Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine. Another Nigerian on the list is Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
This is coming 10 years after its European edition honoured Okonjo-Iweala as one of world’s “heroes.”
The minister is part of the “Leaders” category in the list, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping; US Secretary of State, John Kerry; Russian President Vladmir Putin; Iranian President Hassan Rouhani; Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and others.
Dangote; former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton; Chair of the US Federal Reserve Board, Janet Yellen and German ChancellorAngela Merkel were among those honoured in other categories of the award.
According to a press release by Paul Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser to Okonjo-Iweala, respected global activist and founder of ONE campaign, Bono, paid tribute to the minister’s contribution to achieving the historic debt deal with the Paris Club and the fight against corruption.
He also lauded her for her work as Finance Minister, stating: “She’s got one of the toughest jobs on the planet.”
Bono said of the minister: “Humour and joy spill out of her. She is “fiercely intelligent; everyone wants her to work with them. I couldn’t be prouder to work for her.”
In her reaction, Okonjo-Iweala expressed her delight and humility at the honour, following so soon after the Rockefeller Leadership Award, which she got recently.
“I am grateful to God for his blessings and I appreciate the privilege and honour of working for my country. I am thankful to my teams that worked hard to help me achieve. I appreciate the support and prayers of millions of Nigerians and friends around the world. This is vastly encouraging,” she stated.
Aliko had earlier been listed as the 64th most powerful person in the world by the credible Forbes Magazine. Aliko was born on the 10th of April 1957 in the ancient city of Kano, Nigeria. He owns the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities, cement, petrochemicals, fertilizer among many others. The company operates in Nigeria and 14 other countries in Africa, As of March 2014, he had an estimated net worth of $25 billion
Dangote is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 23rd richest person in the world and the richest man in Africa. He surpassed Saudi-Arabia billionaire Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi in 2013 by over $2.6 billion to become the world’s richest black man.
On the 14 November 2011, Dangote was awarded Nigeria’s second highest honour, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) by the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan.He has also been awarded the highest National award in two other African countries: The Republic of Benin and Kenya. He also remains the single largest private sector investor in South Africa.
Dangote reportedly added $9.2 billion to his personal wealth in 2013, according to the Bloomberg Index, now making him the 30th richest person in the world in their ranking, in addition to being the richest person in Africa.
He debuted on Forbes billionaires list in 2008 with a $3.3 billion fortune. Over the last 6 years, he has added $21.7 billion to his net worth thanks largely to the incredible success of his crown jewel, the publicly-listed Dangote Cement which has a market cap of $24 billion and has operations in 14 African countries
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