(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/minoffinance-300x224.jpg) Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance was the sole recipient of Honorary Doctor of science from the Nigerian-Turkish Nile University during its convocation ceremony in Abuja, last week.
The Nigerian-Turkish University, a product of Nigerian-Turkish cooperation honoured the Minister, in recognition of her efforts at improving the lot of humanity through the World Bank, as Nigeria's Minister of Finance and through some other non-governmental organisations which she has effectively used to impact positively on society.
The University also recognised her efforts at job creation for the youths and education and empowerment of women and the girl-child.
With ovation at the ceremony, the University noted the Minister's numerous achievements, some of which include: First African woman to be appointed managing director of World Bank; First African to contest for the presidency of the World Bank; her efforts at writing off Nigeria's external debts; her successful introduction of sustainable job creation schemes including YouWin and Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS).
While the ovation still lasted, the University also noted that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was rated as one of one hundred most powerful women in the world, the third most important woman in Africa and one of one hundred most respected intellectuals in the field of economics.
In her acceptance speech, Okonjo-Iweala thanked the Nigerian-Turkish University for the recognition. She assured that as Coordinating Minister for the Economy, she will continue to blend theory with practice in order to achieve fast but sustainable growth for the Nigerian economy.
She revealed that youth unemployment had become a major challenge which the Government had decided to tackle head-on.
While listing the priorities of the present administration, the Minister said that job creation and improvement in power generation were topmost on the scale of priorities.
She noted the huge success which the YouWin Programme had recorded by creating numerous new young entrepreneurs all over the country. She also revealed that the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) had already fixed nearly 2,000 unemployed graduates in organisations that agreed to accept them.
Earlier, the Turkish President of the Nigerian-Turkish Nile University had informed the audience that the young University aims to serve as one of the best tertiary institutions in the world. He also said that they were poised to raise the bar in Nigerian University education.
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Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria