A two-time Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said she is ready to be the president of the World Bank if nominated for the job. The position became vacant earlier this month after current President Jim Yong Kim’s abrupt resignation, three years ahead of schedule.
Okonjo-Iweala, a former senior World Bank official, ran against Kim in 2012 and is seen as a front runner in the race. She was quoted as saying on the sideline of the World Economic Forum in Davos that many people had been asking if she would take the job.
Speaking to CNN’s Richard Quest on Thursday, Okonjo-Iweala said she would run but only under the right conditions. “I know that because I contested the last time in 2012… Many people were asking that question. It is a shareholders’ decision and they have to decide how they want it. Someone has to nominate. If the right person were to nominate, and if the circumstances are right and people feel I can do the job, yes!”
Okonjo-Iweala was asked by Quest if she had declared her candidacy. “No, I have not declared my candidacy, you asked a hypothetical question and I answered it fairly. I’m very happy right now, and I just want you to know that I’m enjoying life for a change for a portfolio of what I like.”
To choose a president at the World Bank, candidates are nominated by the executive directors of the bank. Then a shortlist is compiled and a winner is picked by the bank’s board, according to the bank’s website.
The World Bank has been headed by an American in the entirety of its 73-year history. Okonjo-Iweala’s candidature seven years ago was the first time a challenge was mounted to the United States nominee in the institution’s history. In 2012, Okonjo-Iweala was one of the top three persons for the job, alongside the outgoing president, Jim Kim and Jose Antonio Ocampo, Columbian finance minister. The Punch
Pix: Ngozi Okonjo Iweala
