Okonjo-Iweala Takes American Citizenship As She Battles For DG Of World Trade Organisation

A two-time Minister of Finance in Nigeria, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has taken American citizenship — more than 30 years after she studied in the United States.

According to Bloomberg, Okonjo-Iweala took US citizenship in 2019 as she fought for the position of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

It was gathered that most of the candidates running for the office of the DG at WTO boast of dual citizenship, which experts say may boost their chances at getting the much-coveted job.

The other candidates fighting for the position, such as Jesús Seade Kuri, is Mexican and Lebanese. While, Amina Mohamed serves as a minister in Kenya, but has Somali roots; Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh is both Swiss and Egyptian.

Okonjo-Iweala arrived in the US 47 years ago and worked there for more than 25 years without taking up the country’s citizenship.

However, this affected her when she ran for the president of the World Bank in 2012 because she was not backed by the US, she lost the seat to Korean-American Jim Yong Kim.

KanyiDaily had reported that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) accepted Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as one of the candidates three months ago.