News Archive
Opening address: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
News reported on 03/14/07 11:59 AM
With passion and deep conviction, Brookings Institute Distinguished Fellow and former Minister of Finance for Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to the audience in Brussels about how she had fought corruption in her home country of Nigeria. She discussed three examples of corruption, including a governor embezzling project funds, an oil and gas project, and the Lesoto Highlands water project. Okonjo-Iweala specified three elements in a frontal assault on corruption: diagnostic surveys to establish the extent and impact of the problem, political will to carry out solutions, and improved institutions that will create new incentives for good governance. She detailed how she had implemented these changes in her country, including the publication of government budgetary information in a transparent manner (what she called "the most boring best-seller ever made"), and especially drew attention to the importance of the private sector and the needed reforms in donor countries.
Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's opening address
At the Conference
