The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has recounted how her investigation into an alleged $2.4 billion fuel subsidy fraud led to the abduction of her mother, Kamene Okonjo, in December 2012.
Okonjo-Iweala, who was Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under former President Goodluck Jonathan at the time, disclosed this during an interview with Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua on The Leaders programme.
She said her mother’s abductors demanded that she resign from office and leave Nigeria as conditions for securing her release.
According to the WTO chief, the incident followed her discovery of irregularities in subsidy payment claims submitted by petroleum importers under the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy programme.
She explained that after noticing suspicious increases in the claims, she approached the president for approval 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 recalled.
Okonjo-Iweala said the decision to withhold the disputed payments was followed by threats against her, culminating in the abduction of her mother from her residence in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December 2012.
“I was told 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, the former finance minister said the five-day ordeal left her fearing for her mother’s life.
“It was a terrible, terrible five-day ordeal. I think the worst in my life,” she recalled.
She said her mother was held captive in a forest before eventually escaping at night.
“She was held in the middle of a forest, and one night she escaped. She’s still alive. She’s 96 now,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
The WTO director-general disclosed that she considered resigning from office to secure her mother’s freedom but was persuaded by her father not to surrender to the kidnappers’ demands.
According to her, her father insisted that the family should not give in to blackmail and urged her to continue performing her official duties.
“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.
However, Okonjo-Iweala stressed that her mother’s life mattered more to her than retaining her position in government.
“Between my mother, having my mother alive and staying in a job, I would pick my mother any day,” she said.
Reflecting on the experience, she said the incident reinforced her determination to fight corruption and protect public resources, particularly in developing countries where limited resources make accountability essential.
“I feel that this is a real fight that has to be waged. If you are a country that is not that rich, every single penny counts,” she emphasised.
Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance under the Jonathan administration before becoming Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.
Editorial note: Before publication, it would be advisable to verify the interview and the reported $2.4 billion fraud figure against the original Bloomberg broadcast. The amount should remain attributed to Okonjo-Iweala’s account rather than presented as an independently established finding.
