Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to receive honorary degree from Oxford University

The University of Oxford says six people, including Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will receive honorary degrees.

The university announced the recipients of the 2024 honorary degree awards on Wednesday on X.

“Six people will receive honorary degrees from Oxford University this year,” the university said.

Other recipients, according to the university, are Warren East, Demis Hassabis, Michael Palin, Anoushka Shankar, and Salim Yusuf.

According to the institution, the degrees will be awarded at the Encaenia ceremony, slated for June 19.

Encaenia is an annual ceremony where the University of Oxford awards honorary degrees to distinguished men and women and commemorates its benefactors.

Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian economist and the seventh director-general of the WTO.

Assuming her position at the WTO in 2021, Okonjo-Iweala made history as the first woman and African to lead the trade institution.

After a 25-year career at the World Bank, she was appointed the managing director of operations at the bank in 2007.

Okonjo-Iweala also made history as Nigeria’s first female finance minister, serving for seven years across two terms from 2003 to 2015, and briefly served as the country’s first female foreign affairs minister in 2006.

In 2022, the economist was conferred the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), Nigeria’s second-highest honour.

Okonjo-Iweala has received numerous honours and was elected as an international honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.

Presently, she is a member of the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum and co-chairs the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.