Former Nigeria Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been named Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2020.
Forbes Africa in a tweet on Tuesday said the former Minister has been named “The 2020 African person of the Year.”
Reacting, Okonjo-Iweala, leading candidate for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, said she is thrilled.
“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.
This award is for Africans suffering the health and economic impact of COVID-19. The energy and resilience of Africans inspires me,” she said.
With this, Okonjo-Iweala joins a list of prominent Africans to have bag the prestigious award
Recall that Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), won the award for his outstanding work in agriculture and finance in 2019.
Also, Paul Kagame of Rwanda won the same award in 2018.
Other eminent Nigerians to have bagged the award are Muhammad Sanusi II (2013), former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Aliko Dangote (2014), president of the Dangote Group.