The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has revealed that her investigation into an alleged $2.4 billion fuel subsidy fraud contributed to the circumstances surrounding the abduction of her mother, Kamene Okonjo, in 2012.
Kamene was kidnapped from her home in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December 2012, while Okonjo-Iweala was serving as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under former President Goodluck Jonathan.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the former minister said the abductors demanded that she resign from office and leave the country as a condition for her mother’s release.
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the investigation began after her office noticed a sharp increase in claims submitted by petrol importers, prompting her to seek approval from the president to audit the accounts.
“So I went to the president and said, look, something is going on here. Could we audit the accounts? And he said, yes, go ahead. And we found about $2.4 billion worth of fraud. So, we refused to pay,” she recounted.
She said her mother was abducted shortly after the decision to withhold the disputed payments was announced, with the kidnappers subsequently making demands directed at her.
“I was told (by the kidnappers) that for her to be released, I should resign and leave the country,” she said.
Describing the incident as one of the most traumatic experiences of her life, Okonjo-Iweala said her mother was held in a forest for five days before eventually escaping.
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“She was held in the middle of a forest, and one night she escaped. She’s still alive. She’s 96 now,” she said.
“It was a terrible, terrible five-day ordeal. I think the worst in my life.”
The WTO chief also recalled the emotional toll the incident took on her, saying she never imagined that her parents could become targets in such circumstances.
“I never dreamt my parents could ever be touched in this way, that people would be that evil,” she added.
Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that she considered resigning from her ministerial position during the ordeal but was persuaded by her father not to yield to the kidnappers’ demands.
According to her, her father urged her to remain resolute and continue carrying out her responsibilities.
“He said, ‘We don’t give in to blackmail’. And he said, ‘You’ve got to carry on. You’ve got to go to work’,” she recalled.
Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s finance minister from 2011 to 2015 before becoming the Director-General of the WTO in March 2021. She is the first woman and the first African to lead the global trade organisation.