Time magazine has just released its 100 most influential people in the world and surprisingly two remarkable Nigerians made the list, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the top 100 list for 2014.
Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde was the only Nigerian who made the Time’s influential 100 in 2013.
On making the list, Microsoft founder and one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates wrote a short bio on the billionaire entrepreneur, he said:
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year ago, I gave a speech in London about the fight to eradicate polio.
It included a section on Nigeria, one of just three countries where the
virus still circulates. The organizers told me Aliko Dangote had been
invited. I thought, I’d like to see him, but he’d end polio faster by
staying in Nigeria and doing the work he does every day. Fortunately,
Aliko thought the same thing. He skipped my speech, and the children of
Nigeria are better off for it.
Aliko is Africa’s richest man, and his business activities drive economic growth across the continent. That’s impressive, but I know him best as a leader constantly in search of ways to bridge the gap between private business and public health. It’s for that reason he helped create the Nigeria Private Sector Health Alliance. And it’s for that reason he is an advocate for agricultural research and malaria control.
All of this is in addition to Aliko’s leadership on polio and other diseases. The last time I was in Nigeria, we met with dozens of people, from government leaders to front-line health workers. After I left, Aliko followed up with them to make sure they were doing the work they said they would do. This year, Nigeria is on pace for its lowest number of polio cases ever. Aliko is a big reason why.
Aliko is Africa’s richest man, and his business activities drive economic growth across the continent. That’s impressive, but I know him best as a leader constantly in search of ways to bridge the gap between private business and public health. It’s for that reason he helped create the Nigeria Private Sector Health Alliance. And it’s for that reason he is an advocate for agricultural research and malaria control.
All of this is in addition to Aliko’s leadership on polio and other diseases. The last time I was in Nigeria, we met with dozens of people, from government leaders to front-line health workers. After I left, Aliko followed up with them to make sure they were doing the work they said they would do. This year, Nigeria is on pace for its lowest number of polio cases ever. Aliko is a big reason why.
Bono, a musician leader of the famous group U2 had something to say about the wonder woman, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:
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first met economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala when she was campaigning for
Nigerian debt relief. We’d been fighting our way through capitals around
the world trying to get Cold War–era debts canceled for the poorest,
most heavily indebted countries.
During her first term as Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi arrived at her desk to find a weighty $30 billion owed. With oil prices on the rise, she stopped having to plead with her creditors and bought a massive chunk of her own debt so she could cancel it herself. As if to make a point. She became a legend in that moment.
Humor and joy spill out of her, which can belie the fact that she’s got one of the toughest jobs on the planet — how to ensure that the tens of billions of dollars earned each year in oil receipts go into productive usage, like agriculture, infrastructure, health and education. Ngozi has made corruption her enemy and stability her goal. She is fiercely intelligent; everyone wants her to work with them. I couldn’t be prouder to work for her.
During her first term as Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi arrived at her desk to find a weighty $30 billion owed. With oil prices on the rise, she stopped having to plead with her creditors and bought a massive chunk of her own debt so she could cancel it herself. As if to make a point. She became a legend in that moment.
Humor and joy spill out of her, which can belie the fact that she’s got one of the toughest jobs on the planet — how to ensure that the tens of billions of dollars earned each year in oil receipts go into productive usage, like agriculture, infrastructure, health and education. Ngozi has made corruption her enemy and stability her goal. She is fiercely intelligent; everyone wants her to work with them. I couldn’t be prouder to work for her.
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