Forbes Lists Nigeria's Okonjo-Iweala Among 100 Most Powerful Women in the World

Okonjo-Iweala, Harvard- and M.I.T. trained

Forbes has named Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's minister of finance and coordinating minister for economy the 48th most powerful woman in the world. 

 

Other than Okonjo-Iweala, the only other Nigerian on the list is oil magnate Folorunsho Alakija who occupies the 87th position. 

Okonjo-Iweala was number 44 on the list in 2014. A brief profile of the finance minister on Forbes reads; ''Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance for Nigeria, has 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 is the first woman to be the finance minister and the foreign minister of the West African country with a GDP of $502 billion. But the start of the year has been difficult for Nigeria.

 The country voted in former general Muhammadu Buhari as president, ousting long-time President Goodluck Jonathan, with the hope he will help fight against the local terrorist group Boko Haram. The Harvard- and M.I.T.-trained Okonjo-Iweala spent 21 years as a development economist at the World Bank.''.