AS widely predicted, the United States candidate for the World Bank presidency, Mr. Jim Yong Kim, on Monday beat Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to emerge the 12th president of the Bretton Woods institution.
Executive Directors of the World Bank selected Kim, a 52-year-old US health expert and educator, over Okonjo-Iweala, an economist, who had worked for the bank for over 20 years.
The US and its ally, Europe, control 50 per cent of the votes.
Okonjo-Iweala was the first high profile candidate from Africa to bid for the headship of the Bank in its 68 years of existence. Seen as a better candidate, she apparently lost the contest to the US determination to hold on to the control of the institution notwithstanding a new policy that currently allows member states to freely sponsor candidates for the job.
The Nigeria’s Finance Minister has accepted the selection of Kim, saying she looks forward to working with the new World Bank boss for the benefit of the poor people around the world.
She however called for a more transparent and merit-based process in the selection of the World Bank top job.
In her reaction to the choice of Kim, she said, “I would like to congratulate Dr Jim Yong Kim on his emergence as President of the World Bank Group.
“I look forward to working with him for the benefit of poor people around the world. Their plight is at the heart of the mandate of the institution and we must never lose sight of that.
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