Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has promised to tackle global poverty and address issues of job creation if elected as the president of the World Bank. She also advised the United States to end the long tradition of an American always heading the Bretton Woods institution, saying that the decision on who leads the global development institution should go to the candidate with the best skills for the job. Reuters yesterday quoted Okonjo-Iweala to have made these remarks after a "marathon" three-and-a-half-hour interview with the World Bank board on Monday. Okonjo-Iweala; Dr. Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American Phy-sician, who was nominated by the US; and a Colombian national and professor at Columbia University, Jose Antonio Ocampo, had been shortlisted for the soon-to-be vacant topmost job at the World Bank. While Ocampo was interviewed by the 25-member World Bank board yesterday, Kim would be interviewed today, according to the schedule on the World Bank website. During her interview with the board, Okonjo-Iweala said she did not ask for the support of countries but urged them to ensure that the selection process was open and merit-based. Under an informal agreement between the US and Europe, an American has always headed the World Bank and a European has led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since their founding after World War Two. Rising economic powers such as China, India and Brazil have called for an end to the long-standing tradition and are demanding more influence in global finance institutions. It is the first time that candidates from developing countries have challenged Washington for the top post. “Somebody has to break this agreement,” Okonjo-Iweala was also quoted to have told an event hosted by the Centre for Global Development and Washington Post. “Therefore, who is the leader in this world? The US is looked on for that leadership,” she added. Okonjo-Iweala dismissed the argument by some US politicians that the US would stop financing the World Bank if a non-American took the reins of the institution. She said she would use her “persuasive powers” to convince Congress to keep funds flowing to the World Bank. “You cannot look at global governance in the same old way and should recognise the changing constellation of powers. I do not believe that if we ignore this reality we can really have global governance that works because these countries will not feel valued in the global system,” the finance minister added. According to her, her vision for leading the World Bank was influenced by her own life story of growing up in a village in Nigeria and her experiences as an international economist. “It is not good enough to say you know about poverty. You have to live it. Across the globe, policymakers are grappling with one problem, and that is the problem of job creation. I have yet to meet a single poor person who did not want the dignity of a job,” she added. Okonjo-Iweala said the World Bank should also focus more on helping developing countries build roads, railway systems and power grids to help their economies grow, and it should invest more in education, health and gender issues. She said complex global problems facing developing countries required a World Bank that could respond quickly and creatively to the needs of the poor.