By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been listed as one of six people who would be awarded honorary degrees from the University of Oxford.
Other recipients include British engineer and businessperson, Warren East; British computer scientist, Sir Demis Hassabis; a comedian, Sir Michael Palin; British-Indian-American musician, Anoushka Shankar and an internationally renowned Canadian cardiologist and epidemiologist, Professor Salim Yusuf.
The award ceremony will hold on Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian economist and the seventh Director General of the World Trade Organisation.
She took office in 2021, becoming the first woman and the first African to hold the position.
In 2022, Okonjo-Iweala became the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), Nigeria’s second highest national honour.
She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.
The economist had previously served as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, a post she held for seven years, and also served briefly as Foreign Affairs Minister.
She is the recipient of numerous honours and in 2019 was inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
