Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the World Economic 
Forum in Davos. Developing nations are nominating Okonjo-Iweala as well 
as one other candidate to lead the World Bank.


By Lesley Wroughton



WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi 
Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo 
are set to be nominated to lead the World Bank, sources with knowledge 
of emerging market efforts to find candidates said on Tuesday.



The candidacies of Okonjo-Iweala and Ocampo, who have credentials as 
both economists and diplomats, pose a challenge to the United States, 
whose hold on the top post has never been contested.



Washington has held the presidency since the Bank's founding after 
World War Two. It has yet to publicly identify a nominee to succeed 
Robert Zoellick, who plans to step down when his term expires at the 
end of June. The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday.



All of the World Bank's 187 members nations have committed to a 
merit-based process to select Zoellick's successor.



Okonjo-Iweala, who left the World Bank as managing director last year 
to become Nigeria's finance minister, and Ocampo, a former U.N. 
under-secretary for economic and social affairs, will join American 
economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has the backing of a handful of small 
countries, on the nomination list.



Nominations will be submitted to the 25-member World Bank board, which 
has said it will decide on the next president within the next month.



Two sources said Okonjo-Iweala's candidacy had the blessing of Nigerian 
President Goodluck Jonathan. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by 
Richard Borsuk)

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