Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala nominated for World Bank President

[emezico]

Nigeria's finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is among the candidates being proposed to take over the presidency of the World Bank, with the incumbent Robert Zoellick, having served notice that he would step down in June.

Ngozi was a former managing director of the bank until late last year when he resigned to become Nigeria's finance minister, for the second time in less than a decade. She is the favorite of Nancy Birdsall, head of the Center for Global Development, who stressed that the selection process "needs to be competitive" and truly open to any candidate.

Birdsall has also proposed Nandan Nilekania, the Indian co-founder of INFOSYS.

It is crucial that "whoever ends up in the job has the legitimacy that a person that is truly competent would ensure," she said in a phone interview with the AFP.

It is not clear yet whether Ngozi would dump Nigeria for the World bank job.

But the race is much hotter with Americans with renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, who led the UN committee on the Millennium development goals, throwing his hat in the ring Friday in a Washington Post op-ed piece, saying the World Bank needs an expert like himself rather than another politician or Wall Street banker.

Sachs's declaration came amid signs the United States is eyeing others for the high-profile job.

"The United States signaled that it was looking at the possibility of nominating (Treasury Secretary Timothy) Geithner, (one of his predecessors Larry) Summers, or someone from the private sector like (Pimco chief executive) Mohamed El-Erian," said a person close to the World Bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Those three have remained mum on their interest in heading the global development lender.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also has been widely mentioned in the media as a possibilty. Geithner's deputy for international affairs, Lael Brainard, has drawn some attention as well.

With the deadline for nominations three weeks away, the competition "is beginning to pick up speed," the source said.