The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was honoured Wednesday with the prestigious David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, alongside Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever, and Simao Jatene, Governor of the State of Para, Brazil, in New York, the United States.

With the award, Okonjo-Iweala will be joining a list of high profile personalities such as the late Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, Sir Richard Branson, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Bill Gates, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and former World Bank president James Wolfenson, among others, that have been honoured in the past.
The only other Nigerian who has previously received the award for her decade-long work of empowering women is wife of Ekiti State Governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi.

In Okonjo-Iweala’s case, she is being honoured for her uncommon courage and capacity to deliver on the economy and lead in a very difficult environment.

The award was organised as part of the Synergos (Synergos is a group of leading philanthropists which was founded by Peggy Rockefeller Dulany in 1986) Institute University for a Night series, which brought together leaders from diverse backgrounds in business, government and civil society to discuss innovative ways of addressing global problems.