "Sometimes trade is unfairly blamed for things that are due to technology." Remarks by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Reimagining American Economic Leadership, a CFR initiative of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, 2025. You open the door by doing your work. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) (Laughs)I don’t go around everyday thinking I’m a woman, but I love being a woman. It’s natural and I think it brings certain advantages and clarity of thinking in purposeful delivery and focus on results and wanting to do the right thing. My job is to be the best professional that I can be and the best finance minister that I can be and work as hard as I can, so that the next time, they will just take the best person for the job and that best person could be a woman. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) When a choice is being made, there’s no inhibition of saying she is a woman, she might not be able to deliver. It’s not a numbers game. It’s really a responsibility game. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Of course, it’s a sense of responsibility to serve my country, which is what brought me into the job in the first place. Being a finance minister is such a thankless and difficult job and you can ask any finance minister anywhere in the world, you have to make decisions nobody likes, but you are not there to be liked. You are there to get work done and get respect and you have to have a sense of commitment because it’s very challenging. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Everyday, there are people criticising you right, left and centre. So you have to be grounded in knowing that there are a set of principles that guide the work. You have to recognise that you also have to work with a team. You don’t achieve or get the job done on your own and you have to motivate the team to help you deliver. So it’s a very difficult work that comes with a sense of responsibility. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) I think a lot of it is a trust issue. You need to build trust with other women and women need to believe in themselves. There are many women who may be working but they don’t believe in themselves or other women and in their mind, they still think that men are the decision-makers and it’s men that they look to. They do not see other women as leaders. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) They see them as competition. For me, the platform is big and the more women, particularly young women, you can get up there and motivate, the more powerful you will be. So when I see other women, I always look on them as a potential source of collaboration. But then you have to be careful because you may be looking at them like that and they may be seeing you in a totally different light that you don’t know about. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) That has happened to me quite often – working with other women, you have groomed them and worked with them, mentored them, then when they get into a position they promptly turn around and stab you in the back big-time. I have experienced that too and it’s not a pleasant thing, but that has not taken away my strong belief in women. African women are really strong; they do so much and deliver so much. I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Well, the legacy I can leave is by showing that you can do it. I trust that younger women can look at what I did and they can find out that you can have your career, marry and have a family. It’s not easy by the way and I’m not saying that everybody can automatically do it. You have to find your own balance. Hopefully I can serve as an example. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Secondly, I personally mentor young women and it’s not only young African women. I mentor Chinese, Asian, African and European women. I also mentor men when they come for advice and guidance in addition to my own children. That means you devote time and when they have a problem, you have to listen to them. But mentoring is intensive. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Hence, when someone comes and says, “can you be my mentor?”, I hesitate because I can only do so much. Working with me is also mentoring because you learn just as I learn from other people. But I would say to women, find something that you are passionate about, find something that drives you, something that you have a commitment to, something you want to change. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) I just like engaging with young people. I don’t know why. They give me energy. When I’m with young people, I feel energised, really happy, and good and I feel they have so much to offer. When I listen to them, particularly when they are trying to do something that gives back and or they are coming up with new ideas, I feel I can learn from young people and I like learning. You are never too old to learn. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) If you ever stop learning in life, then you know something is really wrong. Even when I was at the World Bank, I always surrounded myself with younger economists and as a minister, you can see my office, I have a lot of young people and they work so hard. But most of all, you can encourage them to lift their sights and grasp what is waiting for them. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) Very few people want to be reformers because it’s not a fun job, but you have to ask yourself why you want to do it and what needs to be done. Do you have the necessary landscape and political backing to be able to do it? I think in our countries, and if we really want the African continent to sustain the growth and development beyond what we have seen, we have got to keep reforming a whole range of sectors; we really have a long way to go. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) The issue is that in every sector, you are reforming because things are not working well or there is a missing link, but there are also people who have been in that sector benefiting and we call them vested interests and it’s to their advantage that you don’t do anything or you don’t succeed, so they can continue benefiting. So that’s the drawback of vested interests, even if you are trying to clean up. Whatever you are doing, they are there. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: “I believe in the power of women and their ability to run things.”nawmagazine(November 03,2020) What I’ve learned is how difficult it is, and that there are no easy answers. Those who say they have the magic wand to make inclusive growth and development happen are really not telling it as it is. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) The first and foremost thing for growth and inclusive development is a stable macroeconomic environment. If you don’t have stability in your basic prices in the economy, the exchange rate is not well-aligned; if inflation is high, which taxes the poor; if your fiscal deficit is out of control — and you have not fixed all those, all the money you are pouring into securing development isn’t going to work. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) I also learned that inclusivity for poor people means that they want jobs — they are not looking for handouts. So inclusive growth means the ability to create jobs. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) The creation of jobs in many of our countries cannot really happen the way we would like without adequate infrastructure. I say to young men and women, “Don’t wait for the government or a company to give you a job, create a job first for yourself and then for six or more people.” To do that, you need infrastructure. You can’t do it if you don’t have power — that’s the most important thing. And power is what’s most lacking in African countries. So we need power, we need roads, we need ports, we need connectivity and infrastructure for information and communications technology, and I want to commend MCC for expending its resources on these. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) It’s also what countries get right, and what they get wrong. No country can develop just with donor support. If a country cannot set out its policies, its priorities, its strategies, then there is a problem. Because what you need is for donors to come behind those and support you — that’s the best way to operate. It’s also the hardest. It’s easier to come in, craft something and implement, but MCC should stick with its country-led approach. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) MCC has a very special niche because you are an organization that can do hard things like infrastructure. Grant money is powerful, and you have a portfolio of over $11 billion. I think MCC should use that leverage wisely for two things: one is to support countries, strongly insisting that they have a view, and they don’t just give into whatever you say; second is to leverage other donors and the private sector to put up more resources. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) There are two things that make me hopeful. First, it’s the young people — I get so excited when I meet them. Although they are frustrated with older generations for having messed things up in many ways, they are full of ideas and energy about what to do next. The second thing that gives me hope is that, for the most part, policymakers on the continent have learned that macroeconomic fundamentals like controlling inflation matter. This is the reason that Africa’s economic growth is a trend, not a fluke. The continent is experiencing a difficult period now, but if policymakers focus on good policies, there will be a turnaround. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) When women get top posts, even in developed countries, people somehow think they have too much power. You will be judged more harshly, and people expect more of you as a woman. So it’s not easy, but does that mean that you should shy away from doing those tough things if the opportunity comes? The answer is no. But you have to be wise about it, you have to have principles. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) I advise everybody, but women in particular, to try to work in places where they can quantify and measure what you are doing, so it doesn’t depend entirely on somebody’s judgement. The World Bank, where I started out in the Young Professionals Program, was good in that way. You were given a task and you produced it to quality, or you did not. Even if people did not like you — your gender, your color or whatever — if you did a good project, a good report, a good result on the ground, it spoke for itself. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) Finally, there’s no easy answer to balancing work and family. You need to do what you are comfortable with. I think the best thing I have done in my whole life are my children. All my other titles pale in contrast when I think of my children. A Conversation with Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealamcc(November 22, 2016) The first job for government is to create a macroeconomic environment that lets people seize opportunities with low inflation and reasonable interest rates while keeping prices and the exchange rate aligned to fundamentals of the economy. You need to couple this with transparency and a strong anti-corruption stance to let your citizens and businesses know that there is a level playing field. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Which sectors create the most jobs? Let’s take agriculture. There is a lot of potential to improve the value chain in Africa because we grow many primary products that are exported to be processed. That takes away jobs. Why can’t the private sector invest in transforming those products in Africa? Instead of exporting cocoa to Belgium, manufacture chocolate in Ghana or in Côte d’Ivoire. Instead of exporting cotton or hides and skins, set up mills and factories to do the processing and manufacturing in Africa, like Ethiopia has done with China for shoes. If you create a value chain, you create many more jobs. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Entrepreneurial citizens are important for prosperity in developing countries, but they also need a supportive regulatory and business environment. Entrepreneurs need access to credit, to electricity and to water. They need the capacity to market their goods. Governments, with the help of the private sector, need to invest in infrastructure to support entrepreneurs and to develop specialised programmes that target small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For example, the Nigerian government, with a consortium of actors including the German government, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, created the Development Bank of Nigeria to support SMEs with access to credit. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) You have to look at the conditions that stand in the way. One is the perception of risk. The return on investment in Africa can rise to 30% and above, so it is profitable to invest in Africa. People perceive risk in Africa to be much higher than it really is. Political instability in one country, for instance, may overshadow news of ventures that are delivering high return on investment in other countries. Remember, the continent has 54 countries, so there is a diversity of performance. One way to confront that perception is by offering financial instruments that de-risk investment. There are many ways of doing this, and it allows the private sector to have confidence to invest further. Governments also need to maintain policy consistency to minimise uncertainty for the private sector. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Infrastructure is the second area to mobilise investment. Without infrastructure it is very difficult to attract private investment. Private investors need supportive infrastructure like industrial parks, electricity and access to roads. It is estimated that Africa will need US$93bn–120bn in infrastructure investment per year. Governments cannot do it alone. There have to be public-private partnerships to bring capital and know-how in execution. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Third, remove bureaucratic hurdles that stand in the way of investment. Requiring businesses to go to multiple agencies to get all sorts of licences and permits leads to corruption. Simplify the processes for investors to invest. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Lastly, governments should attract domestic investment too. If international investors do not see domestic investors putting money into Africa, they will not be as willing to invest either. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) If you focus on those areas, you will go a long way in attracting private investment. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, brings together governments, the private sector, civil-society organisations and foundations—Unicef, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—to deliver one goal: immunisation of children in the developing world. This partnership has led to nearly 580m children being immunised in over 73 developing countries since Gavi was formed in 2000. Immunisation is one of the most effective instruments for delivering on the SDGs. One dollar of investment in immunisation delivers US$44 in avoided health costs and lifetime benefits. That is a very high return on investment. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) To be a successful partnership, everyone at the table needs to see that the common goal delivers benefits for all. Gavi has the power to aggregate demand for vaccines from dozens of countries and thereby assure volume. This helps the pharmaceutical industry to offer lower prices to developing countries whilst still covering their costs. Citizens get immunised and businesses get healthy workers. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) You need to look at each sector—whether in education or in building infrastructure—and ask, “What is the bottom line for each actor?” Once you can show a common benefit for all, it is much easier to form successful partnerships like Gavi. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) If you look at the SDGs, each has a list of indicators to monitor whether countries are really delivering on development, from ending hunger to improving health and education and vaccinating children. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) The most important thing is for each country to measure itself. How is it doing alongside the indicators? Is it really lifting more people out of poverty? Are people still going hungry? Are children being vaccinated? Are all children in school and getting a quality education, such that they are trained to meet the job requirements of the future? Do people have access to energy? Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) One good thing about the SDGs is that they are universal. The SDGs really measure the quantity and quality of life for people. It is not just, “Do people have higher incomes?” It is, “Do they have access to services to make their lives materially better?” The most important thing for people in developing countries is that they monitor their progress, and civil-society organisations can be instrumental in helping countries do this. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) First, we need to realise that most African countries already finance the bulk of their development, so they need to continue and do more. They also need capacity to raise more domestic resources. The countries that give aid are focusing more and more internally on their own populations and their own problems. There are nationalist movements around the world, so we have to be realists. If the future of aid isn’t looking bright, what other financial instruments are available beyond aid? Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) The ARC uses sophisticated instruments of insurance to manage natural disaster–related events. Countries can pay a premium, based on a model developed by ARC, to insure against drought. They do not have to wait for the UN to make an appeal for aid; member states can get money right away to take care of millions who might otherwise starve or die. They can start immediately. It saves lives. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) There are other innovative financial instruments. Social-impact bonds can deliver financing for development by those willing to take somewhat lower returns in order to deliver a social good. These bonds are subscribed to by private investors, governments, philanthropic organisations, foundations and the like. You have instruments like the International Finance Facility for Immunisation used by Gavi to raise money on capital markets; it is backed by donor guarantees and frontloads resources for immunisation, thus saving millions of lives. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) By the way, a lot of young Africans are innovating in finance and other areas, and they are creating things, like ways to clean water or to improve sanitation, that can shape development and the environment. But they don’t have anyone to invest in their ideas or products. This needs to change. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) You need leadership, and you need it to come from all levels, from the central government to the provinces and local communities. Women are good leaders and should be supported especially at the local level. Civil society has to hold the leadership of countries accountable for delivering on SDG targets. But most of all, if Africa is to remain on track, it needs resources. Lifting people out of poverty means investment in infrastructure, health and education. These resources have to come from the domestic environment as well as the outside, from government as well as the private sector. Government has to be transparent and fight corruption. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) There also has to be a focus on youth employment! Absolutely. Sixty percent of Africans are under 25 years of age, and in the next decade, over 200m young people will be looking for work. Therefore, the issue of youth employment is paramount for the continent. There has to be a focus on sectors that create jobs and support our young entrepreneurs. We must also look at the creativity of young people using technology as a means to employ themselves and others. Structural transformation and diversification of the African economy are vital. Drivers of Prosperity in AfricaEIU(May 3, 2017) I was overwhelmed. But I should start by saying that the President was very much involved. Without his political will none of this could have been done because, as you can see, some of the reforms were very difficult. He has a vision of Nigeria becoming the true economic powerhouse of Africa - 1 in 5 Africans is Nigerian - but we can't go around describing ourselves as the giant of Africa unless we perform. And he cares very much about the MDGs. So I knew I had a president who has a vision for the country, of moving away from the past mismanagement, towards a path of true economic development, growth and job creation - and who is willing for us to do tough things and give us backing. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) So even before I began the President gave me his ideas of how we should go forward. To do that, I said to him, we need a team. I had this idea from Amaury Bier, the former deputy finance minister of Brazil before the Lula government. They also did sweeping reforms. And they did it by forming a very tight team that supported each other. So we formed a team, with some really excellent people in it. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The next thing was to draw up a strategy for going forward. Even before I was sworn in in July 2003 the President was due to see Tony Blair and he wanted to put something together to give the British Prime Minister some idea of his plans because the President wanted him to know we were turning over a new leaf and we would need their backing somewhere down the line to back us for debt relief. I put together, with my team - Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, on anti-corruption, and Mr Al Rufi public sector reform issues - a 17 page paper that became the basis for many of the reforms. And Tony Blair was very open to listen to this new Nigeria. We developed a very good relationship. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Next I then laid out a clear matrix of reforms - showing the order of priority, how they would be implemented, what the sequence of action would be. Shouts to one of her staff. Get me a copy of the original matrix. This was where my background at the World Bank was enormously helpful. I knew how to set about ordering a massive task like this. But the joy of it was that this was our plan. There was no-one at the IMF or World Bank telling us what to do. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We were much harder on ourselves. That's what ownership brings. We brainstormed it with the President and went over it many times, and owned. If some outsider comes to you and says "do this and that" you end up resisting. You feel something has been imposed on you. But if you decide yourself that you really want to clean up, you are likely to want to tackle the problems sooner and faster. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We found ways to deal with that better. You'll fund people here who'll say we didn't adequately take care of the impact of the programme on the poorest people. But most people bore it because they could see it was bringing them something different. What was so exciting for me was that at the beginning people said: "Oh reform, we've heard that before. This won't go anywhere." There was so much scepticism. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Today that has radically changed. Now, as people discuss whether Obasanjo stays or doesn't stay [by altering the constitution to allow himself a third term as President] they do so in the context of reforms. His supporters say: "We want him to stay because he will continue the reforms". And his opponents say: "We can find someone else to continue the reforms." But the common denominator is that everybody accepts that the reforms must continue. That is a sign of real ownership. I'm delighted because that's some thing that we never had before. The tone has changed. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) But that success it didn't come easily. When I arrived people said: " Oh, she's an IMF/World Bank spy. She's smuggled herself in to deliver us to these people." I remember once going on tv and saying: " I learned a lot at my 21 years at the World Bank but anyone who wants to blame any outside organisation for what we're doing is wrong. Please grow up. We have to own our problems and our solutions - and we've had many years of mismanagement, so the solutions are hard. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) They saw what we were doing. They saw that Nigeria, like many places in Africa, now has a new set of leaders - presidents and prime ministers, ministers and policy makers - who are a in a different mode from the previous kind. In Nigerian there's a new generation, a new way of thinking. I'm not saying that the old style people aren't still around somewhere, but the way the reform is being led is in a totally different fashion. We have faced up to some very difficult music. We have analysed our problems and come up with the solutions. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Yes, on the website of the ministry of finance: www.fmf.gov.ng. And it was written in a form that Nigerians and the international community could understand see was transparent. So that anybody who wanted to could monitor us. That was a bit of a breakthrough. People were surprised - in the IMF, the donor agencies and so on. And we were honest in it. See here: "Dec 2005 - deadline for privatisation for Eleme-Petrochemicals - now slipped to March 2006". Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We have nothing to hide. Our attitude to this reform has been to show even when we're not doing well. We just discussed this [bribery in utilities] in the economic management team meeting chaired by the president. We think it is because we are midway through privatising our power sector which was at one point collecting only 30 per cent of the monies owed to it - one of the lowest collection efficiency in the world - where we have now given staff collection targets and put them under the gun to collect properly. So they are going to people who should have paid £40 a month, but we're only paying £15, and asking for the full amount. We think people assume the extra is for a bribe. Anyway collection has gone up from 38 per cent to 76 per cent Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) That is the most amazing result. We accept that infrastructure is a constraint - because there was almost no investment in infrastructure in this country for almost two decades. Everything ran down terribly under the military regime. But the fact that corruption is no longer the No 1 item listed is amazing, because before people used to put corruption front, centre and back of Nigeria's problems. So we need to do a lot on infrastructure, but still the fact that corruption isn't perceived as the main problem is a victory. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Yes. First and foremost was the anti-corruption and transparency drive. It was the most important thing. But we knew that just talking of fighting corruption in vague terms doesn't work. You have to identify the sources and points of corruption and target them. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Everyone said, the oil sector, it's so opaque. So in terms of sequencing the fight the President very bravely enrolled us in the EITI [the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - under which oil and other companies agree to publish what they pay to governments who agree in turn to open their accounts for inspection by voters]. We got together a stakeholder group - industry, government, NGOs and private people - and decided the first thing to do was to audit the oil sector and put the results on the web at www.neiti.org and let Nigerians see how much we produced and earned. Some 99 per cent of revenues are now accounted for, with the 1 per cent a discrepancy in recording methods recording between the central bank and others. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We also set up an Oil and Gas Unit in the Ministry of Finance which identified some areas where we should have been paid more tax. So I went to the companies and they paid up more than $300m. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We also identified another key anti-corruption area: public procurement. Our government contracts - for which both international and local companies were supposedly competitively bidding - were costing almost five times as much as those in neighbouring countries. We set up a unit known as Due Process to audit value for money on public contracts. So far it has saved us the equivalent of $3bn in 3 years that would have gone out in inflated contracts. Today you cannot get payment unless you have a certificate that showed the Vale For Money audit had been done. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) But perhaps the simplest and most powerful thing we have done it to publish this. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) People would be constantly saying to me 'the government has not done this or that' and I would tell them that is the job of your state government - in Nigeria things like schools and rural roads are the responsibility of the states. Every month the federal government pays out money to state governments and local governments as their share of Nigeria's oil revenues. But no-one knew what their state government was getting and everyone was blaming the federal government for everything. So in January 2004 I talked to the president and said 'can I start publishing in the newspaper what each state and local government gets each month?'. He said 'sure go ahead' and so we published it in the papers. It was very costly but it was so popularthe papers sold out. People got so excited saying "So my local government gets N40m a month, how come there is no chalk in the schools, teachers haven't been paid, how come there are no desks and chair, and there are holes in my road? What did you spend it on?" A conversation took off in the county. It became so popular that the President said publish all the figures for my time in office. So we published a book containing all six years Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Summary of allocation to Delta State and its local governments. This has been one of the most popular publications ever. Every time we print it it just disappears off the shelves. The Soros Foundation came and gave us some money to keep publishing it because it was becoming so costly. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) I like that. I'll use it! It was a best-seller, but not everyone liked it. Putting information in the hands of the people didn't make me popular at all with the state governors. Some of them felt I was deliberately after them. Even today some of them are still sore. But the bottom line was that it unleashed this national conversation. People began to talk, to question, to write in the papers. It just took off. And things began to happen. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) And by making all of this public you've created an appetite. When you have gone, if any future government decided to stop the information the people would want to know why Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) I want to shake your hand. This is what we do in Nigeria when someone has hit the nail on the head. That was indeed the intention. We saw the power of people owning reforms. That's how you make sure the reforms will be sustained, whether Obasanjo or Okonjo-Iweala are here or not. People aren't going to stand for it if they can no longer see the books. People have become excited and are now talking reform, reform. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) There have to be consequences for bad behaviour One of my most brilliant colleagues Nuhu Ribadu [a former police chief] took on the punitive side of corruption as chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), tracking people who had corruptly enriched themselves, bringing them to book. Some people said it was a selective thing - that he was using the EFCC to witchhunt the foes of the president. For me I don't care whether you are friend or foe; if you're corrupt you're a foe of the country. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The bottom line is that there are some very, very powerful people like NR's own former boss, the inspector general of police, who have been brought to book. He has been tried, and is now in jail on several counts. Two judges have been suspended, two sacked outright, three ministers sacked, two rear-admirals, a state governor, top customs officials. Did we get all the people? Not yet - but we've got enough to send a powerful signal and [generate] a powerful fear. People in power now know they can't act with impunity. Governors will be impeached, officials sacked. It's a really strong story. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) And we're working with Microsoft to find software capable of ending these 419 frauds, as we call them. Unfortunately the fraudsters have shifted their operations to Russia, South Africa, Ghana and francophone African countries Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The Swiss have now returned $500 million of stolen resources. Switzerland has set the example. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Now heaven help me. It's very hard to condemn the British. On debt relief the UK has set the example. Britain has done us proud, especially Gordon Brown who worked immensely hard negotiating with the G8 finance ministers. We needed someone round that table who was in our corner and Gordon Brown did that job. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) It's been more difficult with the British. Our president has raised it many times with Prime Minister Blair. Eventually he returned $3m. We understand there are other monies but while all the discussion was going on those monies left the country and went somewhere else. The UK says it has all these laws. . . but in the end they managed to return us a little bit. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) On my first day I sat in that chair and said Oh My God I can't do this. There are just too many things: we have to reform the budget, to fight corruption, do this, do that. But once I had set out the matrix, which became like a bible, I suddenly got a burst of confidence. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) One of the first big things we did was to delink the budget from the oil price. In the past when we'd had high oil prices they would spend everything we got. So they came out of a situation where there was an oil windfall and we didn't have anything. We were the only oil producing country in the world to be losing reserves at a time of high oil prices. And then when the prices fell we crashed - sometimes the budget was so bad that we could hardly meet salaries. I looked back and saw volatile everything had been. It was clear that something had to be done. So what we did was institute a new fiscal rule which removed the link between oil prices and the budget. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We based the 2004 budget on a very conservative oil price - $25 a barrel when the price was actually in the $40 and $50s. Any surplus above that we saved - and we announce to Nigerians how much we had saved each quarter. In 2003 we saved $7bn. Today our reserves are at $34bn even after paying off a lot of debt. It gave the people the feeling that they were getting quick results from committing themselves to reforms. And it generated another conversation - "why save? why not spend it on the services we need." What we used it for was, first, to pay off debt, and now to make big investments in electricity generation. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The other key area of reform was to get the government out of business it had no business in - to privatise certain areas [like the loss-making Ajakuta and Delta steel plants plus aluminium, petrochemical, insurance and hotels enterprises] and to liberalise and deregulate certain sectors which the government had previously directly controlled - telecoms was the great success here, the number of phone lines has risen from just 450,000 land lines to 16 m GSM lines - probably 17m by now, for every minute we speak a few more GSM lines are added. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Then there was reforming the public sector - strengthening the civil service (which was once one of the best in Africa but which had been undermined by the corruption of the military regimes which forced to good people to leave), building capacity, getting civil servants to support the reforms. When the British were here [as the colonial power] they organised things so the government controlled and paid for everything. The government built houses for civil servants, paid their utility bills. For years Nigerians just left the system unchanged. Civil servants would earn very little in salary cash but they would have huge benefits - cheap rent, allowances, cheap or free utility bills. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) It had enormous costs for government. So we "monetised" the system, putting up their salaries, selling 25,000 government houses in Abuja alone to civil servants, charging them proper prices for their electricity and phone bills: if someone else pays their phone bill then the person can talk for ever, now they pay their own. It has been costly because you have to pay people cash up front but down the line it will become a significant cash saving. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The smear campaign was designed to get me out of the job. The anti-reform people thought: "She's come from Washington she won't be able to take it if we start blasting her name". Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) When the President asked me to do this job I was in the World Bank, making my career. I'd just been promoted the year before. We had three children all at university each costing $40,000 a year. My husband and I were paying their tuition from our salaries. So when this call came to come and be the minister I said I couldn't afford it. [A Nigerian minister's salary is around $6,000 a year]. So I told the president No but he said "Look, we'll find a way." Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Before I took this job I had been working at the World Bank for 20 years, living in Washington. So of course I owned a house there. My husband is a surgeon; he works there and my children live there. But anti-reform elements hired internet bloggers to make out that there was something dishonest about it. They said things like "it is not clear whether she bought the house since she became Finance Minister or before" even though in America all that information - on the mortgage, the amount, the date it was taken, the price of the house - is public. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) They twisted it trying to sully my name internationally. It was all designed to destabilise the reforms. Luckily for me I had a very solid reputation and the allegations didn't take. But they gave out the address, which is what upset my family. Anybody could have pitched up there and done anything. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Yes, direct threats to me and one to my husband at our home. He got very upset. So the President doubled my security. But I was never afraid. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Two of the children have taken years off college to allow me to do it. My kids have been lovely. They have made a real sacrifice. It makes me really angry. I gave up so much to do this job - being with my family, most of all because we are so close. That has been the hardest thing. And in return people go beating you over the head. But I would not quit. I wasn't going to give into that kind of threat. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The first thing I had to convince people is that Nigeria is not an oil rich nation. We're a poor nation with population of 600 million - one in five Africans is Nigerian - and when you divide up our oil revenues you find that they don't come to much. It's around 50 cents per person a day. Even if oil prices doubled we would still have one of the lowest per capita incomes in Africa. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) When we first started G8 finance ministers wd see me and say Oh My God she's coming to talk about debt. And they all tried desperately to look the other way. The first time I tried to get to see Gordon Brown at the annual meetings [of the IMF and World Bank] in Dubai his people kept saying he was in a meeting. Eventually they said he could see me for just five minutes so the first thing I said was: "Look I don't want anything from you." I said: "Nigeria is turning over a new leaf, we're implementing a very vigorous reform programme. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) I don't want you to do anything. But watch us perform and if in the next 12 to 18 months you believe that we have done well then I'll come back to talk to you about debt relief." Nigeria had never been able to sustain any reform programme so people thought it was a bit of pie in the sky.But I was rock solid sure we were going to do it. So I would tease them. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) After 12 months I thought we could go and chat to the Paris Club. They said: "it sounds fine. But sign up with IMF so we know what you're really doing." So I said the Nigerian people had a referendum in the mid 80s where they decided against an IMF programme. So politically it's a non-starter. We're getting the results; why do we need the IMF? Because, they said, we can't all send a mission to verify what you're doing. So I said, well let the IMF come to monitor us, we won't mind that. And that's what happened; we got to own all the pain and the gain and the IMF just observed. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) The debt deal is our biggest achievement. Nobody believed we could do it. I can scarcely believe it myself. I worked so hard, all night, all day, I'd never worked so hard in my life - chasing after G8 ministers, EU ministers, going to Japan, being able to persuade all these people. But we needed a champion and Gordon Brown became that. He was wonderful. So was DFID [the British government Department for International Development]. They supported us with analysis and getting Treasury to focus on the issue. The World Bank did a lot of analysis which helped us. And the IMF kept and open mind on the way we were doing things. We're very grateful. It's like a dream really. I'm still waiting for it to sink in. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) There's been a debate here with some people saying we shouldn't have paid off the $12.4bn. It's a genuine debate - it's a judgement call - but in the end 60 per cent of the country support it. It's a very popular decision. I was walking with a friend at Heathrow airport the other day and a woman ran up to me with two little kids and said: "Thank you, Thank you, you have saved my children from a life of having to pay off this debt." It was very moving. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) A number of those you have put in charge of the reform programme are women. Are women less corrupt than men? Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Of course, of course! Seriously, as an empirical observation, women tend to be more honest, more straightforward, more focused on the job, and bring less ego to it. I don't know if it's a feminine instinct but running an economy is sometimes akin to running a household which is after all the smallest unit of production and consumption in the economy. Women also understand something else. It is that if your child is a drug addict and he comes home and says: "I'm ready to give it up" you don't say "You'll never give up you're hopeless". Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) You don't reinforce their bad self-image but you look at what they've been doing wrong and help them to improve. You support them every inch of the way. Nigeria is changing and it needs the support of the international community to continue to change. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We have done a lot but there are still enormous challenges. We still have to fight corruption head on; even though its coming down, the levels are still relatively high so we just need to keep on. But the biggest challenge we face is to ensure that the impact of reform is felt at the grassroots where people still say "The roads haven't improved enough. We don't have water. Or electricity." People have been deprived for so long and they want quick results yet it takes three to four years. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We also have to create more jobs and diversify the economy away from oil. We have now pulled in $3bn in foreign investment ($1 bn in telecoms, $600m in banking and the rest spread over agriculture, manufacturing and so on). And we have an estimated $3bn in remittances too; Africans living abroad are beginning to have a lot more confidence in the way we are running things and they are brining their money back. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Those are two very good signs but we still have this challenge to improve things on the ground for the ordinary people. So we're making a big push now - taking the $1bn a year we would have been paying in debt service payments and putting it into health, education, power, water. On average economic growth for the past three years was 7.6 per cent. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Agriculture is doing very well, mining, construction and real estate, and some sections of manufacturing. So we're hoping that we'll get to 10 per cent but even if we can achieve 8 per cent sustainable annual growth that will enable us to make sustainable progress towards the MDGs [the Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty by 2015]. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) But the challenge of vested interests has not gone away. They may be a little cowed now but they are still waiting to rear their head. We're trying to do customs reform and it keeps getting blocked. It's the last bastion of corruption. Even though the President gives us his backing it still gets blocked. So we still have that to get through. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Do you know who is the president of Switzerland? Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Exactly. And it doesn't matter. You don't give a damn. But people are pouring money in to Switzerland because it has the rule of law, the core institutions and the predictability that make people feel safe. We need that in Nigeria, so that it doesn't matter whether Okongo-Iwaela or Obasanjo are here, whether there is a third term or no third term. Right from the start... she bangs the table ... we focused on having to have a way to ensure the sustainability of these reforms, not through individuals but by locking them into appropriate legislation. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Fiscal responsibility, transparent budgeting, results-focus, accountability for results, punishment if you don't deliver - there are bills enshrining each of these which are with the National Assembly and should be passed very soon. And as well as the legislation we've tried to put an institution around them so they will last [- the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transpacency Initiative, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and so on.] Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) It's nice if you can get individuals who will push more reforms but we have to go beyond that to institutions - that's what sets developed nations apart from developing ones Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) I think so. And in several ways. All countries are different but they way we did our programme is a model for Africa. We analysed our problems, we crafted the programme to address them, we set out the measures, we implemented them, and not at the behest of outsiders like the IMF. Other countries can do it too. You just need to work very hard and be tough with yourself on the reforms that need to be done Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) We already have countries asking us about what we have done. They don't necessarily want the entire package. They want to know how we have done some specific aspect of the reforms - Tanzania has just approached us, Togo, Angola. Even Egypt is sending a team here to look at what we have done on corruption. Would you ever have believed that Nigeria would become a place where people would come to see how to tackle corruption? Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) Are you trying to make my life impossible, asking questions like that? I'm not going to answer that. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) I don't think of myself as a politician. I could give you a straightfoward No. But even commenting on running will set all sort of speculation and people will start trying to attack me for that. So I'm not being coy, I've not really thought about it. If there was some compelling reason why. . . I don't see why a woman can't run a country. But I'm not contemplating running. I will continue to serve as much as I can. Transcript of interview with Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian Finance MinisterIndependent(May 16, 2006) External links Wikipedia article WTO Biography Category:Women from Nigeria Category:Economists from Nigeria Category:1954 births Category:Living people