‘I’m thrilled’, Okonjo-Iweala says as she’s named Forbes Africa’s Person of the Year 2020

Nigeria’s most decorated economist and former minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been named Forbes Africa-CNBC Person of the Year 2020.

Okonjo-Iweala was also featured in the December 2020 issue of Business Elites Africa magazine as one of the ’50 Most Influential African Women in Business’.

She joins other eminent Africans who have won the Forbes award in the past – such as Paul Kagame of Rwanda who won it in 2018, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) won in 2019, Muhammad Sanusi II (2011), Aliko Dangote (2014) among others.

Reacting to the award on Twitter, a “thrilled” Okonjo-Iweala dedicated it to Africans who are battling the harsh socio-economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thrilled to be named @forbesafrica -CNBC 2020 African of the Year following in the footsteps of my great Brothers @PaulKagame and @akin_adesina. This award is for fellow Africans suffering the health & economic impact of Covid19. The energy and resilience of Africans inspires me! https://t.co/CKDEyls7T9

— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) December 1, 2020

In the past weeks, Okonjo-Iweala has been in the news across the world due to the keenly contested race of the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, in which she was overwhelmingly endorsed by 164 member-countries. The chair of the general council of the WTO and Facilitators of the process for the appointment, David Walker, formally submitted her name as the best candidate for the position.

The multi-award-winning development economist is also one of the African Union (AU) Special Envoys appointed to mobilize international support for Africa’s efforts to address the COVID-19 economic fallout.