Obiageli Ezekwesili (Oby)

World Bank Vice-President for Africa

Education: Masters, International Law and Diplomacy, University of Lagos; Masters, Public Administration, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United States.

Career: Auditor, Deloitte and Touche; Management and Financial Services Consultant, Deloitte and Touche; Founding Director, Transparency International; Director for Africa, Transparency International, 1994-99; Director, Harvard-Nigeria Economic Strategy Program, 2000-02; Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence, 2003-05; Minister of Solid Minerals, 2005-06; Federal Minister of Education, 2006-07; Vice-President, Africa Region, World Bank, 2007 to date. 

Commentary: Referred to as 'Madam Due Process' during her turn as Education Minister, Mrs Ezekwesili was in August 2009 investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for violations of due process involving unauthorised spending. It was alleged that she transferred 55.9 million naira without the necessary approval.

On 23 March 2007 Paul Wolfowitz, then World Bank President, appointed Ezekwesili the Bank’s Vice-President for the Africa Region. She is very close to Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Finance Minister and Managing Director of the World Bank.