The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has recounted how an investigation into an alleged $2.4bn fuel subsidy fraud in Nigeria was followed by threats against her and the kidnapping of her mother in 2012.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua on the Leaders program, published on October 12, Okonjo-Iweala said the investigation uncovered about $2.4bn in fraudulent claims by fuel importers.
She said the claims under Nigeria’s fuel subsidy program had risen sharply, prompting her to seek approval from then-President Goodluck Jonathan to audit the accounts. The government subsequently refused to pay the disputed claims.
According to her, the decision triggered threats, and her mother, Kamene Okonjo, was kidnapped from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December 2012.
The abductors reportedly demanded that she resign as finance minister and leave Nigeria in exchange for her mother’s release.
Okonjo-Iweala described the five-day ordeal as the most painful experience of her life, saying she feared her actions could cost her mother her life. Her mother eventually escaped after being held in a forest.
The WTO chief said she had considered resigning but recalled that her father urged her not to give in to blackmail. She added that she would have chosen her mother’s life over remaining in office.
Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s finance minister under former President Jonathan before becoming WTO director-general in March 2021.
