Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala To Work On Two International Positions.

Former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has accepted two key international positions.

The first appointment is to serve as Chair of the 28-member Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, GAVI, an international public-private partnership committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to immunization in developing countries, including Nigeria.


For the second appointment, the former Managing Director of the World Bank has also joined the highly respected 167-year-old global investment firm, Lazard as Senior Advisor. Her focus will be sovereign advisory.

“We are proud to welcome Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as a Senior Advisor to our world-leading sovereign advisory group,” said Matthieu Pigasse, Global Head of M&A and Sovereign Advisory of Lazard. “She will bring a unique international expertise and experience that will benefit both our sovereign and corporate clients.”

At Lazard, Dr Okonjo-Iweala will work alongside colleagues including former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating; former Special adviser to President Bill Clinton, Vernon Jordan; former Spanish Economy Minister and current Snr Managing Director at Lazard, Rodrigo de Rato; former chair of NASDAQ, Frank Zarb; former Finance Minister of Chile, Andres Velasco; and former British Minister of Parliament/Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell.

In her reaction to the two appointments, Dr Okonjo-Iweala who will be working out of Paris, Geneva and London said:

“I am excited to be embarking on this fresh journey. The two appointments will enable me to continue doing what I know best – rendering public service and using my financial and economist skills. I thank the international community for the recognition and continued support. I am also grateful for the prayers and support of many Nigerians”.