Dr Ngozi Iweala-Okonjo, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Nigeria will deliver the 2nd J.A. Kufuor Foundation Lecture in Accra from Friday February 22, to Saturday February 23 in Accra.
It is part of the John A Kufuor Foundation's Global Development Series on Democratic Governance.
Dr Iweala-Okonjo's will speak on: "What Africa must do to own the 21st Century," at the Accra International Conference Centre at 6:00 pm on Friday February 22.
She will also hold a working lunch with selected Corporate Executives at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.
Dr Iweala-Okonjo will call on President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, and Mr Seth Tekper, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.
From December 2007 to August 2011, Dr Iweala-Okonjo was Managing Director of the World Bank Group where she had oversight responsibility for the World Bank's $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia.
She also spearheaded initiatives to assist low-income countries during the food crisis and later the financial crisis, and chaired the raising of $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the world's poorest nations.
Dr Iweala-Okonjo was renowned as the first female and black candidate who contested for the Presidency of World Bank Group, backed by Africa and major developing countries like Brazil in the first truly contestable race for the world’s highest development finance post.
Before that, she was Nigeria's Finance Minister for three years and was briefly Minister of Foreign Affairs.
As Minister of Finance, she spearheaded the 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 60 per cent of Nigeria’s external debt, equivalent to $18 billion.
Prior to her government service, she had spent 21 years at the World Bank, rising to the position of Vice President and Corporate Secretary.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has served and is still serving on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the African Institute of Science and Technology, the Centre for Global Development, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Danish-government-led Commission on Africa.
In 2011 and 2012 she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes, one of 100 Top Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy journal and one of the Top Three Most Powerful Women in Africa (Forbes Magazine 2012).
As a Distinguished Fellow of the Brookings Institution, she is also the author of several books and articles, including The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy (Africa World Press, Trenton, New Jersey 2003), and Reforming the UnReformable: Lessons from Nigeria, (MIT Press, 2012).
Dr Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard University and has a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She is the recipient of numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Abia State University, Delta State University, the Universities of Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Obafemi Awolowo all in Nigeria, in addition to honorary doctorates from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, Brown University, Amherst College and Colby College, in the United States.
In 2011 she also received the President of the Italian Republic Gold Medal by the Pia Manzu Centre, and the Global Leadership Award by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
She is married to Dr Ikemba Iweala, a Surgeon and they have four grown children.
Meanwhile Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Chairman of John A. Kufuor Foundation, has appointed Professor Alex Nii Oto Dodoo, Director at the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Advocacy and Training in Pharmacovigilance as acting Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation.
Prof Dodoo also lectures at the Ghana Medical School, University of Ghana, Legon.
His appointment took effective from January 1, this year.
He is a keen patients' rights advocate with more than 25 years experience and practice of drug safety across a number of continents.
Prof Dodoo is a prolific writer in lay and scientific journals and newspaper and regularly appears on radio and TV in Ghana on issues ranging from medicines and pharmacy to social issues and politics.