President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina has congratulated Nigeria’s former minister of finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her appointment as the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“Congratulations to my dear big sister @NOIweala on becoming today the first woman and first African to be elected as Director General of @wto. Congratulations!” Mr Adesina tweeted on Monday shortly after the announcement.
Adesina and Okonjo-Iweala both served in the Jonathan administration. While Adesina was appointed in 2010 as minister of agriculture and rural development, Okonjo-Iweala was named minister of finance in 2011. They both left office in 2015 when former President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election bid.
Similar to Okonjo-Iweala’s historic appointment at WTO, Adesina is the first Nigerian to hold the position of AfDB president.
He was first elected in 2015 and re-elected for a second term in 2020 after being vindicated of allegations of misconduct.
