Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gets int’l appointments

Former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed into two key international positions.

She is to serve as Chair of the 28-member Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), an international Public-Private Partnership, which is committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to

immunisation in developing countries, including Nigeria.

A statement from her Media Adviser, Paul C Nwabuikwu explained that she was elected to the position after a competitive international search process. “GAVI is a $12 billion multilateral partnership which disburses grants of upwards of $1.8 billion annually to developing countries for immunisation programmes,” the statement added.

GAVI brings together developing countries and donor governments, the World Health Organisation, (WHO) United Nations Education Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.