By Alexander Ekemenah
‘What we are seeing today is the paralysis in the negotiating function of the WTO, whether it is on market access or on the rule-making. What we are facing is the inability of the WTO to adapt and adjust to emerging global trade priorities, those you cannot solve through bilateral deals.’
- Pascal Lamy, at an informal heads of delegation meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee, 26 July 2011
For Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it has been a long and even tortuous journey from the World Bank to the Director Generalship of the World Trade Organization.
Significant in this journey to the height of WTO is the attempt by Donald Trump-led administration in the US to truncate her ambition to become the Director General of the WTO. This attempt was part of the general pattern of Trump administration to frustrate any African from either being re-elected to such a high position or to prevent, if possible at all, from getting to such lofty global technocratic position. Trump administration has similarly tried to prevent Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, another Nigerian from being re-elected the President of African Development Bank where the US has a sizable and controlling shares and voting power.
In both cases, Trump Administration failed woefully. At the end, it was even President Donald Trump that was kicked out of the Oval Office in the White and had his ambition to be re-elected for a second term of office crashed.
But for Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, it has been a combination of hope and hopelessness as she contested for the top post of the WTO, even when the main challenger, the South Korea Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, a South Korean woman, finally stepped down for her. Trump Administration threw up all manners of roadblocks on her way to Geneva Headquarters of WTO.
It was not until the new President Joe Biden-led Administration was sworn in on January 20, 2021, that hope was rekindled and after barely visible administrative wrangling within the Governing Council of WTO that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was unanimously elected to become the seventh Director General of WTO, the world’s leading trading regulatory body since it was founded in 1995.
The WTO has 164 members, accounting for 98% of world trade. A total of 22 countries are negotiating membership.
The process for selecting a new Director-General of the WTO was triggered on 14 May 2020 when former Director-General Mr. Roberto Azevêdo informed WTO members he would be stepping down from his post one year before the expiry of his mandate. He subsequently left office on 31 August 2020.
Since then, Okonjo-Iweala has had to hit the road to Geneva running from one region of the world to another in a shuttle diplomacy to lobby for support for her candidacy. However, such shuttle diplomacy was not an easy one considering that it was happening during the heat of the raging global coronavirus pandemic. Complicating her task was her deep interest and involvement in the pandemic and how to help the world to quickly overcome it.
From the very beginning, Okonjo-Iweala seemed to have the world mandate to be the next Director General of the WTO. If Trump Administration had allowed the contest to take place without interference and manipulation, Okonjo-Iweala would have emerged as the winner of the contest with other rivals. Indeed, by October 2020, her candidacy was supported by all geographic regions at the trade body with the exception of the intransigent United States under Trump Administration.
Her appointment has made her the first woman and first African to hold the post. She had served at the World Bank for 25 years rising to the very top echelon as a Managing Director and Vice President of the Bank. She has also served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister including Foreign Affairs Minister.
When she takes office at the WTO on March 1, her term, renewable, will expire on 31 August 2025.
“This is a very significant moment for the WTO,” David Walker, the WTO’s General Council chair, said in a statement.
Okonjo-Iweala said she was “honoured” to be selected to lead the organization, and vowed to take on global economic and health challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. “A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to working with members to shape and implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
“Our organization faces a great many challenges but working together we can collectively make the WTO stronger, more agile and better adapted to the realities of today,” she added.
Following the announcement that the US has given its formal backing to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to lead the World Trade Organization, the Secretary General of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), John W. H. Denton said
“The global business community will be delighted to learn that the US Administration has given its backing to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to take up the position of World Trade Organization Director General. Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s skills and experience make her, without doubt, the ideal candidate to drive concerted action in the WTO to combat the public health and economic effects of the pandemic.
“The Biden Administration’s backing of Dr Okonjo-Iweala selection is a very positive signal of intent as regards its commitment to make trade work for people and the planet. We stand squarely behind that vision. And we call on the WTO membership, through the General Council, to move as expeditiously as possible to confirm Dr Okonjo-Iweala as the successful candidate.
“I look forward to working with the incoming Director General to support a renewal of the multilateral trading system – and, specifically, one that ensures international trade plays a central role in ending the pandemic and driving a resilient global recovery.”
The Task before Okonjo-Iweala
Okonjo-Iweala is taking over at the WTO when the body has gathered a lot of criticisms and pessimism especially within the context of trade war between the United States and China, the two countries that hold significant shares of global trade.
Many observers and analysts view the WTO as having arrived at a critical watershed or crossroads after many countries have been seen taking many steps backward from the long-standing norms governing international trade, thus eroding the relevance of the WTO as the final arbiter of global trade disputes.
In addition, its appellate body has been paralyzed throughout 2020 when the U.S. – again, under the Trump administration – prevented the appointment of new judges therefore rendering it unable to adjudicate and rule on any trade disputes among member state parties.
Okonjo-Iweala arrives in Geneva to meet a beleaguered organization that is apparently facing a host of challenges that have almost crippled it for some years now. This include how best to manage the increased frictions between economic superpowers the United States and China, including the European Union.
Critics have charged that WTO has failed to intervene over some of China’s most egregious economic offenses, which in turn has let the U.S. name its economic adversary a currency manipulator and impose or threaten billions of dollars in tariffs on goods and services from China.
In addition is the very sensitive issue of determining whether the U.S. broke WTO rules when the Trump administration, citing national security concerns, unilaterally boosted tariffs on steel and aluminum in 2018.
Okonjo-Iweala declared during a hearing in July 2020 that her vision is “of a rejuvenated and strengthened WTO that will be confident to tackle effectively ongoing issues”.
She further declared that “It is clear that a rules-based system without a forum in which a breach of the rules can be effectively arbitrated loses credibility over time.”
“The WTO appears paralyzed at a time when its rule book would greatly benefit from an update to 21st century issues such as ecommerce and the digital economy, the green and circular economies,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
Officials in the European Union and the United States have previously said the WTO needs to be reformed and its rules updated, but there is no consensus on how to do it.
Meanwhile, the WTO’s overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely and predictably. It does this by:
administering trade agreements
acting as a forum for trade negotiations
settling trade disputes
reviewing national trade policies
building the trade capacity of developing economies
cooperating with other international organizations
The WTO has 164 members, accounting for 98% of world trade. A total of 22 countries are negotiating membership.
Decisions are made by the entire membership. This is typically by consensus. A majority vote is also possible but it has never been used in the WTO, and was extremely rare under the WTO’s predecessor, the GATT. The WTO’s agreements have been ratified in all members’ parliaments.
The WTO’s top level decision- making body is the Ministerial Conference, which meets usually every two years.
The General Council (normally ambassadors and heads of delegation based in Geneva but sometimes officials sent from members’ capitals) meets several times a year in the Geneva headquarters. The General Council also meets and serves as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Dispute Settlement Body.
At the next level, the Goods Council, Services Council and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council report to the General Council.
Numerous specialized committees, working groups and working parties deal with the individual agreements and other areas, such as the environment, development, membership applications and regional trade agreements.
The WTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 630 staff and is headed by a Director- General. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Since decisions are taken by the WTO’s members, the Secretariat does not itself have a decision-making role.
The Secretariat’s main duties are to supply technical support for the various councils/ committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technical assistance for developing economies, to analyze world trade and to explain WTO activities to the public and media.
The Secretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the dispute settlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of the WTO. The annual budget contributed by members is roughly 197 million Swiss francs.
Solving an Intractable Problem
One of the intractable problems Okonjo-Iweala will be facing as she assumes office is the resolution of the ongoing trade war between the United States and China accentuated by the global coronavirus pandemic.
What is she going to do or what can she do?
The trade war between the two economic superpowers escalated when former President Donald Trump took over power in the United States in January 2017. And till he left office, there was no deceleration or de-escalation of the trade disputes that many scholars have classed as “war”
At the root of the US-China dispute is a deep disagreement over technology. The US administration believes that the state-led subsidies China offers its tech sector provide its firms with an unfair advantage over US tech companies. Overlaying the issue of “fairness” is a concern that Chinese technology could also threaten US national security.
Beijing denies the security threat and is reluctant to abandon the support it provides to its flourishing tech sector. There seems to be no common ground.
President Trump blames China’s unfair trading practices and intellectual property theft. China, on the other hand, claims that the US feels threatened by the country’s growing economy and is trying to maintain its global status.
Directly, the tariffs themselves are unlikely to be fatal for the global expansion. The US exports 0.6% of its GDP to China. China has more at stake given it exports 3.6% of its GDP to the US. But even after the recent escalation, the direct numbers at this stage are relatively small. Although in theory the tariffs should raise inflation, we suspect the final inflationary impact will be small and instead Chinese producers and a moderately weaker renminbi will absorb some of the cost and US profit margins much of the rest.
The indirect effects are likely to be of much greater magnitude. These include the disruption to supply chains as companies reroute or onshore processes currently completed abroad. The greatest economic impact will be companies scaling back investment plans, a process the data suggests is well underway.
According to a model-based assessment by the Bank of Finland, tariff increases currently in place will slow global GDP growth by around 0.7 of a percentage point. The trade dispute has already diminished trade flows between the United States and China. The growth of uncertainty has been reflected in investment sentiment, and manufacturing purchasing manager indices have fallen globally. News updates on the current negotiation situation have caused volatility in share prices and securities market risk premia, but significant disruptions on the financial markets have so far been avoided. In an adverse scenario calculated by the Bank of Finland, further escalation of the trade war and subsequent widespread disruptions to the financial markets would slow global GDP growth by a further two percentage points.
The trade war escalated in May and flared up again in August. At the beginning of September, the United States introduced yet another round of additional tariffs on new product categories. Furthermore, in mid-December, the tariff increases will begin to apply to all remaining imports from China as well. The United States also plans to raise the majority of current additional tariffs by 5 percentage points in the middle of October. The trade dispute has spread from mere tariffs and now also encompasses business restrictions on individual companies and accusations of currency manipulation. There is a possibility that the trade war will escalate into disputes over access to technology. Although a rapid improvement in the situation is increasingly unlikely, the United States and China are still pushing ahead with negotiations and publicly asserting their willingness to settle their trade disputes. However, the continuation of the trade war has increased uncertainty globally and has raised the World Trade Uncertainty index for trade policy uncertainty to a record high this year.
For China, the key risk is that the combined effects of investment restrictions, export controls, and tariffs will rewire supply chains and weaken manufacturing investment, particularly in the technology sectors driving growth.
In Europe, the direct effects of U.S. – China trade friction will be felt in sectors with medium to high technological content like transport equipment, motor vehicles, rubber and plastics, chemical products, and pharmaceuticals.
The indirect effects in Europe could be more detrimental, not least because it is increasingly dependent on trade, unlike China, and much more dependent than the U.S.
The US-China trade war has far-reaching impacts, impacting the global economy and posing significant concerns for neighbouring countries. It has indeed escalated to geopolitical rivalry.
Neighbouring countries, like South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, have close economic links with China which leaves them particularly vulnerable to the shocks of the trade war. Roughly 1.6% of Taiwan’s output, such as computers and electronics, are linked to China’s exports with the US. As a result, these countries exports are suffering the fall out with South Korea reporting exports at a nine-month low.
Countries most dependent on US exports to China, like Canada and Mexico, are also facing similar situations but not to the degree of exposure as China’s Asian neighbours.
The Uruguay Round (1986-94) saw a shift in North-South politics in the GATT-WTO system. During this period, China was barely regarded as a developed economy. Previously, developed and developing countries had tended to be in opposite groups, although even then there were exceptions. In the run up to the Uruguay Round, the line between the two became less rigid, and during the round different alliances developed, depending on the issues. The trend has continued since then. However, China has grown in economic power since then and has now emerged as the second largest economy in the world after the US.
This has led to global realignment of economic forces and power. China is increasingly seen as an emergent challenger to the US global domination. China is even being accused of attempting to re-write the rules of the multilateral institutions based on its acquired economic power.
In some issues, the divide still appears clear — in textiles and clothing, and some of the newer issues debated in the WTO, for example — and developing countries have organized themselves into alliances such as the African Group and the Least-Developed Countries Group.
In many others, the developing countries do not share common interests and may find themselves on opposite sides of a negotiation. A number of different coalitions among different groups of developing countries have emerged for this reason. The differences can be found in subjects of immense importance to developing countries, such as agriculture.
Okonjo-Iweala has the task of refreshing the rules that govern the trade agreements so that developing and least-developed countries can have a sense of belonging to a global order that must not be seen to be shutting the door against them.
The WTO agreements, which were the outcome of the 1986-94 Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, provide numerous opportunities for developing countries to make gains. Further liberalization through the Doha Agenda negotiations aims to improve the opportunities. But this has to be done within the framework of equity and fairness.
Among the expected gains are export opportunities. This should be driven by fundamental reforms in agricultural trade; phasing out quotas on developing countries’ exports of textiles and clothing; reductions in customs duties on industrial products; expanding the number of products whose customs duty rates are “bound” under the WTO, making the rates difficult to raise; and phasing out bilateral agreements to restrict traded quantities of certain goods — these “grey area” measures (the so-called voluntary export restraints) are not really recognized under GATT-WTO.
In addition, liberalization under the WTO boosts global GDP and stimulates world demand for developing countries’ exports. However, a number of problems remain. Developing countries have placed on the Doha Agenda a number of problems they face in implementing the present agreements.
And they complain that they still face exceptionally high tariffs on selected products (“tariff peaks”) in important markets that continue to obstruct their important exports. Examples include tariff peaks on textiles, clothing, and fish and fish products. In the Uruguay Round, on average, industrial countries made slightly smaller reductions in their tariffs on products which are mainly exported by developing countries (37%), than on imports from all countries (40%). At the same time, the potential for developing countries to trade with each other is also hampered by the fact that the highest tariffs are sometimes in developing countries themselves. But the increased proportion of trade covered by “bindings” (committed ceilings that are difficult to remove) has added security to developing country exports.
A related issue is “tariff escalation”, where an importing country protects its processing or manufacturing industry by setting lower duties on imports of raw materials and components, and higher duties on finished products. The situation is improving. Tariff escalation remains after the Uruguay Round, but it is less severe, with a number of developed countries eliminating escalation on selected products. Now, the Doha agenda includes special attention to be paid to tariff peaks and escalation so that they can be substantially reduced.
Equity and Fairness in Global Rules
Global rules of trade provide assurance and stability. Consumers and producers know they can enjoy secure supplies and greater choice of the finished products, components, raw materials and services they use. Producers and exporters know foreign markets will remain open to them.
This leads to a more prosperous, peaceful and accountable economic world. Decisions in the WTO are typically taken by consensus among all members and they are ratified by members’ parliaments. Trade frictions are channelled into the WTO’s dispute settlement process, where the focus is on interpreting agreements and commitments and how to ensure that members’ trade policies conform with them. That way, the risk of disputes spilling over into political or military conflict is reduced.
By lowering trade barriers through negotiations among member governments, the WTO’s system also breaks down other barriers between peoples and trading economies.
At the heart of the system – known as the multilateral trading system – are the WTO’s agreements, negotiated and signed by a large majority of the world’s trading economies, and ratified in their parliaments.
These agreements are the legal foundations for global trade. Essentially, they are contracts, guaranteeing WTO members important trade rights. They also bind governments to keep their trade policies transparent and predictable which is to everybody’s benefit.
The agreements provide a stable and transparent framework to help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers conduct their business.
The goal is to improve the welfare of the peoples of the WTO’s members.
Who is Ngozi Okonjo Iweala?
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has come a long way, from Delta State of Nigeria, to Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then to World Bank where she served for 25 years with unblemished record. Later she was dragged to Nigeria to serve as Minister of Finance under Olusegun Obasanjo Administration where she also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. She resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs when the political atmosphere became hostile and went back to the United States. In 2010, she was brought back to Nigeria again to serve as Minister of Finance by Goodluck Jonathan Administration.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. Currently, Dr Okonjo-Iweala is Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Since its creation in 2000, Gavi has immunized 760 million children globally and saved thirteen million lives. She sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was recently appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. She is a skilled negotiator and has brokered numerous agreements which have produced win-win outcomes in negotiations. She is regarded as an effective consensus builder and an honest broker enjoying the trust and confidence of governments and other stakeholders.
Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She distinguished herself by carrying out major reforms which improved the effectiveness of these two Ministries and the functioning of the government machinery. She had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the No. 2 position of Managing Director, Operations. As a development economist and Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala steered her country through various reforms ranging from macroeconomic to trade, financial and real sector issues.
She is a firm believer in the power of trade to lift developing countries out of poverty and assist them to achieve robust economic growth and sustainable development. As Finance Minister, she was involved in trade negotiations with other West African countries and contributed to the overhaul of Nigeria’s trade policy enabling it to enhance its competitiveness. She has closely followed developments at the WTO, as she believes that a strengthened multilateral trading system is in the interests of all countries, particularly least developed and African countries.
She is renowned as the first female and African candidate to contest for the presidency of the World Bank Group in 2012, backed by Africa and major developing countries in the first truly contestable race for the world’s highest development finance post. As Managing Director of the World Bank, she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. Dr Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crisis and later during the financial crisis. In 2010, she was Chair of the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.
As Minister of Finance in Nigeria, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club of Creditors that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of $18 billion. In her second term as Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was responsible for leading reform that enhanced transparency of government accounts and strengthened institutions against corruption, including the implementation of the GIFMS (Government Integrated Financial Management System), the IPPMS (Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System), and the TSA (Treasury Single Accounts).
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been listed as Minister of the Decade, People’s Choice Award by Nigeria’s This Day newspaper (2020), one of Transparency International’s 8 Female Anti-Corruption Fighters Who Inspire (2019), one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders (Fortune, 2015), the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World (TIME, 2014), the Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, 2011 and 2012), the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (Forbes, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), the Top 3 Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes, 2012), the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Africa (Forbes, 2011), the Top 100 Women in the World (The UK Guardian, 2011), the Top 150 Women in the World (Newsweek, 2011), and the Top 100 most inspiring people in the World Delivering for Girls and Women (Women Deliver, 2011). She has also been listed among 73 “brilliant” business influencers in the world by Condé Nast International.
In 2020, she became an Angelopoulos Global Public Leader at Harvard University Kennedy School. She was also appointed to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) for President of South Africa His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa. In 2019, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, she received the Madeleine K. Albright Global Development Award from the Aspen Institute, the Women’s Economic Empowerment Award from WEConnect International, and the Vanguard Award from Howard University. In 2016, she received the Power with Purpose Award from the Devex Development Communications Network and the Global Fairness Award from the Global Fairness Initiative in recognition of her contribution to sustainable development. She was also conferred High National Honours from the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire and the Republic of Liberia. She is also the recipient of Nigeria’s third highest National Honors Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR). In addition, Dr Okonjo-Iweala has been awarded the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award (2014), the President of the Italian Republic Gold Medal by the Pia Manzu Centre (2011), the Global Leadership Award by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (2011) the Global Leadership Award by the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (2010), and the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award (2010). She is also the recipient of the TIME Magazine’s European Heroes Award in 2004, named Finance Minister of the Year (Africa Investor Magazine, 2014), Finance Minister of the Year for Africa and the Middle East (THE BANKER, 2004), Global Finance Minister of the Year (EUROMONEY, 2005), Finance Minister of the Year for Africa and the Middle East (Emerging Markets Magazine, 2005), and Minister of the Year (THISDAY, Newspaper 2004 and 2005).
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is currently also Chair of the Board of the African Union’s African Risk Capacity (ARC), an innovative weather-based insurance mechanism for African countries; and co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate with Lord Nicholas Stern and Mr Paul Polman. She is also Chair of the Board of the Nelson Mandela Institution, an umbrella body for the African Institutes of Science and Technology, and Chair of the Board of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja. Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She presently serves on the following advisory boards or groups — the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Harvard University International Advisory Board, the Oxford University Martin School Advisory Council, Mercy Corps International Advisory Board, Women’s World Banking Africa Advisory Board, the International Commission on Financing Global Education (Chaired by Gordon Brown), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Advisory Board, Tsinghua University Beijing — School of Public Policy and Management Global Advisory Board, the CARICOM (Caribbean) Commission on the Economy, the Bloomberg Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, and Tax Inspectors Without Borders of the OECD among others. She is a member of the B Team of Business and Civic Leaders cofounded by Sir Richard Branson, a board member of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Foundation, and also co-chair and board member of Lumos, an Africa focused renewable energy company.
Previously, she was also a Senior Adviser at Lazard (2015-2019) and she served as the co-Chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation with UK Secretary Justine Greening, and Chair of the World Bank’s Development Committee (2004). She was also a member of the International Monetary and Finance Committee of the IMF (2003-2006 and 2011-2015), the United Nations’ Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Danish Government-led Commission on Africa, the World Economic Forum Global Leadership Council on Transparency and Corruption, and the Commission on World Growth (led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Michael Spence). She served for a decade on the Rockefeller Foundation Board and the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders. Dr Okonjo-Iweala has also served on the advisory board of the ONE Campaign, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Global Development Network, and the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the founder of Nigeria’s first ever indigenous opinion-research organization, NOI-Polls. She also founded the Center for the Study of Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a development research think tank based in Abuja, Nigeria. She is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and also at the Brookings Institution, premier Washington D.C. think tanks.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard University (1976) and earned a Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 1981). She has received honorary degrees from 15 universities worldwide, including from: Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Trinity College (University of Dublin), Amherst College, Colby College, Tel Aviv University, and Northern Caribbean University, Jamaica. She also has honorary doctorate degrees from a host of Nigerian universities including Abia State University, Delta State University, Oduduwa University, Babcock University, and the Universities of Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Ife (Obafemi Awolowo). She is the author of numerous articles and several books, including Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons co-authored with Julia Gillard (Penguin Random House, July 2020), Finding A Vaccine is Only the First Step (Foreign Affairs, April 2020), Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines (MIT Press, 2018), Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria, (MIT Press, 2012), Mobilizing Finance for Education in the Commonwealth (Commonwealth Education Report 2019), Shine a Light on the Gaps — an essay on financial inclusion for African Small Holder Farmers (Foreign Affairs, 2015), Funding the SDGs: Licit and Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries (Horizons Magazine, 2016), and The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, 2003). She also co-authored with Tijan Sallah the book Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light (Africa World Press, 2003).
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is married to neurosurgeon Dr. Ikemba Iweala. They have four children and three grandchildren.