President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
NEW HAVEN, USA, May 19, 2015/ — Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister for the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has received an honorary
Doctorate degree from Yale University (http://www.yale.edu), one of the
United State of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher
learning.
The Minister was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters at Yale’s 2015
Commencement Ceremony in New Haven, Connecticut Monday.
She will be only the second Nigerian in the university’s 314-year history
to receive its highest honour after Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka who
received an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1980.
Giving out the award, the President of the University Professor Peter
Salovey described Okonjo-Iweala as “a brilliant reformer and dedicated
public servant.”
He went on to state that the Minister “has spearheaded efforts to
stabilize and grow Nigeria’s economy, battling widespread government
corruption and creating greater fiscal transparency and discipline.”
Yale’s honorary doctorate degree is seen globally as a very important honour.
According to the institution “those who have received honorary degree are
scholars, public servants, Nobel Prize winners and heads of states.
“Collectively, they represent the aspirations of this institution. Yale
honorary degree recipients serve as models of excellence and service to
our students, to our graduates, to our community and to the world,” the
institution says.
As Finance Minister in 2004, Okonjo-Iweala and the economic team that she
led helped Nigeria obtain debt relief, wiping out $30 billion of Paris
club debt, leading to a tripling of the growth rates.
The second time around as Finance Minister in 2011, Okonjo-Iweala has
focused on building solid foundations and institutions critical for the
survival and sustenance of the economy. She bravely fought corruption in
governance with fierce dedication and unflagging energy.
Okonjo-Iweala was honored alongside the Chair of the Board of Governors of
US Federal Reserve System Janet Yellen, world renowned Beninoise Singer
and songwriter Angelique Kidjo, University Professor and founding member
of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia
University Gayatari Chakravorty Spivak, Professor and Director of the
Starr Center for Human Genetics at Rockefeller University Jeffrey Michael
Friedman, Inventors and Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Dean Kamen, etc.
Yale had in the past honored a handful of other Africans such as Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.