Ngozi calls for a televised debate

In an interview published today in the New York Times, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for a televised debate between the three candadetes for the position of President of the World Bank:

” 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.”

11 thoughts on “Ngozi calls for a televised debate

  1. Bilal Adams makes an interesting point when he says “How can someone who sits comfortably in this corruption ridden government of nigeria aspair to run a world ‘transparent’ institution like the world Bank.”

    Ngozi Okanjo-Iweala is a highly polarizing figure in Nigeria. Part of that comes with the territory as coordinating minister, but the manner of hiking fuel prices has been widely criticized for its big bang approach. Even her former colleague (in two roles) Oby Ezekwesili weighed in critically before Christmas.

    Part of her desperate bid to leave Nigeria again and her aggressive pursuit of the top Bank job may be because she sees her influence waning after the fuel subsidies were restored, and would prefer the insider backrooms of Washington to the rough-and-tumble of a country that would love to see her go, for many opposing reasons.

  2. @bilal. You have successfully turn issues on its head! First you contend that Kim fought poverty in his native country and Ngozi did not! Isn’t that the ‘8th wonders of the world?’

    I will suggest you go back an do your research very well before coming to an international platform like this to display your deep ignorance!

  3. @bilal. It seems you really don’t understand the issue at stake. You really don’t! Saying that Dr. IWeala is the least qualify to run the world bank is really saddling! And contending that Kim understand how to combat poverty is just fallacious! Can you empirically pin-point what he has done? My friend, I can roll out how much Dr. Iweala has contributed to fighting corruption and poverty in Nigeria.

    Loading the economic woes of Nigeria on Dr. Iweala shows your ignorance of the socio-economic state of Nigeria. The country has been in limbo since 1960. Dr. Iweala have not spent an aggregate of five years in Nigeria!

  4. Okonjo Iweala sits as the Finace Minister/ chief Economist and if you like a super minister of a country with 70% below one dollar a day poverty rate. And people are talking about her qualification to head an Institution that is focused on fighting world poverty.
    This is preposterous if not utterly ridiculous. Where is the experience we are talking about here. Or is the world turning to be Nigeria with many papered people and no inventions, no discoveries?
    May be her arrogance to the poor is also part of her loaded credentials!
    What steps has her th government she controls (the Economy) made to reduce poverty in niggeria in the many years she has been minister. Peaple who tout her credentials must be paid agents or at best commiks. How can someone who sits comfortably in this corruption ridden government of nigeria aspair to run a world ‘transparent’ institution like the world Bank.
    In that debate, we hope somebody will be intelligent and forthright enough to ask from her ,explanation of her previous experience in poverty combatant. Or is fighting poverty not the touhest war facing us today? This woman is bad news period.

  5. You are referring to an American Citizen who happened to be born in South Korea. Did he ever participate in South Korea’s government to bring his experience in fight against poverty to the World Bank? His main experience related to a global problem is in the WHO, fighting AIDS. Is this enough to run the World Bank?

  6. From the coments I have read so far, there is a bit pf misunderstanding that everybody’s coments seems to show.
    From an enlightened third World perspective, the position of World Bank President and/or Qualification thereto does not appear to me to have much to do with being a first class banker or ECONOMIST AS IT HAS TO DO WITH UNDERSTANDING POORVERTY and HOW TO FIGHT IT. Ngozi Iweala does not understand poverty neither does she have empthy or experience in fighting poverty. She might be a candidate for IMF but certainly not World Bank whose main objective is to fight word poverty. Why wouldnt suporters of madam Iweala ask what she has done with the opprtunities offered by the huge resources they are wasting in Nigreia, about 70% of us leave in abject poverty with so much wealth that 2billion naira is found in peoples bedroom. The government she heads as the chief Minister is the most corrupt in our history. Why are people not reasoning well.
    sOUTH KOREA HAS GONE THROUGH POVERTY and HAVE COME OUT OF IT, So let Mr Kim bring the Korea exprience and expertise. Let Iweala tackle Nigeria’s poverty.
    And render account of the Debt payment they made to the Paris club durring obasanjo regime which uptill tommorrow is not resolved. They cheated Nigerians, carting away our Money when we have so much infrastructural problems. How come she is shoping fpr loans in China and other places when she had said then Nigria should be freed of Debt.
    When we have our desied government, they will all be called to give account by Gods grace.

  7. The idea of a TV debate is great. But without further details on who the interviewers will be and how to structure the debate to tease out relevant information for the appointment decision, this may just be a self-serving show-biz event. Negotiations on format and governance of TV debates take weeks during Presidential campaigns. As a start, there should be public pressure on the World Bank Board to release the unabridged transcript of the three candidate interviews. This would be a very welcome first step towards public accountability for this important decision.

  8. Jim Kim will do just fine, as a thoughtful and measured ‘doer”. We are all interested, too, in hearing Ocampo’s voice,as a succesful minister in a well-run country, a high UN official and a scholar. In fact, in any public event, Ngozi needs to be held, as a 22-year Bank insider, to a high degree of specificity on what she’s done and what she’d do.

  9. I think you are 100% on the mark . She is a smart woman and knows that the whole thing is already decided and wants to expose the hypocrisy of it all. May be this will be the last straw that will force developing countries into starting a new global bank. They already are the fastest growing economies on the planet and if they are not included in the game, they might as well start their own and leave it to the US and Europe to demand ” merit based” selection for the president of the new bank !

  10. I think she knows Kim Jim will be elected, keeping the head of the Bank american, and she is at least trying to make people all over the world see that…

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