Tinubu mourns Okonjo-Iweala’s mother

File: Prof. Kamene Okonjo

President Bola Tinubu has condoled with the Okonjo royal family of Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, on the death of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

She died at the age of 96.

In a statement released on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the President described the late scholar as “a champion of women’s empowerment and a revered matriarch”.

Tinubu commiserated with Okonjo-Iweala, other members of the family and the people of Ogwashi-Uku over the loss of “their beloved mother, matriarch, and community leader”.

He described her death as the loss of an accomplished academic whose life was defined by “intellectual distinction, service to humanity, and an enduring commitment to advancing women and society”.

The President also acknowledged her contributions to scholarship and her example as a woman who combined professional excellence with dedication to family, community and the preservation of traditional institutions.

He prayed that God would grant her eternal rest and comfort the family and all who mourn her.

Kamene Okonjo was a sociologist known for her research on the political and social roles of Igbo women west of the River Niger.

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Her 1976 essay, The Dual-Sex Political System in Operation: Igbo Women and Community Politics in Midwestern Nigeria, is widely cited in African gender studies.

She also wrote The Role of Women in Social Change among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria Living West of the River Niger (1980).

She was married to Chukwuka Okonjo, a mathematician and economist who became the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku in 2007.

He died in Lagos on September 13, 2019, at the age of 91.

The couple had seven children, the best known of whom is Okonjo-Iweala, a former two-time Minister of Finance, former World Bank Managing Director and now Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

In December 2012, gunmen kidnapped the then 82-year-old Okonjo from the family palace in Ogwashi-Uku and held her for five days.

Okonjo-Iweala, then Finance Minister, later wrote that the kidnappers demanded that she resign and leave the country, and linked the abduction to her stance on fuel subsidy payments.