Okonjo-Iweala: My Mother Was Kidnapped After I Uncovered $2.4bn Subsidy Fraud

Okonjo-Iweala: My Mother Was Kidnapped After I Uncovered $2.4bn Subsidy Fraud

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has recounted how her efforts to expose an alleged $2.4 billion fuel subsidy fraud in Nigeria were followed by threats and the kidnapping of her mother in 2012.

Okonjo-Iweala, who was Nigeria’s finance minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan, said the kidnappers demanded that she resign from office and leave the country before her mother, Kamene Okonjo, would be released.

She said the abduction, which occurred in December 2012, subjected her family to five days of anguish and forced her to confront a painful choice between her public responsibilities and her mother’s safety.

According to her account, the crisis followed an investigation into suspicious claims submitted under Nigeria’s fuel subsidy programme. The investigation reportedly uncovered about $2.4 billion in fraudulent claims, prompting the government to withhold payments on the disputed transactions.

Okonjo-Iweala said she had raised concerns about the figures with the president and requested an audit of the accounts. After approval was granted, the review uncovered what she described as substantial fraud.

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The former minister said the refusal to pay the disputed claims was followed by threats against her, before her mother was abducted from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.

The kidnappers reportedly sought to pressure her into abandoning her position in government, making her resignation a condition for her mother’s release.

Okonjo-Iweala said the experience was devastating, admitting that she considered leaving office because her mother’s life was more important to her than her position.

She recalled that her father, the late Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, encouraged her not to surrender to blackmail and urged her to continue her work.

Her mother eventually escaped after spending five days in captivity, bringing the ordeal to an end.

The incident exposed the personal risks associated with efforts to investigate alleged financial abuses in Nigeria’s petroleum subsidy system, which had long been dogged by questions over payments to fuel importers and the verification of claims.

Okonjo-Iweala later became the first woman and first African to lead the WTO, taking office as Director-General in March 2021.

Okonjo-Iweala: My Mother Was Kidnapped After I Uncovered $2.4bn Subsidy Fraud