The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as its Special Envoy for the newly inaugurated Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Okonjo-Iweala is to serve alongside British business executive, Sir Andrew Witty in the same capacity, to mobilise international commitment to the initiative.
The Director-General of the organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, disclosed this during the launch of the ACT Accelerator — via webinar from Geneva in Switzerland.
Ghebreyesus in his remarks said, “I would especially like to thank Sir Andrew Witty and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for agreeing to act as Special Envoys for the ACT Accelerator.”
The initiative is an international collaboration aimed at accelerating the development, production, and equitable distribution of COVID-18 drugs, tests kits, and vaccines around the world.
This is the fourth international assignment given to Okonjo-Iweala in less than two months.
The first was on March 7, 2020, when President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, appointed her a member of the country’s Economic Advisory Council, which comprises indigenous and international economic experts.
This was followed a month later on April 10, when she was named a member of the fund’s External Advisory Group of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by the Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva.