Why Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Wants to Run the World Bank
By ANNIE LOWREY

Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters



Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister and a candidate to lead the World Bank.


Two candidates from emerging-market countries have been put forward for the presidency of the World Bank, along with the Obama administration’s nominee, setting up the first contested election in the history of the development institution, which is based in Washington. The American contender, Jim Yong Kim, a global health expert and the president of Dartmouth College, is considered the favorite.

On Monday, I posted excerpts from a conversation with one of the challengers, José Antonio Ocampo, a former Colombian finance minister. I also spoke with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, who has won the endorsement of Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, the African Union, The Financial Times and The Economist.

From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala was a managing director of the World Bank, working directly under its current president, Robert B. Zoellick. Earlier, she held a number of leadership positions in the Nigerian government. She has a doctorate in regional economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Here are highlights from our conversation, condensed and edited.

Q.
I was wondering if you could describe how you came to be nominated for this position.

A.
I wasn’t packaging myself as a candidate for the presidency of the World Bank. I have a very busy job as coordinating minister for economic development and minister of finance. But when this process began, African leaders started calling Goodluck Jonathan, the president of Nigeria, saying that they thought I was a candidate well qualified to lead the World Bank.

For African countries, this is an important institution. Their feeling, as it has been described to me, is that the World Bank succeeds or fails depending on what happens in Africa, because it is the continent that has the most complex development challenges and, now, the biggest opportunities, given how things have turned around.

They were looking for someone eminently qualified to lead in Africa and to lead globally. So, and again this is what I am told, they started calling my president with this thesis. The leader of the African Union. Jacob Zuma of South Africa. The president of Côte d’Ivoire. The leader of the World Bank in the Francophone countries. Goodluck Jonathan was bombarded with calls and letters. I think he decided, if I am getting pressure from all these leaders, I will allow her to go.

Q.
What would your agenda be at the bank?

A.
We need to move faster. The bank has to be quick, nimble and responsive in this global environment. I would like it to be much faster to get aid on the ground, and faster giving policy advice and help to ministers looking for it. I’d look to do things in days and weeks rather than months and years, and I have the bureaucratic knowledge, the knowledge of the institution, to make that happen.

But the premier goal should be helping developing countries with the problem of job creation. In country after country, the single most important challenge is how to create good jobs – in developing countries as well as developed countries. And a big challenge is youth unemployment, which I want to tackle very fast because of the other problems it creates.

There is an opportunity for a demographic dividend for developing countries if they address this issue. In my country, about 70 percent of the citizens are 30 years old or younger, and there are similar demographics in many other developing countries. The rest of the developed world is looking at a gerontocracy, but we’re looking at a youth bulge.

The World Bank is the premier institution to support young people, with all of its instruments to create jobs, build infrastructure and invest in human infrastructure. Also, green growth and climate change – that’s another issue I see as an opportunity for investment. And the World Bank has the knowledge and financial resources to help.

Q.
Why do you think it is important for the World Bank to open up its presidential race so that candidates from emerging economies have the chance to lead it?

A.
It makes eminent sense to do this – to open up global governance of these institutions to people in the developing world. If this is not done, there will be less interest in these institutions and people will go make their own. For instance, the BRICS [an umbrella group of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] are talking about making their own development bank.

[size=14pt]Besides, emerging and developing countries are contributing more than 50 percent of global growth! If it were not for the growth in developing countries, developed countries would be much, much worse off. So why are developing countries left out of the governance equation?[/size]

Q.
Just to drill down on that, what would be the issue with emerging and developing economies’ setting up institutions that were more responsive to them and controlled by them?

A.
It’s a huge, huge lost opportunity. I regard the World Bank as the premier instrument to lift people out of poverty and promote development, and not just in the poorest countries. It is a huge lost opportunity if they say that this resource that we have honed over these 70 years, that it doesn’t work for them anymore.

The World Bank’s best attribute is its huge staff. I’ve been there – I know these people, I know their passion and their commitment and their brilliance. If people walk away and say, ‘Listen, we can’t get a foot in the door,’ it will be a huge waste.

Q.
What makes you the best candidate?

A.
Development isn’t about just having knowledge in one area. You have to deal with macroeconomic and fiscal issues. Sectoral issues in agriculture, health, education, manufacturing. Agenda issues, like helping women and children and empowering them. Enterprise. Business development. Infrastructure. It’s about all of these issues and how they interplay.

That’s where I have strong experience. I’ve had a long career working in every region of the world, from Eastern Europe to Central Asia to the Middle East to Africa to Washington. I’ve worked in all of these regions, and I’ve learned so much that I could deploy as president. Indeed, I’ve been managing one of the most complex economies in the world – fighting corruption, promoting good governance, dealing with the macroeconomy.

It’s not about living in a developing country. And doing grass-roots development work is wonderful. But ultimately, this is about making tough choices that affect millions of lives. And I’ve done that. And I can hit the ground running because I know how to make this institution work for the world’s poor. I don’t have a learning curve.

When you listen to the media, it’s like it’s a done deal! I have tremendous respect for Dr. Kim. But you’re looking for the best. You’re not just looking for the acceptable. I can’t believe what I’m hearing: is this the same West that talks about democracy, openness, and meritocracy, and it’s like it has already been decided!

[b]I think the media should call for a debate of the three candidates, like you have for other important positions, to see who really knows what they are doing. Let’s all of us have a televised debate showing the world what we can do, so people can judge for themselves who is the most qualified to lead.[/b]

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/why-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-wants-to-run-the-world-bank/#

May the best Ibo woman win!

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