Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
By Empowered Newswire
But Presidency sources clarified that Mr. Jonathan has decided to appoint her to the federal cabinet nonetheless, although her name has yet to be sent for security clearance. She is expected to feature prominently in the second list the President will send to the Senate for confirmation this week.
While no one is certain as yet regarding the conditions of her appointment, it is believed that her return to the World Bank head offices in Washington DC is partly to allow her discuss the offer with her boss, the President of the Bank, Robert B. Zoellick, and the board. It was Mr. Zoellick who appointed her as MD in October 2007.
Presidency officials and sources close to her are both agreed that she is only back in the United States to prepare for her transition from Washington DC and assumption of duty in Nigeria as the returnee Finance Minister. In the Obasanjo years, she was a key part of the economic team.
While the conditions of her ministerial service under the Jonathan presidency are still unclear, World Bank officials have released her current salary package alongside those of the other top management executives of the Bank.
If and when she is appointed, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, one of two top officials of the World Bank being proposed for top cabinet positions by President Jonathan, will be giving up the second highest salary package in that world financial institution totaling more than $351, 740 yearly, net of taxes.
Reacting to wide media reports about her consideration for ministerial appointment in Nigeria, the World Bank issued a formal statement attributable to World Bank Spokesperson on Tuesday that “Ngozi remains Managing Director of the World Bank.”
But speaking with Empowered Newswire earlier today—Tuesday in Washington DC—before the statement, a Media Relations Officer of the World Bank, Alexis Obrien, said it was unlikely that the Bank would make any public comment yet on the nomination of one of its Managing Directors for a job as a federal minister in Nigeria.
Mr. David Theiss, the World Bank Media Chief, and Obrien confirmed that the salaries of the top management executives of the bank are indeed public information. Theiss released a 2010 updated salary scale which reviews the 2008 version earlier obtained by Empowered Newswire.
Okonjo-Iweala who had been Finance Minister previously under the Obasanjo presidency between 2003 and 2006, received a dollar-denominated salary during that period alongside Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister of the period, Ambassador Olu Adeniji.
She left the federal government in August 2006 and rejoined the World Bank in October 2007as Managing Director. Prior to being named by Obasanjo as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, she had been Corporate Secretary and Vice President at the bank.
Previous media reports had indicated that when she was contacted by officials of the Nigerian presidency initially to be re-nominated this time around, the World Bank senior official had made a similar request concerning her pay before she was prevailed upon to set the request aside.
Part of the argument for Okonjo-Iweala’s dollar salary demands before she accepted Obasanjo's offer in 2003, according to former FCT Minister Nasir El Rufai, who addressed the issue publicly in the US in 2004 at a Law dinner in New York, included the fact that she had children and wards in US schools and universities. Close family sources said two of her children are currently still in universities while two others have since graduated.
World Bank records and reports on the top executives’ pay indicate that apart from the top salary Okonjo-Iweala was paid, which was determined in 2008, after an upward review of the pay of all of World Bank Executive Management team, she was also entitled to $76,996 as the Bank's contribution to her pension. This is in addition to another $77,735 labeled under other benefits.
In the updated 2010 salary review, her salary remained the same but the bank's contribution to her pension plan had gone up to $133,962, while those other benefits rose to $79,493.
The only World Bank official who is paid a higher salary is Mr. Zoellick whose yearly take home, net of taxes, comes to $441,980 based on the 2008 review. Mr. Zoellick also receives $67,181 as contribution to his pension and $191, 825 as other benefits. In the 2010 upward review, Zoellick's salary remained unchanged but his pension rose to $91,237 and other benefits changed to $193,593.
The other World Bank Managing Director, Graeme Wheeler's pay sets him below Okonjo-Iweala, although both of them have different regional areas to oversee at the Bank. Wheeler takes $347, 050 yearly salary net of taxes, about $4,000 less than Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala.
But Wheeler's total extra benefits when added together are higher than Okonjo-Iweala's. For instance he earns an additional $75, 969 in pension contribution from the bank and $88,498 as other benefits. In the 2010 review, Wheeler's salary remained the same, but his pension jumped to $132,176 and other benefits to $89, 886.
While Wheeler, a New Zealand citizen, is the World Bank's Managing Director in charge of Operations, Okonjo-Iweala is MD in charge of several regions covered by the Bank.
As an American citizen, Mr. Zoellick has an additional allowance apart from the stated salary to cover his US taxes. But Wheeler and Okonjo-Iweala's taxes are not taxable as they are both considered international expatriate staff.
Informed sources and presidency officials in Abuja recall that a Court of Appeal ruling had indeed imposed a fine on Okonjo-Iweala as repayment of the dollar salaries under the Obasanjo presidency after the salaries were declared illegal by the court. But she and Adeniji are yet to pay the fines, sources say, because they have reportedly appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
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