The prime candidate for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala makes the Forbes list as she is honoured with #AfricanoftheYear Award.
The 2020 #AfricanOftheYear Award honoree is…
Congratulations to Dr. @NOlweala! Board Chair @Gavi; Board Chair @ARCapicity, gracing the cover of @forbesafrica pic.twitter.com/hlcCDHEMx2
— Forbes Africa (@forbesafrica) December 1, 2020
Okonjo-Iweala has joined a list of eminent Africans to bag this award.
Reacting to the development, Okonjo-Iweala, who is set to become the first African and first woman to lead the World Trade Organisation in its 25-year history, said she is excited by the prestigious award.
She tweeted, “Thrilled to be named Forbes Africa-CNBC ‘2020 African of the Year’ following in the footsteps of my great brothers Paul Kagame and Akin Adesina.”
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
“It is a great honour to serve Africa in different capacities. I look forward to deploying my energies at the WTO for Africa and the world,” she said.
The award is coming weeks after David Walker, the chair of the general council of the WTO and Facilitators of the process for the appointment of the DG formally submitted her name as the best candidate to be DG.
Okonjo-Iweala, the chairperson of Board of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, dedicated the award to all Africans.
“This award is for fellow Africans suffering the health and economic impact of #Covid19. The energy and resilience of Africans inspire me!” she wrote.
The Forbes Africa-CNBC award is the latest honour clinched by the multi-award-winning development economist, one of the African Union (AU) Special Envoys appointed to mobilize international support for Africa’s efforts to address the COVID-19 economic fallout.
She is the World Health Organisation (WHO) special envoy for the newly inaugurated Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) accelerator and its offshoot the COVAX facility; an international collaboration aimed at accelerating the development, production, and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and tests kits around the world with the specific objective of ensuring timely, affordable and equitable access to poor countries.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-born economist and international development expert. She sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank, Twitter, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the African Risk Capacity (ARC).