By Mahdi Waziri Isa
Ahmadu Bello University has awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc) to the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, GCON and the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) to Nigeria’s top Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Sharif Ibrahim Sale Al-Hussain, CON, for their significant contributions to the advancement of Nigeria and humanity at large.
Dr. Okonjo-Iwela is a global Finance expert who served twice as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy between 2003 – 2006 and 2012 – 2015 respectively. She also briefly served as Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2006, and was the first woman to hold both positions in Nigeria.
The renowned expert had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development Economist, and rose to the position of Managing Director (Operations) and she’s running her second term as the Director General of the WTO.
On his part, Sheikh Sharif Saleh is a world-class scholar in different aspects of Islamic Scholarship such as Qur’anic Sciences, Prophetic Traditions, Islamic Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Astrology and Islamic Finance and Banking. He wrote more than 500 books and pamphlets as well as hundreds of commissioned conference papers.
Sheikh Saleh was a regular member of all the committees established to address or guide government on some of its policies that had religious implications or relevance.